In Review - Ram by Paul McCartney

The speaker explains that they had to record an episode in a makeshift studio because they couldn't use their usual podcast studio. They apologize for the episode being released late due to being busy with finals. They then discuss Paul McCartney's album "Ram" and his history as a musician. They talk about their favorite Beatles and McCartney songs. They analyze the songs on "Ram" and discuss the lyrics and production. They mention that some songs may be about McCartney's relationship with John Lennon. They also mention the involvement of Paul's wife, Linda, in the album. Hey everybody, this is Sam, just wanted to fill you guys in about how we recorded this episode as a bit of a disclaimer. So we usually record in a legitimate podcast studio, but we were unfortunately unable to use it when we went to record this episode, so we had to set up a bit of a makeshift studio back in the dorm, just wanted to let you know since you'll probably be wondering why the audio and the levels are just a little bit different than usual. Also we'd like to apologize for this episode being released way later than usual, you know we've been slammed with finals and stuff like that since, you know, we are college students so we had to take a bit of a short break, but yeah, thanks for sticking with us and with all that out of the way, here is OBUFM episode 5. Hey guys, welcome back, this is Sam Bennett. And I'm Luke Garrison. This is OBUFM, this is what, our fifth episode? Episode 5, yeah. Yeah. Thank you for joining us this week, Luke picked this album, do you want to tell us a little bit about it? Yeah, I'm picking Ram by Paul McCartney, it's got a cult following to it, it's a classic album I have, but not a lot of people have heard it, unless you're some big Beatles or Paul McCartney fans specifically. I've always loved this album though. Yeah, I can honestly say, like, you picked this album and I didn't know a single song from it going forward, which is surprising because I'm a pretty big Paul McCartney fan, he's certainly my favorite Beatle, I don't know, I've always found his work, like, in terms of his post-Beatles stuff a little bit more, like, pop-oriented, you know, like, the Paul McCartney songs I specifically like. Oh yeah, I do. Like, some wing stuff. Yeah, I was listening to this album, like, man, this is not what I was expecting at all, it sounded completely different. It's pretty weird, but it's honestly been pretty influential, there are a lot of people who have named this as one of their favorite albums growing up, some kind of future artists, and we can get into that later, but I do think it kind of shocked listeners, as was also talked about later, it didn't really get a lot of great reviews at first, but now it's considered one of his most classic albums, so I'm excited to talk about it. Cool, so, getting into a little artist history. So, Paul McCartney really needs little introduction, English musician, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, best known as a founding member of the Beatles. McCartney was born on June 18, 1942, in Liverpool, England. He showed an early interest in music and learned to play the piano at a young age. In 1957, he met John Linden and eventually joined his band The Quarrymen, which later evolved into The Beatles. McCartney played bass guitar and sang backing lead vocals for The Beatles. He also, of course, played piano on mini-tracks. He was one of the primary songwriters for the band, along with Linden, and wrote many of their most popular songs, in the name of few we have Yesterday, Hey Jude, Let It Be, the list goes on. The Beatles became one of the most successful and influential bands in the history of popular music. After The Beatles disbanded in 1970, McCartney launched a successful solo career. He released two albums on his own, the self-titled McCartney in 1970 and Ram in 1971, which is the album we're talking about today. After this, Paul formed the band Wings and released a string of hit albums, including Band on the Run and Venus and Mars. McCartney also collaborated with other artists, such as Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, and continued to release solo albums throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Yeah, I mean, what can you say? Someone who's collaborated with both Michael Jackson and Kanye West. Yeah, you can die after that. You don't need to do anything else. He is the quintessential pop culture figure. He's been around for, what, like 60 years now? I think he's like the father of music at this point. We all look to him for our musical wisdom. Over the years, McCartney has received numerous awards and honors throughout his career, including 18 Grammy Awards, induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Beatles and as a solo artist, and a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. Overall, Paul McCartney is considered one of the most successful and influential musicians of the 20th century, and I would argue 21st century, too, with a career that has spanned more than six decades. Yeah, so kind of talking about Paul McCartney, I know that you're a huge Beatles fan, as well as obviously, I'm sure, of all of their solo work. Who is your favorite Beatle? A few years ago, I would say, without a doubt, George, really. And I still do love George Harrison a lot. I think he has a lot of underrated Beatles