The song Paul McCartney was never supposed to record: “More important than I intended it”
Considering the wealth of songs he’s written over his illustrious career, there’s not much calling for Paul McCartney to indulge in recording covers of other artists. However, when the Beatles bassist does decide to put his own ditties aside and launch into a rendition of someone else’s material, it ought to be seen by the original artist as praise of the highest order, and having one of the world’s most esteemed recording artists touch your work should be something you cherish for eternity.
McCartney’s covers often come during live performances instead of on studio albums, but when he does opt to give his own spin on someone else’s material, it’s often a carefully considered and calculated choice that is made that either allows him to share his love of a song or show off his versatility as a performer. Artists such as Little Richard, Fats Domino and Eddie Cochran have all been subject to McCartney covers in a live capacity, and usually, his interpretations of their works are faithful to the original and performed as a declaration of love for those who wrote them in the first place.
When MTV invited Sir Paul to perform for their Unplugged series in January 1991, the show was still in its infancy, and McCartney took this opportunity to perform a number of covers alongside some of his own lesser-known material, and paid tribute to the likes of Gene Vincent, Bill Withers and Jesse Fuller among others. Sitting towards the start of his acoustic set was a rendition of ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’, which began slowly before erupting into a swinging and jiving rock and roll tune.
Originally written and recorded by bluegrass musician Bill Monroe in 1947, the song was later made famous by Elvis Presley when he recorded his own version seven years later. Speaking on his decision to include the song as part of the live performance and why it turned out the way it did with the two distinct parts, McCartney revealed in an issue of the fanzine Club Sandwich that he wanted to pay tribute to both versions of the song.
“I originally heard the Elvis version, uptempo and echoey,” McCartney explained, “Then later I heard the Bill Monroe original, a slower waltz version, and loved his nasal delivery. I also saw him doing it on telly, in America, a couple of times. So I thought, for Unplugged, that it would be nice to do his version first and then go into the uptempo Elvis one.”
This fusion of the two distinct versions doesn’t appear forced in the slightest, and McCartney himself shows off his flexibility as a performer by flicking between the two older interpretations with ease. To an unfamiliar ear that may not be familiar with both Monroe and Presley’s versions, it almost sounds as though it was intended to switch from the slower tempo into the more upbeat closing section, and his choice of song appeared to pay off for him, with the whooping and hollering for the song being audible on the recording.
McCartney himself maintains that this becoming a popular cover of the song was simply a fortuitous blessing that he hadn’t anticipated. “It’s funny – I never meant to record it,” he told the fanzine, “but I did it on the early Wings tours, which we recorded, and now this, which we’ve released, and it’s become a bit more important than I intended it, really. But that’s OK.”
