The Paul McCartney song he called “voyeuristic”
Songwriting is an art form that can take influence from an unlimited variety of different directions. Throughout his career, Paul McCartney has been guilty of using almost every trick in the playbook, including from the perspective of a voyeur.
The track in question is ‘Another Day’, which appeared as the B-side to ‘Oh Woman, Oh Why’ and holds a shared writing credit with his wife, Linda. As this song is by McCartney, the track sounds saccharine and refrains from stepping into menacing or dark territory. McCartney later likened the effort to The Beatles classic ‘Eleanor Rigby’, given that both explored the same lyrical theme of a lonely woman desperately seeking fulfilment to no avail.
In the first verse, he sings: “Every day, she takes a morning bath, she wets her hair, Wraps a towel around her as she’s heading for the bedroom chair, It’s just another day, Slipping into stockings, stepping into shoes, Dipping in the pocket of her raincoat, It’s just another day.”
McCartney wrote the song as if he’s following the protagonist while she’s going around her everyday business. However, unlike in ‘Eleanor Rigby’, he never names the main character in the track and leaves many more gaps, forcing the listener to use imagination in order to fill in personal details.
In the book The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present, McCartney commented on ‘Another Day’, stating: “Think ‘Eleanor Rigby’ meets Hitchcock’s Rear Window. For, much as I hate to admit it, there is indeed a voyeuristic aspect to this song. Like many writers, I really am a bit of a voyeur; if there’s a lit window and there’s someone in it, I will watch them. Hands up, guilty. It’s a very, very natural thing”.
He added: “In a strange way, I may be interested in this subject matter because I get stared at quite a lot myself. It’s because I have a recognisable face. It happens in the underground, on the subway, which I take when I can. You don’t think people are looking at you until a little bit later, and you realise they were. Of course, I’m also looking back at them too. So I get to experience this from both sides.”
The track would later be referenced by his former Beatles bandmate, John Lennon, during a war of words played out through the medium of song. After growing estranged during the tail-end of the group’s tenure, McCartney took aim at Lennon on the Ram track ‘Too Many People’, which understandably didn’t sit well with his old friend. In response, Lennon penned ‘How Do You Sleep?’ which featured the lyrics: “The only thing you done was ‘Yesterday’, and since you’re gone you’re just another day”.
Watch the video for ‘Another Day’ below.
