TRACK REVIEW: Paul McCartney: Winter Bird / When Winter Comes

TRACK REVIEW:

Paul McCartney

PHOTO CREDIT: Mary McCartney

Winter Bird / When Winter Comes

9.7/10

The track, Winter Bird / When Winter Comes, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MnHkXcqvJ8

The album, McCartney III, is available via:

https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/paul-mccartney/mccartney-iii#:~:text=McCartney%20III%20spans%20a%20vast,back%20as%201971%20Wings%20sessions

RELEASE DATE:

18th December, 2020

GENRES:

Rock/Pop

ORIGIN:

West Sussex, U.K. (Hogg Hill Mill)

LABEL:

Capitol

PRODUCER:

Paul McCartney

TRACKLISTING:

Long Tailed Winter Bird

Find My Way

Pretty Boys

Women and Wives

Lavatory Lil

Deep Deep Feeling

Slidin'

The Kiss of Venus

Seize the Day

Deep Down

Winter Bird / When Winter Comes

__________

UNLESS there is a great track that…

PHOTO CREDIT: Mary McCartney

comes out of the blue before the end of the year, this will be my final review of 2020! I, like so many, was excited that Paul McCartney announced he would be releasing McCartney III. It is a phenomenal album, and one that provides a nice little treat at the end of a pretty hard year for us all. There has been so much press around it and, last night (19th December), the BBC broadcasted McCartney’s chat with Idris Elba. It was a nice and engaging programme, and one got to see McCartney relaxed and really enjoying speaking with Elba. A lot of the interviews for McCartney III have been through the Internet but, in a rare occasion, we actually got to see an interview in a studio – there have been others this year, but I am not sure whether Paul McCartney has been on T.V. in 2020. That is by the by. I am here to look at my favourite song from McCartney III, Winter Bird / When Winter Comes. It is the track that ends the album, and it is one of the most beautiful songs in the McCartney cannon! I am going to bring in a fair bit from interviews before I get to the actual song review, as there is a lot to unpack when it comes to the new album. Although McCartney III is the third part of the trilogy – he released the first album after The Beatles split in 1970; the second shortly after Wings disbanded in 1980 -, the sound is very different to both of those albums. I think that McCartney III is a stronger album than Egypt Station (2018) – an album I really like -, and it seems like lockdown and isolation has suited a certain creativity. McCartney wrote, recorded and produced everything we hear; he played all of the instruments and, when you listen back, one is amazed at how he managed to do it – even if it is Paul McCartney and we know how good he is!

It seems that, despite 2020 being very strange, McCartney has been keeping very busy. In a fascinating and very detailed interview from GQ, we learn more about a year in the life of the legendary Beatle:

“McCartney is having a busy year, even if he has spent several months cocooned in his East Sussex farm. Current projects include High In The Clouds (an animation project that has been bought by Netflix), a special reissue of Flaming Pie and a 50th anniversary limited-edition release of his first solo album, McCartney.

He’s also been making some of the final preparations for It’s A Wonderful Life, the musical he’s been writing for the past three years based on the famous Frank Capra movie. He made demos of all the songs last year and he’s having them transposed into sheet music so a rehearsal pianist can accompany the actors in readiness for preproduction. “When we can start working again, at least we’ll be ready to go,” he says.

This autumn should have also seen the release of Peter Jackson’s eagerly awaited The Beatles: Get Back (now expected in August 2021), a new documentary based on the band’s final year together and a way of offsetting the profoundly depressing Michael Lindsay-Hogg film, Let It Be, from 1970. Culled from nearly 60 hours of footage shot in early 1969, as The Beatles were recording what would become the record Let It Be, Jackson’s film includes never-before-seen footage from those sessions, including behind-the-scenes clips from the band’s legendary rooftop concert on London’s Savile Row. Ringo Starr, for one, is pleased with the new film, as it shows them as genuine collaborators rather than adversaries.