tracks, and then I think his solo work, a lot of it goes unnoticed. His first album is kind of universally loved, and that is an insane album. But Paul, lately, I don't know. As I've gotten older, I appreciate him more and more. I still love John Lennon, too, wherever we go. But Paul's songwriting and his vocal, too, the way he kind of switches characters, almost, between songs, I just really admire. And I don't know, I just love listening to his music. We're both musicians, for those of you that don't know. Every musician sort of has their Beatles phase, if not just a lifelong obsession with the Beatles. I certainly have my Beatles phase, like very, very young, like elementary school. And so that's how I know the majority of their bigger tracks. But I would say, in terms of my Beatles consumption, just in that world, I mainly just listen to Paul's solo work. But I've been getting into a lot of Beatles stuff. I know you mentioned George, and we've talked about the song, Something, a lot. We've had some debates about that song. That's the greatest love song of all time. It's one of my favorites. I mean, last year, I would have been like, no, I still don't think it's the greatest one. I've certainly warmed up to it. I think it's a great song. I mean, I loved the Beatles music growing up, with my parents playing it all the time. And I always would notice songs. I knew who the Beatles were pretty young, probably around like 8 or 9. Right. But I think you had a phone a lot earlier than me. I didn't really get one until, I want to say like 8th or 9th grade. I would have been about probably like 13 or 14, and I got them on the phone. I got them on the Spotify account. And that's when I really just went crazy with listening to my own music. And probably the first band I got into, like Zeppelin was one of them. But I think even before that was the Beatles. I listened to like almost all their albums, and just fell in love with it. And I've grown to love their music even more over the years. Yeah, I remember like one of my favorite songs being Eight Days a Week. And I was like in the third grade, and my parents asked me to like, I remember it was yesterday, like, Sam, how many days in the week are there? And I'm like, well, there's eight. And they're like, no, just looking at me with so much concern. And I'm like, no, there's eight. And they're like, Sam, there's seven. And I'm like, well, what about the song? And they're like, all right, you got to stop listening to that, I guess. The outro from Hey Dude, I remember hearing like very early. Yeah. I remember like singing along to that when I was probably in like kindergarten. Yeah, well, like so many of these songs are like in movies and stuff like that. Wasn't there like a Beatles rock band? Yes, The Game. Yeah, there was all over pop culture. Yeah. Well, some album history. Ram was the second solo album by Paul McCartney, released in 1971 by Apple Records. The album was a collaboration with his wife, Linda McCartney, who played keyboards and provided backing vocals. However, Ram is the only album credited to the husband and wife music duo, Paul and Linda McCartney. The album was initially met with mixed and even unfavorable reviews, but has since been reevaluated and is now considered one of McCartney's most beloved works. Ram features a mix of styles, including rock, folk, and country, and was recorded in McCartney's home studio in Scotland. The album was a departure from his previous work with the Beatles and his first solo album, which had a more experimental and avant-garde sound. Despite some initial criticism, Ram has since been recognized as a classic album and a major achievement in McCartney's career. It reached the top of the charts in both the U.S. and the U.K. It has been praised for its catchy melodies, inventive arrangements, and the chemistry between McCartney and his wife, Linda. The album also marked a turning point in McCartney's career as he began to establish himself as a successful solo artist after the breakup of the Beatles. And before we get into the track list, as we will see when we talk about these songs, a lot of people consider the subject matter to be mainly about either the Beatles or specifically his relationship with John Lennon. Is this a record? Yes, and I don't know. I'm not sure I agree with all of it. We can get more into that on specific tracks. But this is the only album, like if you look on Spotify or even like the vinyl, it says Paul, Linda, McCartney. Yeah. It's the only album. It's not just Paul McCartney. It's not the Wings or whatever that they'll be in later. She was in the Wings, correct? She is, yeah. And so I wonder if like that in and of itself was kind of a dig at John and Yoko. Yeah, I guess it could be. You would know way more about that than I would. I'm glad you kind of talked about that, though, like in terms of subject matter, because listening to this album, I'm just sitting here like, what is this about? Like, I don't really know, except for the very last song. Yeah. I couldn't really tell what it was about. A lot of them are kind of abstract lyrically. Yeah. We can dissect them a little bit more. But yeah, I just kind of wanted to acknowledge that a lot of people consider it to be almost like a diss track album in some regards. But I'm not going to say I agree with that. But it's also considered as one of the early indie albums, because he