Press | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

‘Press’ was the lead single released from Paul McCartney’s sixth solo album Press To Play. See more…

I mean, who doesn’t like a back rub? There are some people who don’t, but I love them. It’s just right up my street, that kind of thing. So Linda was being nice enough to give me one one day, as they say. You can draw your own conclusions from that! Yes, a massage. Anyway, she was giving me a massage and it just felt so good, and I kind of got the words ‘Oh well that’s it, oh yeah, right there, ooh,’ you know. ‘Down a bit, up a bit.’ And the word ‘press’ started to run around in my mind as a kind of double-meaning thing, where you get the actual pressing.

So it then started to mean a little more than just a massage thing. That was the original inspiration. It started then to mean touching. I know sometimes when you’re a little bit nervous to meet someone, if you touch them it can make things better. It’s a great thing, I think, between people. Some people aren’t touchers, and I wouldn’t be the world’s greatest toucher. I know people like Johnny Carson, I’ve heard him say, he’s just not one of those guys that goes around, ‘Hey, how are ya?’ Huggy, huggy. But I know from my own experience that it can be a great thing. Even just shaking hands with someone, it just gives you something, some kind of contact.

So this song, then, I started to play around with this idea of a girl and a boy who actually want to touch each other, but there’s a whole big crowded room full of people. What are they gonna do? So he kind of says to her, ‘Anytime you want me to do that, just kind of say “press” quietly, and I’ll know what you mean.’ So it becomes a little secret message between the two of them.