McCartney: "I Have Tried Heroin" (Doubtless Explains the Writing of "Silly Love Songs")

The Mirror ^ | 6/2/04 | Jon Wilde and David Edwards

[weegee]

Oops, there it is. Late night post.

"It was difficult to get up in the morning. I was drinking quite a lot, probably having a bit of a nervous breakdown. Looking back, I was in a state of grief. I realise that now. Grief for the end of the Beatles."

[weegee]

"In 1977, I fancied doing a Scottish bagpipe song, so I wrote Mull Of Kintyre. The people who hated it were p****d off with me.

"Of course, it didn't help that it came out at the height of punk rock. But what should I have done at that time? Stuck a safety pin through my nose and done some bonkers punk song?

MY attitude is really: 'Sod you. You think Mull Of Kintyre is crap - you try writing something like that.' I do get annoyed at having to justify myself.

It would have been all wrong for Paul to "write" a punk song. Wrong era, wrong mindset. There is a "play it loud, play it wrong" asthetic to Helter Skelter. There is an element of early 60s R&B tinged garage punk in some "unreleased" Beatles songs like "Leave My Kitten Alone".... but largely the Beatles were a pop band that went psychedelic, formed a publishing company for other artists, watched as Woodstock passed them by, and fought for more representation on their albums.

They knew they all had songs to contribute. They didn't want every release to be a 2-record set like the White Album (and the projects would not have had the cohession of Rubber Soul or Revolver).

[weegee]

McCartney says: "Just the other day I went for a walk on my own in the Hollywood Hills.

"This bunch of teenagers passed by me and one of them turned to me and said: 'Hey, Macca, you're the man! Fancy joining us for a smoke?'

A suspicious story on several counts. Do teens walk in the Hollywood Hills? I though nobody walks in LA.

Also, how many teens know who he is (that guy who was in a band before they broke up... Wings I think...)?

How many know his nickname is Macca? I figure more people would be calling him "Sir Paul" these days.

"Fancy joining us for a smoke?" - Do kids in Hollywood talk like this???

He'd be advised to watch out. The world is not a peaceful place. Ray Davies of the Kinks has been living down yonder in New Orleans. He was shot in the leg while in the French Quarter after someone stole his girlfriend's purse. Reports said he was not seriously injured but he is still getting about with a cane.

[537cant be wrong]

i always thought that paul should have written a song titled they took the toke out of tokeyo.

george was my favorite but in very kerryesque style i sometimes say john was my favorite.

[Moby Grape]

Actually the song "Silly Love Songs" was a slight at John Lennon....Lennon had made the comment that McCartney was writting only silly love songs...So McCartney promptly wrote and released Silly Love Songs, which promptly went to # 1.

[Adder]

Heck, just revisiting the lyrics, you'd miss it again if he hadn't said it was about pot.
I am a bit surprised that Pepper was the first time they did studio work while high...I would have bet it was Rubber Soul.

[HungarianGypsy]

I guess the title of Day Tripper might make sense that it was about acid. Silly, naive me. I thought it was about someone going on a one-day holiday.

[thathamiltonwoman]

I figured that the walrus song and the one about the octopus garden had to be written by someone who was high.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

my friends frown at me when i say that i like wings better than the beatles.

You have chosen your friends wisely.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

You would have tried heroin, too, if your former best friend had insisted you listen to THIS:

:)

[7thson]

I liked a lot of Wings stuff - Venus and Mars, At The Speed of Sound, Band On The Run. I also liked his first two solo albums - McCartney and RAM. If anyone saw Jerry McGuire, there is a scene where Tom is wooing the girl and an instrumental is playing. Took a while for me to figure it out but it came off of McCartney.

[7thson]

Whether you like or dislike them, the Beatles were extremely talented. Not many groups break up and every one of them have successful solo careers.

[rintense]

I can clearly see the metaphor of smoking pot in that song. But that's the thing about songs, poetry, etc.- everyone will read something different. Would I have seen the innuendo without Paul's confession? Probably not. But some people need help finding Waldo too. ;)

[KangarooJacqui]

Thanks for that image.

I think I now need a shot of heroin to get that song out of my head...

/sarcasm

[Carcharodon]

Wow ... 60's and 70's rock star did smack. Er-frigging-mazing.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

The walrus was Klein.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Thanks for that image.

I think I now need a shot of heroin

Oh.

Well... you're probably really gonna hate THIS one, then... :)

[KangarooJacqui]

(Jacqui on phone to heroin dealer:) "Make mine a double-shot, and hang the consequences. After seeing that Michael Jackson pic, an overdose would be merciful..."

<:-)~~

[Charlespg]

I am the egg man

Drugs ? Naaa can't be *sarcasm

[Hemingway's Ghost]

"We wrote loads of stuff. We'd stuff some Twinings tea in a pipe, smoke that and write songs. It wasn't all good but we always came up with something.

Bogus. But here's to Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennnon (RIP), and George Harrison (RIP), as a whole, simply the best rock musicians and craftsmen ever.