kind of did it a lot of himself, the recording. Interesting, yeah. And a lot of people say that kind of some of the more experimental things went on to influence like indie pop and stuff in like later decades, which, I mean, that could be argued, too. But I don't know, it's just interesting. This is a very interesting album, and I'm excited to talk about it. You ready to get into the track list? Yeah, sure. All right, so getting into the track listing here, we're going to start with Too Many People. So what did you think of this one? This was actually one of the first tracks I remember hearing from this album, and kind of instantly caught my attention, because it doesn't really sound like any of his other work. Yeah, I can agree with that. But yeah, I really enjoyed this track. It was one of my favorites. It's still one of my favorites, but it's still my favorite off this album, not to spoil anything. Yeah, I thought it was an interesting choice of words to kick off the album. It definitely is, but… It's off-cake. Yes. It's considered to be written in response to some of the criticisms that were leveled at McCartney and his former band, The Beatles, by John Lennon and others in the press. So it's basically him dissing John and anyone who would take shots at him. Interesting. Yeah, I don't know if you picked up on that or not. Yeah, I really didn't. I thought it was more of like a protest song. I think it's kind of both, because the lyrics of it, here you have lines like, Too many people preaching practices and too many people preaching what they don't understand. And then some people picked up specifically the line, too many people holding back, that is crazy, and maybe it's not like me, represents The Beatles breaking up. So it's almost like, you know, John Lennon was obviously very preachy, some might say, about his own beliefs and kind of that whole hippie culture that was starting to happen. It's almost like Paul is kind of calling him out. Yeah, it really just has an interesting set of lyrics. Yeah. Cool solo at the end, I noted that. Yeah, it has a driving rhythm for sure, and you can definitely hear McCartney's signature bass lines. I found a few performances from it. He didn't play it live until 2005. Interesting. Which, I think this was technically a Paul McCartney solo tour, but he had some like Wings players in him with him or whatever, so he would play songs from, you know, The Beatles, The Wings, and some of his solo stuff. So he played this from about 2005-2008 pretty regularly, which is interesting to me. Alright, so getting into Three Legs, I wasn't expecting this. It came on, I was like, okay. So I just noted that it was so all over the place lyrically. Yeah. I have no idea what the song is about, if it's just like a fun set of lyrics, or if it has some sort of meaning. But I had to keep going back and reading the lyrics, because I would hear it, and then I'd be like, what did he say? Yeah, it's very weird. Definitely. Really woozy and a bit folksy at the beginning, and yeah, what else do you have to say? This one specifically was written and performed almost entirely by Paul McCartney, so he played most of the instruments from what I researched. And yeah, you can definitely tell it's kind of, I think he's the only one who knows what he truly meant about this song. Probably. It's originally inspired by him seeing a three-legged dog, and he's comparing the dog's ability to move around with his own experiences in life. Yeah. But it is just kind of very, I don't know, the lyrics are definitely abstract. The chorus where he says, three legs good, two legs bad, repeated, is actually a line from George Orwell's novel Animal Farm. Okay. I found that out researching. And then almost every track on this album, some people like to think that this is about his relationship with former bandmate John Lennon. I don't really draw that connection, but you know, some might be able to. I agree that this song is very bluesy, but it's definitely not like a blues song. Like, it takes a turn. It's very Paul McCartney, very kind of groovy. I like it. It's odd. It's not a track I just put on, but in the context of this album, I like it. Yeah. Does he look channeling someone vocally, like in terms of how he was singing? Maybe. I think he does that definitely, because there's a lot of moments on this record where I feel like he does that. It's almost like he puts on an accent on certain songs. Did it remind you of anyone specifically? No one specifically, but it didn't sound like his classic style of singing. I don't know. You mentioned earlier how it was almost like he had characters. Yeah. That's what I think of it. I would agree that that's kind of the vibe here. Yeah. It sounds like they do something differently production-wise when everything kicks in on the vocals. Yeah. Almost like a telephone kind of sound. Yeah. Almost it's kind of distorted and more distant. Yeah. And then I noted that, for those of you that even know who this is, the backing vocals reminded me of Dan Zanes. So, yeah. That's interesting. That's a deep cut for me. His backing vocals, right? I don't think you hear it when there's a voice on this one. Do you remember? Not specifically, but there's a lot of backing vocals on this record. Yeah. And it is the two of them. Yeah. And you can tell when it's her, when it's the female voice. Yeah. And there's one song where I think it's