The most misunderstood Paul McCartney song: “It was more about rolling a joint”
Paul McCartney has a history of subtly weaving messages and themes into his music. While his contributions to The Beatles earned praise for these endeavours, his solo career presented a challenge in conveying intended meanings. This challenge became pronounced during McCartney’s well-publicised feud with his former bandmate and friend, John Lennon, leading many to speculate that McCartney was attempting to emulate Lennon’s style in his later solo work. However, according to the songwriter, this wasn’t the case at all.
In 1973, when McCartney and Wings released ‘Let Me Roll It’ as the B-side to their hit ‘Jet’, some music critics noted its resemblance to Lennon’s style, a comparison McCartney strongly refuted in an attempt at dispelling any misconceptions about their divergent musical perspectives. Amid the media-fuelled debates and rivalries between McCartney and Lennon in their solo careers, the song lyrics actually frequently contained subtle references to substances such as marijuana or psychedelics.
‘Let Me Roll It’, for instance, was interpreted by McCartney himself as an ode to the pleasure of “rolling a joint,” a pastime he first embraced during his tenure with The Beatles. He held the view that the drug had genuinely “mind-expanding” qualities, inspiring him to compose a song that celebrated its enjoyment. McCartney also expressed this passion in another song, ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’, which he recalls is “an ode to pot, like someone else might write an ode to chocolate or a good claret. While we don’t know anyone who writes odes to chocolate, we do get the point.”
Upon the release of ‘Let Me Roll It’, there was widespread speculation that the song’s similarity to Lennon’s style was a direct reference to their public feud during the early 1970s. During this period, they frequently engaged in musical exchanges to convey messages to each other. However, McCartney was adamant that the song carried an entirely different intention. He clarified, saying, “‘Let Me Roll It’ wasn’t to John. It was just in the style that we did with The Beatles that John was particularly known for.”
He added, “To tell you the truth, that was more [about] rolling a joint. That was the double meaning there: ‘let me roll it to you.’ That was more at the back of my mind than anything else.” While ‘Let Me Roll It’ appeared to allude to marijuana rather than McCartney’s rift with Lennon, he chose to address their feud in a different track, ‘Dear Friend’. This song was McCartney’s plea for reconciliation with his former songwriting collaborator. In a 1994 interview, McCartney explained that he wrote the song as a response to Lennon but preferred not to “slag him off in public”.
He explained: “‘Dear Friend’ was written about John, yes. I don’t like grief and arguments, they always bug me,” he added, “Life is too precious, although we often find ourselves guilty of doing it. So after John had slagged me off in public, I had to think of a response, and it was either going to be to slag him off in public — and some instinct stopped me, which I’m really glad about — or do something else. So I worked on my attitude and wrote ‘Dear Friend’, saying, in effect, let’s lay the guns down, let’s hang up our boxing gloves.”
Despite the strain in Lennon and McCartney’s relationship that cast a shadow over their accomplishments for a significant period, their mutual influence on each other remained undeniable. ‘Let Me Roll It’ displayed elements reminiscent of Lennon’s musical style, while McCartney’s songwriting inspired Lennon’s creativity. In time, they both grew more appreciative of each other’s contributions, choosing to reconcile and celebrate the positive aspects of their collaboration rather than dwelling on petty grievances.
