I would be remiss to bypass a birthday greeting to Paul McCartney who turned 69 today. My passion for pop music was fueled by The Beatles. To this day their music is an integral part of my heart and soul. But this day belongs to Paul alone, so I picked an old chestnut from his magnificent second solo album Ram. Too Many People was seen by some - including Mr. Lennon - as a poke at his former bandmate. Even if it is true, the poke was understated and good humored. Certainly nowhere nearly as offensive as the attacks that were made against him back in the early days after the breakup.
Regardless, Too Many People is a little Beatlesque treasure, with the prerequisite awesome bass line, Linda's simple harmonies, and a guitar solo that never ceases to amaze me. When Ram was released I was somewhat underwhelmed. But over the years it has grown and grown to the point that I now rank it with Band on the Run as Paul's finest post-Beatles work.
Happy birthday Mr. McCartney - your music has made me smile for 47 years and I am still counting.
Shel Talmy, 1937-2024
9 hours ago
4 comments:
very nice to hear this again and be reminded of this man's musical genius, sustained as its been over so many decades.
AP
If we heard nothing except the final 30 seconds of instrumental-to-fadeout at the end of this song, we'd know it was a Beatle at work wouldn't we :-)
You know one of the things I liked about this album was the feeling that this was precisely a look into how a Beatle made a song ... on i think several tracks (though i can only think of Dear Boy at the moment!) Paul is singing what could have been instrumental parts (oh and Ram On is another example), like a guy in a hotel room showing another guy who can't read music, how this new song he's thinking about might sound ...
Aw, I love this song, and love this album. Loose, creative, full of juice -- Macca at his best.
Odd how I never let June 18 pass without remembering that it's Paul's birthday. Those Beatlemaniac habits die hard.
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