just her. Is that long-haired lady? Yeah. We'll get to that. But, yeah. I think that's all we have to say about Three Legs. Yeah. Three Legs. So, getting into Ram On, I guess Ram On Part 1 at least. Yeah. Ukulele, why not? Is what I found first. Yeah. It's one to make sure that it is, in fact, Paul playing the ukulele on this track. Yeah. It's very pleasant. It's not expected to have on the first two tracks. This one, honestly, is kind of a curveball. It's a lot shorter than the other songs. Yeah. Mostly acoustic. Features Paul's gentle vocals and finger picking. The song's lyrics are very simple and repetitive. Bacardi singing Ram On. Give your heart to somebody. Soon. Right away. Throughout the track. But, yeah. What do you think about this one? I mean, I really liked the clapping for the rhythm just because of the way it sounded. It sounded like I would get it on a drum pad and like a very modern kind of production style for that, which I wasn't expecting to hear. Yeah. What I love about these first two, this album and his first one, Bacardi, he was basically in charge of all the production in kind of a home studio environment. There's definitely some what would be considered experimental production choices that became pretty common decades later. So, I think that is cool to note. From my research, apparently, the words Ram and On form the name Raymond, which was one of Paul's pseudonyms when he's with the Beatles. Interesting. Ram is also the name of the animal chosen as the child track of the album, which meant for Paul to ram against the things that are making him depressed at the times of the Beatles' breakup. Also nod to the album cover where he's literally like holding a ram. Yeah. Well, would you say that the album was kind of built around this? Like, is this the title track, technically? I don't, I mean, I guess you could argue it is. I bet he did have this track that he decided to name the album after it, but I don't really consider it like a centerpiece or anything. Yeah. It's not like thematically what the album is about. I think it's just kind of just a short and sweet song. It's kind of supposed to be uplifting, not really about anything specific. I kind of wonder what this was for in terms of like the composition. I don't mean that in a bad way, though. It's sort of a folksy, psychedelic song. Yeah. I thought that was more of John's thing. Yeah. Which I guess we can touch on more later, but like that makes me wonder how we get to like stay, stay, stay from here. Yeah, it is. It shows his range for sure. This is a very structured song. A lot of the songs on this album kind of have odd structures. This one basically is kind of just, I don't know, it's not, nothing really repeats. It's kind of just like you're hearing a live moment. Yeah. But yeah, anything else to say about this one? Not specifically, no. All right. So track four is Dear Boy. It was co-written by Paul and his wife Linda who also provides the backing vocals on this track. It's a catchy upbeat song with a melody that incorporates elements of pop, rock and orchestral music for the first time on the album. I think. I don't think there's any streams on the first track, is there? No. I have in my notes that this one, as well as Uncle Albert and Backseat in My Car have the New York Orchestra featured on it. Okay. Well, it's funny you say the orchestral thing because I noted that this reminded me a lot of Electric Light Orchestra. Oh, okay. Or ELO for short. I hear that. Definitely some Jeff Lynne in there. Yeah. He's just got kind of that vibe. Yeah. I know he loves The Beatles. He's almost a contemporary, but that's a cool comparison. Thematically, this one, Paul sings about a difficult relationship with a friend, addressing him as Dear Boy throughout the song. The lyrics describe the ups and downs of the friendship. With Paul singing lines such as, Dear Boy, what if you had found, I guess you never knew, Dear Boy, that she was just the cutest thing around. Like many of the tracks on this record, the lyrics are believed to be inspired by his relationship with John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono. However, Paul specifically claims he wrote this one about Linda's ex-husband. Interesting. Interesting enough. So, I don't know. This is one of the ones I could actually hear him, you know, he's kind of belittling John by calling him Dear Boy. Yeah. He says it's Linda's ex, so I don't know. We'll see. I mean, yeah, that's interesting. It has that production thing with his voice that I noted, I think, within either the first or second song. But, like, the more I hear that telephone kind of sound, or that double-tracked vocal, I realize how that's on a good number of Paul McCartney songs. It's definitely, I think, a style thing that he likes. Yeah. This song also obviously features his kind of signature intricate harmonies and everything. But, yeah, there's definitely some moments where it would sound like it's just, you know, just him singing, but then you realize he's kind of doubled his voice or maybe even, like, tripled it. I don't really know. Yeah. It certainly lacks a traditional structure. It's just a trip from start to finish, and I think it's the most musically interesting so far. Yeah, the strings and horns definitely add depth and texture to this track. Yeah, yeah. We're so sorry, Uncle Albert. We're so sorry if we cost you anything. We're so