Hot As Sun/Glasses

A song written by Paul McCartney in his Quarrymen days, ‘Hot As Sun’ was recorded for his début solo album in 1970.

A song written in about 1958 or 9 or maybe earlier, when it was one of those songs that you play now and then. The middle was added in Morgan Studio, where the track was recorded recently.

Although it had been performed occasionally by The Quarrymen, the first record of it is from 24 January 1969, when it was played by The Beatles during the Let It Be sessions at Apple Studios. Although mostly instrumental, McCartney added some vocal sounds and a spoken word passage: “Welcome to the South Sea Islands, where the sound of a wave landing on the sand brings joy to the air.”

Tim Rice later added a set of lyrics to the music, and ‘Hot As Sun’ was issued as a single by Noosha Fox in July 1982. It was also recorded by Elaine PAige for her Hot As Sun album later that year; the sleeve notes erroneously claimed that McCartney had written the song specifically for her.

On the McCartney album, ‘Hot As Sun’ was presented alongside another instrumental, ‘Glasses’, which itself segued into another piece: a fragment of an unreleased song titled ‘Suicide’. Although bootleg recordings of a piano demo of ‘Suicide’ have emerged, this nine-second snippet is all that is commercially available.

Wineglasses played at random and overdubbed on top of each other – the end is a section of a song called SUICIDE – not yet completed.

‘Suicide’ was another song rehearsed during the Let It Be sessions. It was written for Frank Sinatra, although it was rejected by the Rat Pack crooner.

I wrote this song called ‘Suicide’ which was very cabaret. It was murder! Horrible song! Apparently he thought it was an almighty piss take. ‘No way!’ he’s supposed to have said to one of his people. ‘Is this guy having me on?’.

‘Hot As Sun’ was mixed at EMI Studios, Abbey Road on 24 February 1970. McCartney booked Studio Two under the pseudonym Billy Martin, as he wished to record the album in secret.