“There were hours and hours of us just laughing and playing music, not at all like the [Lindsay-Hogg] version,” Starr says. “There was a lot of joy and I think Peter will show that. I think this version will be a lot more ‘peace and loving’, like we really were”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mary McCartney

Even though McCartney has been keeping pretty busy, I can still imagine there were tough days. He is used to touring and being among the people, yet he has always managed to remain positive. I think the positivity we hear on McCartney III, in some ways, can be attributed to his home situation and the fact that his family are around him. In the same GQ interview, we learn more about lockdown and how it has been for him:

“So, how was lockdown for you, Paul?

I was very lucky, actually. At the beginning of the year we were on holiday and then the lockdown started just after we got back and so I flew to England and spent the time with my daughter, Mary, and her kids on the farm. So, suddenly, we were all locked down there. So it’s not been bad at all. In fact, I feel a bit guilty admitting that it’s not been bad, and a lot of people do. They don’t want to admit that, actually, you know, [they’re] enjoying it. I’m very lucky. The weather’s been brilliant and Mary and her kids are great, so I’m seeing a lot of my grandkids and [wife] Nancy, so it’s been all right. I feel dreadfully sorry for all those who are less fortunate and obviously all those who have lost loved ones, but I’ve been lucky. I’ve been able to write and get into music, starting songs, finishing songs. I’ve had a few little things to write and it’s given me the time to finish some songs that I hadn’t found the time to get around to, you know? I’ve been recording using lots of hand wipes and disinfectant and social distancing, which was good because I don’t like not working”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney with the rest of The Beatles/PHOTO CREDIT: Harry Hammond/V&A Images/Getty Images

I am going to stick with this interview, as there were so many wonderful talking points that are worth exploring – and I think they help contextualise Paul McCartney and his new album. Not to keep concentrating on his comfortable (compared to many) living situation and career, but I would hate to think that McCartney was unhappy or spent lockdown alone. In terms of McCartney being fortunate, I think I am referring more to his success with The Beatles and the fact that he got to be in such a popular and close band. He spoke to GQ about that:

“Do you ever reflect on the uniqueness of your position?

Do I ever! Like, always. Just give me a drink and sit me down and ask me questions. I tell you, I’m sitting there and I’m thinking, “My God, what about that?” The Beatles. I mean, come on, there are so many things. Obviously a lot of other people say things [too]. I remember Keith Richards saying to me, “You had four singers. We only had one!” Little things like that will set me off and I think, “Wow.” That is pretty uncanny. And writers. Not just singers, but writers. So you had me and John as writers and then George was a hell of a writer and then Ringo comes up with “Octopus’s Garden” and a couple of others... I love to go on about it, because in going on about it, it brings back memories. I do think it’s uncanny. You know, number one: how did those four guys meet? OK, well I had a best friend, Ivan, who knew John, so that’s how I met John. I used to go on the bus route to school and this little guy got on at the next stop and that was George. So that was kind of quite random. And then Ringo was some guy from the Dingle and we met him in Hamburg and just thought he was a great drummer”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney in 1969/PHOTO CREDIT: Linda McCartney

I think mentioning The Beatles is relevant, as the first McCartney was born from the break-up of the band. Even though it has been fifty years since the band parted ways, there must still be this sadness and realisation that things ended like they did. When he was chatting with GQ, the band and the split were referenced:

“You’ve spoken a bit about the depression you experienced after The Beatles split. Has the whole process of navigating fame and the pressures of the music industry affected your mental health?

I think so, yes. But, in truth, I just took to booze. There wasn’t much time to have mental health issues, it was just, fuck it, it’s boozing or sleeping. But I’m sure it did, as they were very depressing times. It’s funny, I remember when I first met Linda, she was divorced with a child and living in New York and having to fend for herself. She got depression and I remember her saying she made a decision. She said, “You know what? I’m not going to have this depression, because if I do I’m going to be in the hands of other people. And I’m not going to allow that to happen.” So she sort of picked herself up by her bootstraps and said, “I’ve got to get out of this myself.” And I think that was what I was able to do, to get out of the depression by saying, “OK, this is really bad and I’ve got to do something about it.” So I did. And I think that’s my way, almost by being my own psychiatrist. You say, “This is not cool. You’re not as bad as you think you are” and all of the things. So you start to think, “OK”.