sorry. So getting into Uncle Albert, Admiral Halsey. Almost like two tracks in one year. Yeah, kind of a two-parter. I think this is a good example of why this album surprised me. Because, like, I knew Paul could get, obviously, experimental because of, you know, the stuff that you heard, especially in later Beatles work, but I don't know. I always figured that his post-Beatles work was way more either pop, adult contemporary, or, you know, rock at times, especially with wings, but this kind of goes against that idea. It shows that he can get very experimental and psychedelic, if you will, and the only thing I wanted to ask, is this song based on real people? So apparently Admiral Halsey was a real person. Okay. So that's a reference to a real-life U.S. Navy commander during World War II. Uncle Albert, I don't think, is real. I think it's more just him apologizing to, like, a group of people, and who that is is kind of debated. A mystery, yeah. Yeah, because some could say it's fans of the Beatles. Some could say it's, I don't know, other music fans who are here in New York, I guess. I don't know. It's definitely a whimsical song. It incorporates a variety of musical styles. There's a hint of rock in here, but it's definitely kind of pop. I don't know. His lyric writing on this is very abstract, but also kind of humorous. I think he's trying to be funny at some point. I will say, his vocals, especially on, like, the opening of this track, kind of almost sound like he does on Beatles records, which is interesting to me. Yeah. Especially that, like, opening line, the, like, we're so sorry, Uncle Albert, or whatever. I instantly know that's Paul McCartney's voice on a lot of these tracks-ish. First, I wouldn't know if I hadn't heard it before. Yeah, I agree with that. I mean, I would certainly think that this would remind me of a Beatles track. Like, if you told me that it was, I would agree with you and more on that We talked about how this song is a mystery. Speaking of a mystery, here's a curveball. Is Paul dead? No. No? In my opinion, no. Yeah, read more about that, folks. If you're interested, if you want to know what we're talking about. I'll say this. If he is, then whoever took his place did a great job. Did more than he ever did. Yeah. So, interestingly enough, though, even though this song gets kind of weirder, it was a commercial and critical success becoming one of McCartney's biggest hits as a solo artist without the Beatles and it's been covered by several artists over the years, including Weezer and Tears for Fears. Wow. Two bands that kind of go hand in hand in various ways. Weird song, but it is very catchy. I do like the outro, the whole hands over water, heads in the sky. That part is very Beatle-y and very catchy. But, yeah, I think that's all we can say about this track. Is that the first Weezer reference of the podcast? I think it is. I guess Weezer count is one. Weezer count one. Let's try to not make it two. Alright, moving on. Alright, so getting into Smile Away, I noted this. If you told me it was a Beatles song, I'd totally believe you. Yeah, definitely. This is the first one where it's kind of a high energy rock and roll track, catchy guitar, driving rhythm. It sounds like a Beatles song to me. Yeah, especially when you look at those backing vocals. It's just very classic Beatles sound. The doo-wop. The doo-wop, yeah. Also, it kind of sounds like he's also trying to channel someone with his singing, getting into another one of those characters kind of thing that we talked about. Yeah, this almost calls back to kind of how he sounds on it's not as heavy as a track as Helter Skelter, but I can definitely hear kind of a similar vocal style and even a track like Oh Darling off of Abbey Road, he's using a lot more rasp in his voice. Yeah. It's like he's yelling at a certain part. Yeah, there are parts where he's certainly yelling and there's also parts where he's kind of really low. But yeah, it's a cool bluesy song, but I don't think it's necessarily a standout on the record. It's not really. It sounds nice when it's on. Definitely one of the least interesting tracks musically, but I still have listened to this. Apparently, lyrically, it's supposed to just be about them singing about partying and having a good time. You know, it's thought to encourage listeners to smile away their troubles and enjoy life to the fullest, Also to note, Cheap Trick and Dr. John both cover this song. Interesting, yeah. I mean, clearly, this album was pretty influential. We've got Cheap Trick, Dr. John, Weezer. I guess that makes our Weezer count too. Yeah, Tears For Fears. And Tears For Fears, you know, covering songs from this album. Like I said, a lot of people were talking about this album, even though it was kind of panned at first. It was still widely influential. It was a hit, like commercially. It's Fall Party, of course it's going to sell. But yeah. All right, so getting into Heart Of The Country, I noticed that this album keeps going from like a folksy kind of stripped down song to like an upbeat, rock, bluesy thing. And it just kind of keeps going back and forth with a little bit of different things hidden in there. But I don't know, I just think it's kind of an interesting dynamic, how it kind of goes back and forth. But they all sort of run together. I mean, I don't know, I think it's kind of an interesting dynamic, but they all sort