The Song We Were Singing
| "The Song We Were Singing" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Paul McCartney | |
| from the album Flaming Pie | |
| Released | 5 May 1997 |
| Studio | Hogg Hill Mill, Icklesham |
| Length | 3:54 |
| Label |
|
| Songwriter | McCartney |
| Producers |
|
"The Song We Were Singing" is a song by the English musician and former Beatle Paul McCartney, released as the opening track on his 1997 album Flaming Pie.[1]
Background and recording
McCartney wrote "The Song We Were Singing" in Jamaica in early January 1995.[2] It was the first song on Flaming Pie, and McCartney and Jeff Lynne, who plays electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboard, and sings a harmony vocal, with McCartney performing everything else on the track.[2] As McCartney stated on the writing of the song:was recorded at Hogg Hill Mill in Icklesham.[3]
I was remembering the sixties; sitting around late at night dossing, smoking pipes, drinking wine... jawing, talking about the cosmic solution. It was what we were all doing... all that 'what about... wow!' It's that time in your life when you got a chance for all that.
— Paul McCartney, in Mark Lewisohn and Geoff Baker, Flaming Pie, Flaming Pie liner notes[2]
Composition and lyrics
"The Song We Were Singing" is a waltz track[1] in a style similar to the Beatles' "We Can Work It Out" and Rubber Soul, a 1965 album by the Beatles.[3] According to author John Blaney: "For McCartney, 'The Song We Were SInging' was an evocation of times spent in the 1960s relaxing with friends. A nostalgic view of that swinging decade, when anything seemed possible, his lyric suggests that there was a longing for something more lasting than fame and wealth."[4]
Release and reception
Writing for Rolling Stone, Anthony DeCurtis writes it "suffers from the self-congratulation of that most cliched of genres, the boomer reminiscence".[5] Paul Moody writes in an NME review that "Opening Dylan-pastiche 'The Song We Were Singing' jogs contentedly along the leafy byways of '60s Nostalgia Avenue".[6] In a review for the Archive Collection reissue of the album, Jamie Atkins write that it "begins with Paul in campfire acoustic mode, the tone casual and conversational as he remembers putting the world to rights back in the 60s[ ]before a whopping great shanty of a chorus takes over, harmonium and all, bolstered with multi-track Beatlesy backing vocals".[7] The track is included as the eighth track on the first disk of the compilation Pure McCartney.[8]
Credits and personnel
According to the liner notes of Flaming Pie:[2]
Performers
- Paul McCartney – lead and harmony vocals, electric and acoustic guitar, bass guitar, double bass,, drums,[4] harmonium, producer
- Jeff Lynne – electric and acoustic guitar, keyboard, producer
Technical
- Geoff Emerick – engineer
- Jon Jacobs – engineer
- Keith Smith – assistant engineer
- Marc Mann – digital sequencing
References
- ^ a b Thomas Erlewine, Stephen. "Flaming Pie Review". AllMusic. RoVi Corporation. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
- ^ a b c d Lewisohn, Mark; Baker, Geoff (5 May 1997). Flaming Pie (booklet). Paul McCartney. Capitol, Parlophone.
- ^ a b Jackson, Andrew Grant (2012). Still the Greatest: The Essential Songs of the Beatles' Solo Careers. Internet Archive. Scarecrow Press. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-8108-8222-5.
- ^ a b Blaney, John (2007). Lennon and McCartney: Together Alone: A Critical Discography of Their Solo Work. Internet Archive. Jawbone Press. p. 225. ISBN 978-1-906002-02-2.
- ^ DeCurtis, Anthony (6 June 1997). "Flaming Pie". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 7 July 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
- ^ "NME.COM - PAUL McCARTNEY - Flaming Pie - 17/5/1997". www.nme.com. Archived from the original on 4 October 2000. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
- ^ Atkins, Jamie. "Flaming Pie – Deluxe Edition - Record Collector Magazine". Retrieved 17 March 2026.
- ^ "Album review: Big Thief, Jameszoo, Michael Kiwanuka, Australiana, Paul McCartney". The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2026.