I shall move on, as I am keen to narrow down to McCartney III and how the initial idea came about. I do like how McCartney III has arrived in 2020 and he has put out all three albums in the trilogy in years ending with a ‘zero’.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sonny McCartney

I am not sure whether McCartney started this year knowing he would make this album; it seems like he was just making music and keeping busy and the idea sort of came from there. When he spoke with Loud and Quiet, the discussion shifted to the origins of a much-awaited album:

“At what point did you realise that what you were doing was making McCartney III?

Right at the end of it, I’d just been stockpiling tracks, and I thought, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do with all of this – I guess I’ll hang onto it,’ and then I thought, ‘Wait a minute, this is a McCartney record,’ because I’d played everything and done it in the same manner as McCartney I and II. That was a little light bulb going off, and I thought, ‘Well, at least that makes a point of explaining what I’ve been doing, unbeknownst to me.’

It’s been 40 years since McCartney II – has there ever been a point between then and now that you’ve intended to make number III before?

No. Actually, not at all. I did McCartney right after The Beatles in 1970, McCartney II in 1980, and I did other similar projects, like The Firemen, working with Youth – that was a little bit similar because we’d go in the studio and Youth or I would just have a little bit of an idea, and it was a kind of homemade product, but it never occurred to me to do another McCartney album.

If you compare McCartney III to the other two albums or not, one has to admit that there is a very different sound between them all. The first was quite conventional in a way; it is pretty lo-fi due to how McCartney recorded it - and it was quite home-made -, but McCartney II is quite experimental, and there are some who feel that there are a lot of weak moments to be found. I really like the record, and I admire the fact that, like McCartney III, there is this vision of one man putting together these songs on his own (aside from Linda McCartney providing additional vocals on McCartney II). In that interview from Loud and Quiet, we learn about McCartney’s opinions of the 1980-released album:

“McCartney II has always been a really interesting record of yours, which has only grown in cult popularity over the years. How do you feel about that album now?

That’s a great thing for me, because you do these records and the spirit you do them in is very optimistic. You think, this is great, it’s a record, and you’re pleased with it. And then you get the reception, which is, “Oh no, bloody hell. What’s he doing?” So it’s disappointing when it doesn’t go down well, and it doesn’t sell well – you just think, nobody likes that. And then a few years ago, someone said to me, “’ere, there’s this DJ in Brighton and he’s playing ‘Temporary Secretary’.” I said, “Get out.” And he said, “It’s going crazy over there”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney with his son, James (circa 1980)/PHOTO CREDIT: Linda McCartney

There are a few more things that I need to tick off of the list before getting to the review because, as you know, there is something extra-special regarding McCartney III – it has a sense of history to it already! Paul McCartney is one of those artists who can easily adapt and work in different environments. His recent albums have been recorded with other people and musicians, and there has been a more collaborative feel. When he spoke with The New York Times, the nature of working solo was raised – he was also asked about his music growth:

“It seems to me that working on music by yourself, as you did on the new album, might allow for some insights about what you do and how you do it. So are there aspects of “McCartney III” that represent creative growth to you?

The idea of growing and adding more arrows to your bow is nice, but I’m not sure if I’m interested in it. The thing is, when I look back to “Yesterday,” which was written when I was 21 or something, there’s me talking like a 90-year-old: “Suddenly I’m not half the man I used to be.” Things like that and “Eleanor Rigby” have a kind of wisdom. You would naturally think, OK, as I get older I’m going to get deeper, but I’m not sure that’s true. I think it’s a fact of life that personalities don’t change much. Throughout your life, there you are.

Is there anything different about the nature of your musical gift today at 78 than in 1980 or 1970 or when you first started writing songs?

