2000 Great Songs #1483: Silly Love Songs

As I've described ad nauseum both here and in my book, Paul McCartney's Ram was the first rock album I heard as a kid, standing out from the other 8-track tapes my distinctly non-musically-cool father would play (i.e. The Carpenters, Barbra Streisand, Herb Albert, various soundtracks). By the time I'd really gotten into music a few years later, at the ripe old age of 9, I'd kinda forgotten about it, a relic of the past which I hadn't heard in some time (the tape was in my dad's car when it was stolen several years earlier, so that was that).

Come spring 1976, just a few months into my AM radio obsession, Paul & Wings released Wings At The Speed Of Sound to much fanfare. I'd mostly lost track of McCartney since the disappearance of that Ram tape, and was excited by his first new release since my musical awakening. So I gathered my accumulated allowance, had my parents drag me to the local mall, and picked up a copy, one of the first albums I'd bought (not long after the Sweet album I've also talked about).

And boy, was I disappointed by the record! A lot of real clunkers. (I'm still not a fan; I think Paul's decision to make Wings more of a democracy led to some weak band contributions, not that Paul's work was that great either; I'm much more partial to the underrated follow-up, London Town.)

Still, the hit single, "Silly Love Songs," was pretty undeniable. It's lyrically lightweight by design, Paul unabashedly embracing John Lennon's slam of his songwriting; but the melody is pure McCartney. And the bass playing is, of course, ridiculous (along with other nifty bits, like that weird mechanical noise intro). The slow section 2/3 into the over-long album version is a bit of a drag (though I like when they sing in a round), but pays off when the band kicks back in at the end; even if 7 minutes feels like overkill, the shortened single seems unsatisfyingly incomplete.

Live Wings:

Inexplicable and horrifying movie version, ugh, but here we are:

Red House Painters borrow the lyrics for an extended 11-minute Crazy Horse-styled jam session:

Kinda terrifying deconstruction by The Replicants:

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