The classic Paul McCartney called his “definitive” love song
There have probably been no other artists who have written about love as much as The Beatles. For as long as the band were together, they had written so many songs about infatuation and harmony that you would swear that they uncovered the meaning of love somewhere along the line. Paul McCartney was still more than willing to work in the odd love song during his solo career, though, and he thought that the track ‘My Love’ was a bit of an apex for his brand of romantic ditties.
Granted, it’s easier to write about love when you have a specific target in mind. For as long as The Beatles sauntered across the stage in their loveable moptop personas, most of the songs they were singing didn’t have the same personal meaning behind them as their later work, with McCartney only occasionally writing about his personal life.
By the time John Lennon started incorporating autobiographical pieces into his music, there was a whole new area to explore. That didn’t always suit McCartney, though, who was more liable to write about fantastical characters and make up a story than tell people his inner feelings.
Time changes any songwriter, though, and McCartney finally personalised himself in his solo career. While fans were far from in love with albums like RAM at first, his new band Wings was going to take him to the next level. After a bunch of false starts on Wild Life, Red Rose Speedway gave the band their first huge hit with ‘My Love’, which McCartney wrote specifically for his wife, Linda.
As far as Macca was concerned, this is about as close to the bone as he was going to get, later recalling in Stories Behind the Songs, “‘My Love’ was my definitive one for Linda, written in the early days of our relationship, and that came easily”. The song may have done its job as a love song, but for his former Beatles, it may have dipped into sentimental territory a bit too much.
While McCartney’s song is justifiably a masterpiece from a raw execution standpoint, it is also prime fodder for any detractors who only talk about him making nothing but silly love songs. Still, the song does have one of the rare inclusions of a non-McCartney-mandated guitar solo, with Henry McCullough adding a bit of edge to the song towards the end.
Though McCartney had a hit on his hands, it wasn’t something that he could sustain for that much longer. The plans for Red Rose Speedway turning into a double album were scrapped, and the band wouldn’t really get their just due until 1973 when they hit the big time again on the massive album Band on the Run. That doesn’t discount what ‘My Love’ has to offer, though.
If anything, the song acts as a deep love letter to the woman who helped turn McCartney’s life around. Linda was always the one who was there for him in his time of need and even helped save him from himself by getting him back into making music after The Beatles split up. After years of being by her side, ‘My Love’ is the song that McCartney wrote as a thank-you for all that his wife has done for him.