It’s the story that you’re telling. That changes. When I first said to John, “I’ve written a few songs,” they were simple. My first song was called “I Lost My Little Girl” — four chords. Then we went into the next phase of songwriting, which was talking to our fans. Those were songs like “Thank You Girl,” “Love Me Do,” “Please Please Me.” Then came a rich vein as we got more mature, with things like “Let It Be,” “The Long and Winding Road.” But basically I think it’s all the same, and you get lucky sometimes. Like, “Let It Be” came from a dream where my mother had said that phrase. “Yesterday” came from a dream of a melody. I’m a great believer in dreams. I’m a great rememberer of dreams.

IN THIS PHOTO: Paul and Linda McCartney in 1980

This year has also been sad because we marked forty years since John Lennon died…in addition to what would have been his eightieth birthday. I can only imagine how, after all these years, Lennon is still in McCartney’s head; how there must still be so much hurt regarding his untimely death and the manner in which it occurred. Not only will Paul McCartney regular think of his old friend, but I think he carries Lennon with him, not only in his thoughts, but when he is writing music. In the interview with The New York Times, McCartney spoke about his feelings regarding John Lennon’s death:

“McCartney III” will come out very close to the 40th anniversary of John Lennon’s death. Has your processing of what happened to him changed over the years?

It’s difficult for me to think about. I rerun the scenario in my head. Very emotional. So much so that I can’t really think about it. It kind of implodes. What can you think about that besides anger, sorrow? Like any bereavement, the only way out is to remember how good it was with John. Because I can’t get over the senseless act. I can’t think about it. I’m sure it’s some form of denial. But denial is the only way that I can deal with it. Having said that, of course I do think about it, and it’s horrible. You do things to help yourself out of it. I did an interview with Sean, his son. That was nice — to talk about how cool John was and fill in little gaps in his knowledge. So it’s little things that I am able to do, but I know that none of them can get over the hill and make it OK. But you know, after he was killed, he was taken to Frank Campbell’s funeral parlor in New York. I’m often passing that. I never pass it without saying: “All right, John. Hi, John”.

There is, I guess, always this question as to whether Lennon and McCartney would have ever worked together again and done something post-Beatles. They did meet and do stuff before his death, but what about post-1980? If The Beatles as a band wouldn’t have been viable in terms of resuscitation, the legendary songwriting partnership might have worked in a different setting. McCartney spoke with The Times where the subject was broached:

“Does he think they would have worked together again? “We made a decision when the Beatles folded that we weren’t going to pick it up again,” he says. “So we switched off from the Beatles. You talk about something coming full circle that is very satisfying; let’s not spoil it by doing something that might not be as good. It was a conscious decision to leave well enough alone, so I don’t really think we would have. But who knows? We could have. We had certainly got our friendship back, which was a great blessing for me, and I now will often think, if I’m writing a song, ‘OK, John — I’ll toss it over to you. What line comes next?’ So I’ve got a virtual John that I can use”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney with John Lennon in 1965/PHOTO CREDIT: David Bailey

I am going to discuss optimism and a slightly more sinister edge in McCartney’s work but, before, I want to stay with John Lennon and The Beatles. McCartney will always hold affection for those years when he was part of the world’s best band; working at Abbey Road Studios and be alongside great mates. McCartney was interviewed by Uncut , where the nature of Lennon’s influence on him now was brought up – in addition to the way that Abbey Road Studios (and The Beatles) are still with him in a way:

“Do you often mentally consult John when you’re writing?

Yeah, often. We collaborated for so long, I think, ‘OK, what would he think of this? What would be say now?’ We’d both agree that this new song I’m taking about is going nowhere. So instead of sitting around, we’d destroy it and remake it. I started that process yesterday in the studio. I took the vocal off it and decided to write a new vocal. I think it’s heading in a better direction now. Anyway, it keeps me off the streets!”.

You’ve also got an Abbey Road Mellotron! Does that bring back any particular memories?

