PAUL MGGARTNEY

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Songwriting
PaDl Mccarttey jn .:a.j
versation with Gearye
Georgel.Jlrke lo lake ore
afyour song:;.nd therl talk
abaDt the way n *artec|
Paul Shall we pick one
that you loow a lot aboul
as well so that you can nll
)n? Ebony and lvoq,?
Georye .\'on,iow drd &at ::tart? What was the
LhouEritp.o.ess di.l yau thrtu af the tune ad
tha stut ta thFk abaut words haw di.l you
Paul I was r,r Scotlandand, as can sometines
happen one gaod hme to wrjte sonqsts when
you re not jn a very sood tnood.lt s like a kind ol
psychlalrist s couch in a way and oiten whai you
do is take your !:turtar or piano, your musLcal
'cruich' and qo off in a roon ard sort of sulk
almosl you sr k to the sonq lr makes you feel
better becaNe youre gellng x oul And as l
.ecall l wasn t leelmq urat bnlliant so l thouqht
oh heli so dd get away, dd so I went mio a
liLtle stLrdiol've qol lhere and I sat aLthe plano
the Rhodes With me it s always piano or !:tuitar
thals the only two viaysI witei I rcrely wile jn
I'd had th's lLue lymq aroud lor a wh'le the
whole thin!:t goes back quite a lew years wnen
on TV, or on the Fdio I heard Spike Mnliqan
make this analoqr wLthbtack and whxe noles on
the prano he d saLd you loow s a frmy k'nd ol
't andyouneedto
thnq black noies whjtenotes
play the two to make larmonr folks He tusl
nade a httLejokeout olil I thoughr yes,thisis a
qood analoqy for harmory belween people
becauseif youve jut qot the black noiesyoure
limited and rf youve just qot ihe whles yourc
limited evertually youve !:totto qo inio fieln
both So Iwas thrnknq. ril was qroinqto wiie a
song about lhat what mrqht it be called? And I
by
came up vnth ihe rdea ol ebony and
'voryofl I
thinkinq whal are those actual thjnqs made
dont krow
actuallymade ofebony
'ilheyre
George ?lrer
l]sed lo bei &ey rc nat any mare,
jwt Fnjnted waad Theyre tat wary ejther
plasttc naw: thats wtty they datt ga yelow!
Paul So l ihouqht ebony and
sounds nce
Black is easilyassocialedwjti'!ory
ebony theres a
naqazrnecalledtbon), lvory Iv/9sn11ookeer
on us com'rq tuomelephant'stusksbut I thouqht
lh'nq ebonyandrvory sorvhenI satdo! n jn thN
62

no1paniculady qood mood, I thoushl O K let s

see what can {e do with n " I ther t ed to para
phrase Spikes thouqht I saLdown al the piano
selected a key ard it s the sort of a key you leel
ljke I lelt a br1I'ke E Major thal day I hit the
chord E and the tunejNt came on hearrnsthe
chord and messrnqdomd a bittlhe DexLchord
F sh&p mnor beins a nalural lhinlt in the E
sequence.Ebonj,ard lvory andlthouqhl well
uats quiienice a lirlle bitolture startedol|'ard
then sil togeL&e4go logether,live tosether, it
pefecl hanany - ivary good that s a mce lLttle
rhyme " srde bl, srde o, my prano teyboa-rd, I
thoushl Yes thats O K. becausei1explails the
whole l,\ing abour this anaLoqyon the keyboaid
Ah Lord why can't we? - Irhrnk that sot a hlue bit
changed late. on. I4&r' won t we? why .lon t we2
]t wasnt very encr when l first gol it and thal
was dll I had thai day thats all that came up
I really Llkedthat so I stuck down on a bit ol
tape and thouqhllhats a qood'lb6's for a sns
11sa mce chons and I lked the tme I liked Lhai
ljtue jump of a fouth n lhe openmg phrase
Th--r We all knaw lhat p-.ople are the sar.e
wh-.rever w,. go; thal came later I knew I
corildnt jxsl do il with the chorus:I needed a
verseand i1 olten qu'le hard when youve sot
's
thrs Lltle rmprnhonal
ilnns Often I fnd I ve sa'd
it in thosetust lour Ines and I don t actually want
to say any more ll I ]-as betnq anistically hue 10
myseli Id nake the rest of Ltrnshumentaltbut
you know sneftaitmg youve qol to do betler
tha that That s where tie tob seLin on ll'lat one
Often the second verse nas to say rt agarn n a
different way and still rerain the interest In fact
elentually yourernemberI wassornsto try and
wile anolher vene We a/ knaw thatpeaple {e
the satte wherever we sa, Therc ts [email protected] and
badd ereryore etc. In lact I did try but it wasl t
qood ]t nas a repeat and it wasnt poetic - the
words didn t scan n'cely I thoushl no thats the
only verse thal really fits with the chorus so
that s why we steted io qet rnio modulatronsancl
The onqinalrdeawasthatI couLdsinqthjswilh
somebodybiack 1.)tufihersymboljzethe whole
lhirq by hannq a black man and a whne man
srnqinqs'deby side on the'r piano becauselor
me n wd a mes-salresong My lavounle nrsl
choice was Stevie Wonrler I d sinq n al thnush
once and he d sjnq all throuqh once hopelully
't
qivmq another
qiving his own Lnteeretahon
meaninqto the lyricsaimost Yourememberyie
did the demo; thal was the way I envEasedx

