Is this Paul McCartney’s favourite solo song?
Asking Paul McCartney to name his favourite song is probably a lot like asking a parent to name their favourite child: he might pretend to love them all equally, but there’s definitely one that sits at the top of the pile. Given that the former Beatle can lay claim to ‘Let It Be’, ‘Eleanor Rigby’, and ‘Blackbird’, you’d imagine Macca would struggle to select just one track. Well, apparently not. Here, the former Beatle discusses a song that became one of his absolute favourites.
Featured on Paul McCartney’s second solo album, ‘Waterfalls’ came at a very productive time for the songsmith. Written around the same time Wings released their final album Back To The Egg, the single is fairly unique in that, unlike most of the songs from McCartney II, it wasn’t improvised in the studio. Instead, Paul looked back into his own songbook to revitalise a track he’d originally written for Wings.
Centred around the mellow chime of an electric piano, ‘Waterfalls’ opens with what appears to be Paul McCartney reciting a safety notice. “Don’t go jumping waterfalls,” he begins. “Please keep to the lake”. The track, which came to McCartney during a trip to the US with his family, sees the songsmith use verbatim material to express something universal. With age comes responsibility, Paul suggests, identifying himself as an out-and-proud dad rocker with little patience for the wacky antics of yesteryear. Indeed, the fact that McCartney wears a knitted cardigan in the music video to ‘Waterfalls’ says a lot about his burgeoning desire to transform himself into some sort of rock ‘n’ roll hobbit – a creative genius in slippers and a dressing gown.
Opening up about the song, Paul once said: “‘Waterfalls’ could have been called ‘I Need Love’ but that would have been too ordinary. I just had this waterfalls and lakes idea, from the notices you see in American tourist resorts, and it stuck.” A while later, Paul was working on McCartney II when he found himself in need of a little inspiration. “Halfway through the album, making it all up as I went along, I got a bit bored,” he remembered. “I had finished about eight tracks by then and I thought I would do something different. So I decided to do a song that was already written, a track left over from the last Wings album, and that was my favourite at the time. That’s why it’s included.”
McCartney had always intended to change the original lyrics, but, in the end, he ended up sticking with the whole safety notice spiel: “The original lyrics were just working lyrics, gut lyrics, just spewed out. I thought I’d have to get serious and sensible and change them. Lyrics like that I don’t trust. But in time, I got to like them and I thought I should add electric piano and a distant string synthesiser like a mad Swiss orchestra on a mountaintop. And it worked! A lot of people have rung up about that one and said that it’s their favourite. So when you get such a good feeling, you think that perhaps it should be a single.”
You can revisit ‘Waterfalls’ below.
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