Oh, yeah! We used to go into Abbey Road every day; it was our workplace. One day, in the middle of the studio, there was this… piece of furniture that none of us had ever seen before. It was a kind of wartime grey colour. It wasn’t glamorous at all. We said, “What’s this?” The engineer started explaining it to us: “It will synthesise strings. You can get flutes and organs and all sorts of stuff.” So we became fascinated with it. We used it on a few things, like the intro to “Strawberry Fields”. There’s a Spanish guitar line on “Buffalo Bill” – that’s actually the Mellotron. These days, if you go a bit crazy on it and don’t allow it to do its full sample, you end up with a wacky piece of music”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mary McCartney

Many might naturally associate Paul McCartney’s work with being optimistic and cheery all of the time. No songwriter is like that in every song and, like all artists, there are occasions when something a little more edgy and unexpected comes to the fore for Macca. I am going to review a song that is very hopeful and makes you feel warmer. However, there is a song on McCartney III that has a little bit of anger. On most of his albums, I suppose, one can find something a little darker - Despite Repeated Warnings on Egypt Station (2018), and Riding to Vanity Fair on Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (2005), for example. One of the best songs on McCartney III came to the attention of The New York Times:

“There’s a song on “McCartney III,” “Pretty Boys,” that is kind of unusual for you in how the music is sort of unassuming but the lyrics have an almost sinister edge. What inspired that one?

I’ll tell you exactly. I’ve been photographed by many photographers through the years. And when you get down to London, doing sessions with people like David Bailey, they can get pretty energetic in the studio. It’s like “Blow-Up, you know? “Give it to me! [Expletive] the lens!” And it’s like: “What? No, I’m not going to.” But I understand why they’re doing that. They’re that kind of artist. So you allow it. Certain photographers — they tend to be very good photographers, by the way — can be totally out of line in the studio. So “Pretty Boys” is about male models. And going around New York or London, you see the lines of bicycles for hire. It struck me that they’re like models, there to be used. It’s most unfortunate”.

IMAGE CREDIT: Bráulio Amado

On the other side of the songwriting coin is Paul McCartney as an optimist. I think that his songs have a real power to uplift and create something very warm. One can her a lot of that on McCartney III. Maybe McCartney’s optimism stems from the fact that he had a comfortable life and strong family at a time when many, including John Lennon, had a much more fraught and loving childhood. Maybe it is him not wanting to complain about his lot and making the best of everything. When McCartney spoke with The Times, he did reflect on his more cheery side:

“Well, I am an optimist,” he says. “Generally speaking I do believe things are good, and we screw them up. In fact, a lot of people during lockdown would say, ‘Oh God!’ And I’d say, ‘Yes, but there’s a silver lining.’ It was a phrase I used a lot. I was loath to say it because a lot of people had it bad, but suddenly we saw more of the family than ever, and I was able to do recordings. That was my silver lining. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of thinking things are bad and getting worse. Which, I don’t know, may be true, but I know I’d then be bummed out by that, so I say to myself, ‘Well, it’s not that bad. Think about the other day. That was good!’ I am always trying to find the good in things”.

Once or twice on McCartney III, though, the burdens of lockdown seem to overcome him. Find My Way is fraught and talks of being “overwhelmed by your anxieties”, while the excellent Deep Deep Feeling is a deliberately repetitive song for an accidentally repetitive year — with a lot of use of the word “pain”.

Which is not optimistic. “That’s true,” he says. “But even if you’re an optimist you know plenty of people who aren’t. So a line like, ‘You’re overwhelmed by your anxieties’ — well, I know people like that. And I go on to say, ‘Let me help you. Let me be your guide.’ So again it’s this idea of trying to do something in your work that can actually make a difference to people”.

I am going to have no conclusion section, as I think that I have put in quite a few words already - and I want to end the review with the song itself. Before I come to providing my thoughts on a marvellous song, Loud and Quiet asked Paul McCartney about the sublime closing track on McCartney III:

“The album comes full circle when it ends on the riff from the opening track, ‘Long Tailed Winter Bird’, and segues into ‘When Winter Comes’, which you recorded years ago with George Martin, right?

