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Read the original blog post11.23am
31 March 2008
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‘Heather’ is the eleventh song on Paul McCartney’s 2001 album Driving Rain.
It was named after McCartney’s second wife, Heather Mills, whom he married on 11 June 2002. They separated in May 2006 and divorced acrimoniously two years later. See more…
There’s a funny story about this track. It actually came about early one morning. I’d got up and was just jamming on the piano and Heather, who doesn’t know all of The Beatles songs because she’s young, said ‘That’s great – which Beatles song is that?’ I said ‘It’s not, I’m just making it up’. And she’s like ‘What? Now? Making it up now?’ Yeah. Suddenly she’s saying ‘Get it down! You’ve got to get that down, get it on a tape, now!’ I’m saying ‘No, it’s OK, I’m just noodling’, but she’s insisting ‘get it down!’, so we found a little dictaphone and played it into that. And then she said ‘By the way, what’s it called?’ ‘Oh’, I said, ‘It’s called ‘Heather”.
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6.25pm
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20 August 2013
Offline I can listen to this son on repeat for hours. I find it very inspired – what do you say, @Sea Belt?
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7.56pm
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1 May 2011
Offline The following people thank meanmistermustard for this post:
Richard, sir walter raleigh"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
12.24am
7 November 2022
Offline Ahhh Girl said
I can listen to this son on repeat for hours. I find it very inspired – what do you say, @Sea Belt?
I can see listening to this repeatedly. It’s pleasant & catchy, but to me it lacks that “spark” of McCartney’s inspired songs.
Now today I find, you have changed your mind
1.23am
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20 August 2013
Offline Would any of you music-knowledgeable people be willing to give me the musical terms to describe this song? Why do I obsess over it?
@sir walter raleigh, you are one of the people I’m hoping to get a reply from – no rush, just when you can get to it.
Can buy Joe love! Amazon | iTunes
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6.44am
26 January 2017
Offline First thing that pops out at me listening to it now is that is has an unusual harmonic rhythm. Harmonic rhythm isnt the rhythm of the chords hes playing, its the rhythm of the chord changes. How long each chord lasts is a little bit surpising; he hangs onto the changes long enough to really feel at home at each chord. The progression is cool, it has a nice walkdown that leads back into the main hook or the middle eight in a satisfying way.
The really impressive part of this song to me is how it builds with each repetition. It opens up as a relatively standard rock arrangement, before bringing in the driven guitars, strings, harmonies, and finally a lead vocal on the last time through. Paul is so unbelievable because for nearly 70 years he has been writing songs and never seems to run out of melodic ideas. This includes the way he ornaments and decorates his songs with baselines, riffs, backing vocals, harmony lines and lead vocals that shift and evolve throughout the song so naturally… I could go on and on about the different ways his gift for melody is used in nearly every aspect of his music, but its on full display here.
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Ahhh Girl, Von Bontee, Rube"The pump don't work cause the vandals took the handles!"
-Bob Dylan, Subterranean Homesick Blues
"We could ride and surf together while our love would grow"
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5.20am
26 January 2017
Offline Thanks to @Ahhh Girl , Ive also been listening to this song on repeat. I love the 2nd section. Phenomenal chord progression
The chord change at 0:23 seconds
Reminds me of this change at 0:38
Its figured bass, the V chord over its own 3rd. Elton resolves it sooner than Paul; Heather hangs out on that dominant function and continues to walk down before finally resolving.
The following people thank sir walter raleigh for this post:
Ahhh Girl, Rube"The pump don't work cause the vandals took the handles!"
-Bob Dylan, Subterranean Homesick Blues
"We could ride and surf together while our love would grow"
-Brian Wilson, Surfer Girl
3.53pm
14 December 2009
Offline Huh, I didn’t know Paul wrote a song for his second wife, to balance the many ones he wrote for Linda.
Has he written any songs specifically for his current wife, or is “Rocky Raccoon ” the only one with a “Nancy”? 
Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.
5.49pm
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20 August 2013
Offline My Valentine was written for Nancy. Click on the link and read Joe’s page on the song.
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Richard, Von Bontee, RubeCan buy Joe love! Amazon | iTunes
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