SONGWR]T]NG
by L ndnlvccarh.y )
PaulMccartneyandGeorgeMartn (Pholograph

The problem I was talknq about before I had Pau.l We did backtnq vocab wnl Slevje and we
dLdour technjque of both slnqirg the same Ine
ielt wirh the chorus: ]d almost sard x alt Then
when I d qot that verse I thouqht well I ve reallj/ ll wasvery mucha co thinlt Itmsone of thenice
said n all now there s no way lorward unLessI hy thinqs about lalkinq about the sonq the oiqinal
and try and 1ry I realy couldn'tqei anythinqI Npmtion being a black fellow ard a whLte
lellow Anolher very ntereshng lhinq I thouqht
ws happy wjth so then your modulatjon be
aboutthe sonqat the time is that,when I played
came anotherpart oi L\e song
Georye,Votl I remen\er haw it develape.! the nelody on the piano ebonyhappenedto be
trom ure: at the studio n Manlseral il t1,asiusl two black notes and lvory happened to be a!
you and St-.ie Wander rcally
whjle noles which is somethnq l kepL meaninq
thetwaotyou
building it lrom naLhns. The r, teresftg &dsl 10 ro brns out in video clips I hjed jt but ihey
me is that both oI yau were multi talented drdnt lret it lo look iqht but thats dmys very
people and, tar ne, jt was Dnique ta have these encourasrns when you get a bit ol masic lrke
two p--ap\-bstatltng alonsede each ather and that jtsljke oohHe s on our sLde,jt'sworkng lor
goingrpatallel yau on the rcal pjano and Stene us And eventually when you sajd lets keep it
nro people Ithinkilsmcer jtsabetteridea its
an uE Fentler ed sradually we built up tam
more conplete that way I was happy 10do that
So this theme thal starLedjust il the Mnnq
Paul Slevie on druTrs and me on bass and l
your
iqht lbrough to the recodns and even
rdea
to
keep
n
tbe
hlo
caried
remember it rvas
lust
ol us, becauseat a cetain point we,,verethLnk crazrly enouqn i!:lhl throuqh io the video itself
inq we miqht get somebody else in to help with We had those bjq hang ups when Steviecolldn t
the namonies or whaievei Butwe decrdedno come ior lhe vjdeo and n was ajmosl gonq to be
a big wash out the q'hole lhins l Ianq him od
lefs jusl make jt a Mcc.artneyWonder job.
said were all waiting and he sajd he coLrldnt
Georye And when we came away fram Mant
seftat tt was nnually fimshed -.xced hr the make it lor nve days (v/hich was all we had in L\e
schedule),so we did all our ljdeo brt jn Lordon
and he did his bi1 in LA Not the sonq thouqh
done
Lt
all.
Pau.l Yes we'd
sme peoplehavesjncesaid1ome Isx truethat
GeorEe'faD putanlnsjc pjano,bass adgutaa
and Steyrena.l dore Fende/ nnodes CS80and you recordedyou bit olthe songjn London.ancl
Maaq svnthesjze$ ad dnms ard ,'ou drd the Iis bit nrles anavt The sonqrisellwasnl dore
lrke thal was a lve pelion'ance
dtums an lhe ather ane.
'1

63

Geose WoDld yau say thaf Ebony and Ivory rs

[ti]y typlcal of the way yau wte Therc ie t a
slandard way is Atere?
Paul No not really Talking very qereraliy,
origr,]1allylolm ancl I always Ned 10 wLte on
qritarc because there wasn't a pranist in The
Beaues There w6nt a piano thrngt ln lact yoLr
used to do neady all the piano stu( especially
anytlDnq that needed fingerinq we had to call
in the expens So il was nearLy alL done on
quilar ard when we qot into piano ed strlt I
rrvrolethinqs like l.I/ne.1in Srril lou That was
possibly the tusl song I ever wrote on the prano
ceorye And generally, djd the melody came
wiulout the words? ar cLd they come tcgether?
Paul'Iha|s where theres no formula
Geolse n 1or ofpeop/e even ta ttus day, ttunk
uEt Jahn wrcte munc dnd yau wrote wordt or

ballrooc I was nfteen.