Yes. There’s nothing on that track – it’s just me – but I made a track called ‘Calico Skies’ a while ago [for the 1997 album Flaming Pie], which George produced. And at the same time, because I was in the studio and had an extra minute or so, I had this other song, so I said, ‘let me knock this one off.’ That was ‘When Winter Comes’, and I mention George because it was on a George Martin produced session, but is just me on the guitar. It was nearly going to be a bonus extra that was going to be on a reissue of Flaming Pie, but I’d just been reading that great book on Elvis, Last Train to Memphis, and it mentioned a song and said you’ve probably never heard it because it was buried as a bonus on the B-side of an album. So I thought, no, I’d rather have this one as a proper track. And we finished the album with it because it was the reason for doing the whole thing, because me and my mate Geoff Dunbar, who’s an animation director, were talking about making an animated film to that song. So that’s where the opening and closing tracks come from, which got me into the studio in the first place”.

IMAGE CREDIT: The Ringer

There are other tracks from McCartney III that turned my head – including the meaty Slidin’, and the brilliant Find My Way -, but I just had to focus on Winter Bird / When Winter Comes. Not only does McCartney love a good segue, but there is history to this song and, as it ends his latest album, it is like the closing of a chapter; a song that could apply to so many this year – and also give them strength and a sense of focus. With beautiful Spanish-sounding guitars projecting images of nature and a certain spring, the pattern then changes and slows slightly. It is almost like McCartney is representing the change of the season: from the sun and warmth of summer, we then have moved through autumn and are approaching winter. I really love the sound and movement of the introduction guitar. It is so beautiful and makes one imagine and let their mind wander. The song, as represented by the lyric video, is a to-do list for McCartney - what he needs to get sorted by the time winter takes grip. I love the ordinariness of the list and its importance. Many associate major songwriters with these big and rich lifestyles but, on such an intimate and relatable song, this is McCartney – unless he is writing from a character’s viewpoint – that just needs to get some important jobs done! His voice sound so gripping and beautiful as he starts the list with “Must fix the fence by the acre plot”. It seems that a pair of nosy foxes have been causing trouble and he does not want the chickens to be attacked. That, there, seems to me to be about McCartney on his farm and ensuring that his animals are safe and protected (I forgot to mention that his lambs also need to be kept safe).

PHOTO CREDIT: Collie Schorr for GQ

The carrot patch is next up; needing to dig a ditch/drain, if the veg gets too damp then that will spoil them. The refrain of “When winter comes” has a blend of emotions in its heart: the urgency of preparing for a hard season; the inevitability of change and the days getting longer; the comfort in doing these jobs and readying the farm for what is to come. Even though, as the song says, food will be a little scarce, does one associate with McCartney as living off the land in a self-sustaining way!? I guess he does in a sense, but he is unlikely to struggle for subsistence and foodstuff. That does not detract from the power and meaning of the song because, as I mused, Winter Bird / When Winter Comes might be taken from a fictional viewpoint. McCartney and company are going to stay inside and warm their toes as summer ends. There is this balance of the windscreen and intimate through the song. From that cosy vision by the fire, McCartney’s next task is planting a tree by the river. This tree will provide shade and shelter for “some poor soul”. After the beautiful opening guitar passage for Winter Bird, When Winter Comes then delivers this beautiful and tender performance where McCartney gives himself the task of taking care of those around him. I think the song could have easily fitted on an album like The Beatles (1968) or one of his later-days solo albums. Winter Bird / When Winter Comes ends McCartney III perfectly. It provides the listener with this sense of warmth. In a year like no other, there is extra emotional hit to the lyrics regarding how many of us are hunkering down and might not have as much as we’d like. So many people will be able to relate to Winter Bird / When Winter Comes: a perfect swansong from…