Memory Almost Full | Page 3 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Thought I’d give it another listen.  I already know I like “Dance Tonight” and “That Was Me”, so I’ll just listen to the other tracks.

Ever Present Past — Paul tends to do one of two things when he songwrites: he either is visted by the Muse and has an inspired song from the get-go, or he doesn’t, and then tries to force a song out of no inspiration.  Ever Present Past is quintessentially the latter type — uninspired, trying to construct a ‘good song’ out of pleasing sounding chords and riffs but not good enough.  The way he has contructed the melody, you can just tell his vocal exploration was filling the mundane terrain set by the chord structure like water finding the lowest common level. 

See Your Sunshine — Again, it sounds like he came up with one or two pleasant riffs, then told himself, “Okay, now I’m going to write a song about being in love with my loved one” and then he just started form-fitting some lyrics he cobbled together into the chords, without a shred of originating inspiration. 

You Tell Me — One feels almost obliged to be a little less ruthless about this one, as it does try its best, and Paul is genuinely trying to be deep and beautiful with this effort.  But still…  It’s like Paul said to himself, “Okay, I’m going to write a saddish song, one of those minor chord dealie-wealies; let me put in lots of bleak images and references — that’s the ticket!”  What gives it away is this almost conservative caution in the way he chose which note to go to after the last one — a problem that a songwriter when he’s inspired (as Paul can be) doesn’t have to worry about.

Mr. Bellamy — This one does have some inspired moments here and there; and I like it mostly.  The chorus about Mr. Bellamy, however, kind of lapses into conservatism again — a Bm to F#7 trope with a kind of hackneyed minor “Slavic” folk feel, and again his choices of what notes to sing ring hollow, not inspired.

Gratitude — This one reminds me of another thing Paul sometimes lapses into that annoys me — and he does it with most of the songs above as well:  he forces his voice into an affectation of emphasis, rather than just letting his natural talent do all the work.  With a singer as brilliant as Paul, it’s like “gilding the lily”.

Vintage Clothes — Weak lyrics, repetitive; using sound effects and chord changes out of left field to mask the insipid mediocrity.  There was one nice spot as it winds to an end:  “Vintage clothes… a little more, a little tall, check the rack, what went out, is coming back” and at that point the music is inspired.

Feet in the Clouds — Mostly, these are hackneyed lyrics and feel artificial, and ho-hum music.  Nevertheless, it has a nice feel that can grow on you (and I like his “very very very very very very hard” with some cool musical experimentation later on).

House of Wax — Perhaps the lyrics are good, but the music is rote minor stuff without any inspiration.

The End of the End — One shakes one’s head at how trite Paul can be sometimes with his lyrics…

Nod Your Head — Listening to this, I’m feeling, “Yes… and no….”   He seems to have begun with a germ of genuine inspiration for a rocker.  But his execution of it with his voice again has that problem as with “Gratitude” — he’s injecting his normally powerful voice with unnecessary added oomph which just makes you notice it and distracts you (sort of like watching a great actor ham it up needlessly).

Only Mama Knows — Again, uninspired melody, singing and execution.

So now the two songs I like a lot:

Dance Tonight — The word I keep using above, “inspired”, applies here.  You know it when it’s there — immediately, without question.  Inspiration can be grand, or dazzling, or it can be a small, circumscribed thing, as with Dance Tonight.  I disagree with mr. mustard about Paul’s falsetto turn (he does it twice, I believe).  Anyway, my theory (substantiated in part by a video Paul made for it) is that when Paul picked up a mandolin and start doodling on it, he suddenly came up with a simple chord change that was the hook — pure inspiration.  At that point, he went with it, instead of trying to force it into something artificially “good” .

That Was Me — It has a couple of “twingy” moments that seem phony, but mostly it is solid gold.  I suspect Paul knew immediately he had something good here, and again he let his Muse take him to the song as it unfolded, rather than putting the cart before the horse, so to speak.  The walking bass is delicious.

It always interests me when two people differ dramatically on a song (rather than just a little) — re “Dance Tonight” and mr. mustard and me.  It really reminds one of how relative & subjective this all is…