Geory ftar musl nave been abaul )957.
Paut And we were takLns things like ,^/ew
Mustcal Exp.esg just as pulers - not m a sroup
yet - jusl on the edqes.All the LonnieDoneqan
and skdle and stuli was comins in dd sethnq
everyone jnteresLedjn gLritarsiand Elv's Buddy
Holly Chuck Be y records v/ere around. Sowe
saqsed off from school (we lvere both al school
strll I thmk), althoughJohnmusthave just bee!
near to leauns he ms at Quarry Bank School
and I was at another local snmmar school
Liverpool Institute High School We used to sall
off to my house nearly always because my dad
went to work and we d staied to look lor this new
beat We were lrrlng to thnk whats it going to
b e Lati n hasnL been done for a w hi l e
Edmundo Ros revisiledl maybe we could set
away with llns jts beaty (lts tunny becaNe
now Latjn's comrnq back KLdCreole a loi ofthe
GeolEe Or inat /ou callabarated an sanss I Soul Sister stlli A lot of the yoDq sroups thi.k
think it is watlhwhile to put on rc.trd lhat you its the really hjp thinq) So we were looknq
used ta wit-A yauf songs jnlindua y .luile a around lor this new beat. Was it goinq to be
rock? For the life of us we couldnt flnd it so we
Paul Belore we startecl writinq 1oqeller, we were just kichnq away lou in the bar jLst to
were spante wnters. The tust thrnq I ever make a qood old rcw and keep everyone on the
wrote was a sonq called 1 Last My Ltlue Gt| I beatior dancinq The ironicthrnqwas ofcouse
was fouteen lt ws L\e guitar clords G G7 C
ihat rl minute ,ne slopped lryinq, we manaEed
and agast thoselallinq chords I sanlr that gorns to find the new beat which was crazy because
up thlng '? note up lale Lirs aomrnq" (see that s what we'd spent all our early days trying to
do So ]onn and I wrote a buch ol $nqs
'lhat is qute anice solt oIhtue earlyrock n roll Georye Individually?
tune joln I don t think had wrlren anythrngat Parl No, tom ther on, I think, we wrote slull
that time I lircl saw hin \ir'henhe was at a Wooi
toqether I donl thrnk Johnreally wrote much
ton V'llaqe Fete he was on the side snow He rrdrvrdually I only had llns one song 1 los/ M/
was in a checked shfi and had this sljme qroup Liue Girl i,n which the lyrics were a bLi
and he d sot ths Del Vikinq sonJ Come Ca Wilh
Me which was a biE hLt then They obviously
I wake up lat-. this rnornjng
hadn t qot the record because he dL.lnt have the
My head was in a wttrl
worG; he d j6t head x prcked jt up and ljked n
.af,id arny then I realized
and hed wn11enall his oM words 'Come go
wrllr me to L\e penLtenha./" knd of skflley
Uh huh, uh huh uh
words folksy words so he had vntually re
Her doth-^s were not eryennve
rTiiten the sonq I think it was one of hN first And this is lhe line that use.l io nake lohn crinqe
sonqwttinq eflons lul then once wed lound
He..rhatr wauldt't always curl
this mterestm commonand thouqhtwe d iike to
I dont laaw why I laved her
wnle sonqs our majoram was whatwi| be lhe
But I lastmy Ltue qrl
next new beal w'll it be callFe? Thisworndbe
Uh huh, uh hDh uh
the yeal l,\at Bulln s broughLrn rock ard catyFso At the hme I'm ialkrng about we runaged to get

woke q
q67

lLte tkig

SONGWRITING
ten or rwenty songs but none ol
r:---:1-out
rere really rery good The rearesl anv of
:=::re
ro anythingwasthe stai ofi,ore Me
_ I r:!ch rr/asa titue bit taier, but Lhatwas abort
_:: .:aJest I itunk There was a sons caled/ust

I00 sonqsbut we leet we,reseijns betler row,

Dut rt was onty aboutlt enty,rf thal We ha.i a!
rEes-A
rr re sonss faa RadAbaLLSaro )s,
lu\t
iu, r\{rfi li le srdqednecrronsofootrsand d.hs
trk e a n qFtsl id.d o. e\er/ page 11had A
_
L e n ro.tvr.La.heyOrgi ndt,A noi hertJemon
;
sard ouf lore raslBt tu,
tvrcldrt.ey Oijornal yet laolter Lennon
_.. day that at tnen.khip bequn
Nlcuarlney Oriqrndl
..re s no blue mocn that I can see
Ag ru .l l yyoureonl yl usrrenndedme rh.,w e
i:reb rerer bee, rr?nr.sto,7
o b v o u sryhouqnr
oJourspl ves
as. w rrm.rLea.!
::.ause our-tole
lurt /un
Jromffe wolcrqo ae knd of hpectrhr, Lernon
''as too keen or We couid
we werenr
rvlcLamey hr.q tmi.rithlebFen holc|ro out
_:
-::re.iine
xhat wasnt good but we coutdn,lput the
Jor &lc(;trney Len.on tm not $re lolrn rds
:rrtr one rn lts place
norornqouLJol Lenro. M.CitLney t rilnk rt |\ ds
. , ?s ,ery edlty d.)s whFnuc were oelino
oeclded rrsoundedbeilel. so 1 eventrEU\@ve
:..!r lx|l oI TTptroorea snohnq reatu,i to tre
rn yes LerDor Mcc&rne/ rolts ojl rhe io;o-.
.-::rrt;ncl clo sonFrll.o Any{ay ie Moie belrel Soj]r rhrs
eariv pdrnersh p r" rere irv
oLrncn
otnrsrsongsrtrtctrsonretrow
rea.he.l fq.ro qar so,nerlrirqdore.ncl m,lnty
lr @s a
- magrc inythicatfiqure ot 100 We lsed ro
::
budoy rortr k nd oJ u1]tDAnce
For o.e redon
-:1:e to peopt_a,We have wdlen approximaiety r.rehelr
inree chords A DandE andall hisshrJt
:_ . L e n non,
pd
.u tMc C a rL fe y
c eor geNlar r in a n

F au M. Can feyd!r ng the lr gDI t , / r r s es s ons p/ r . i. gnr r ir r r r l r r d r M . a . r h - . f

was A D ard E so no wonder (e ,rere n

'n
luencec]
Eventually I thnk ,o/e r'tr'eDo was
probablyabouLthe best ltnnqwe d qot and rhal
was when we met you an.l afterrhatwe started
Please Please Me 'lhat was a ]otrn sono realv
Please Please Me ]ohn had .xfnten on hF oyr'n
Georse I,iar ras a Ro', O.bisat tlDe thjno
Pau.lAnd he d wntlen jt reat stow, and rn faciRoy
Orbisonshoulddo n thatway , slo . It d be a nn
lor iim cet himor lhe phoneiqhl nowtso thar
was ore ol ou nrsl qood sonss and lhen arom
Me 7o you I rcmember as oLrr secord, and I
th'nk by ihen we were rea|y rrlo jr I lroutdn t
havesardtherewas any looktnqback after1nat.
Georye / .emember /ou &en, iecause rt was
lrte a noftouse ptant bejtat torc-'d out a,l
suddenly emeryng with Ilawe$ .tlt ovp,t jt!
Pau.l WiL\ iriddle erlthts evenl
Georye It came fram bejng raush an.l rcady
sangtunttng wj.;e you we.e get
t g rear dasst yau were aJettjng
-Fverythjrq
66

tdy atd geltjns rcally elhcient by L\is ttme

Pad We were really rnteresredrn the idea ol
lrernq real musr.rans and n a way rhen you
thrnkoflennon and Mccarlney rts Rodqe6 ard
Hammerstein because tlats who we were
enulatinq AlloIrI heroeswele jut ChuckBen /,
Little Ricnard and the resl There mlqlL hale
been a liue Goffh and Krrq in L\ere because
ue were very keer on thejr stLrll So .re were
startrnq to be really good ther I think tor me one
ol the qreal clnches was ore morninqheain!:l
the n kmo whjstle '7s ,he/e arj,rrns tial J,ou
rat? I sardthats it. im rn that was x realy l
lhrnk that was the best cornplment lve ever
been paid to llls day ld qor home Laretion a
club od me and the milkmanwere on the same
watelenqlhi I vras ju1 gettlns into be.t and l
coutd hear hnn raturnqhrs botuesoxlside and
whistlirq Ircm ir'e 7o rou. I wrole that Ttar oas
a iabrloDsleelins I nust say I coutdobvioxsly
qo on and on lor ever a