of run together in a concise way. It reminds me of The Beatles' White Album. The way that one kind of has a lot of different styles on one record and not really in a certain order. Like you can go from this kind of acoustic song to a really loud rock track. Yeah. Heart Of The Country is a general acoustic song featuring various vocals and fingerpicking guitar. Do you have anything to say about this one? Yeah, I think that this is a total anomaly in Paul McCartney's catalog. Not that that's a bad thing, I just think, when I listen to Paul McCartney's songs, I'm like, what in the world is he doing? I just totally wasn't expecting it. Most of the Paul McCartney songs that I listen to, obviously like the Big Wings hits, but certainly more of the 80s things or the late 70s. My favorite Paul McCartney song is Say Say Say and putting these two songs right next to each other, that's a total departure. I don't know, I think it shows range, shows how he's able to adapt to the sound of the day, but I don't know. He's done a lot of things that I don't think he's ever done before. He's done it all. I really think. Like you said, he's worked with Kanye. He's literally done every genre that I think he possibly could. He's one of the few artists I think we could do multiple episodes on and it'd still be interesting in the future, whether it be on the Wings album or another solo album. This one specifically, I think, is one of the more wholesome tracks on the album because it's really just him talking about living in the country with his wife because at this point, they were living in Scotland just working on music most of the time and living with the Beatles more in the cities. Right. I guess the Beatles are no longer a thing at this point and he's winding down because even though they weren't touring in those later years, that had to have been just incredibly, just like a wacky time. Yeah. They were releasing so many albums in such a small amount of time and taking random trips to India and all this stuff. It definitely wasn't a chill lifestyle by any means. I guess he's kind of winding down and enjoying the heart of the country. I know. I really like this one both instrumentally and vocally. I think he sounds really nice on this. Yeah. 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You probably have a better ear for that than I did, but yeah. Musically, this song is notable for its intricate arrangement. It includes piano, acoustic and electric guitar, strings, and brass instruments. It also features several key changes and a memorable instrumental section in the middle. Yeah, certainly more of an elaborate arrangement. I like this track a lot out of some of the more experimental cuts. This is probably my favorite on this album. I want to hold you If you're mine If you're mine I should hide away So now we're back at Ramon, I guess, you know, part two. Yeah, this is kind of like a reprise. Under a minute. Not really much to say about this. It's kind of just like a little interlude almost. I kind of think the other Ramon is also kind of an interlude, almost a break between songs. It's nice to hear the kind of the melody and instruments come back from that track. Yeah, I was hoping that he would have done something different because it's almost other than the ending. I think it's almost identical. Yeah. You think of like, like on Hotel California, there's the song Wasted Time. Yeah. And then there's the Wasted Time reprise, which is done by an orchestra. Yeah. Obviously, I, you know, he doesn't need to get an orchestra for Ramon the reprise, but I don't know. I think it would have been cool to do something a little bit different. Yeah. Incorporate the melody in a different way. That would be definitely interesting. I think listening to this like straight through the album, this is kind of at the trippy nature though. When you start hearing this, after hearing that, you know, what it would have been probably like 20 minutes or so before. I don't know. Cool little track. Not much else to say about it. So getting into this final track, we've got The Backseat of My Car. I noted that it was pretty piano-led, probably more so than any of the other songs in this album, I would say. Yeah. You can definitely imagine him singing and playing the piano with this one. Yeah. Another one that kind of reminded me of Yellow. Okay. Especially since this one not only has, I think, strings, but also horns. Yes. This is one of the ones that has the New York Philharmonic or whatever that I have that in my notes. Definitely prominent on this track. Yeah. I liked the guitar on what I can only imagine is the pre-chorus. I don't know. I don't really know the structure to a lot of these songs. No, I definitely understand that. This one kind of has an interesting structure. There is definitely kind of a chorus-y section, but then it goes into this big, long outro. Yeah. I really like this track. It's lushly orchestrated. It's kind of a dramatic love song. It's become a fan favorite among McCartney's solo work. It's also been noted for its similarities to McCartney's work with The Beatles. Okay. Yeah, I can kind of hear that. Particularly in its use of complex harmonies and multi-layered vocal arrangements. I definitely agree with that. There's some more Beatle-y sounding tracks in my opinion on this, but this one kind of reminds me a little bit of Hey Jude. Okay. Almost that style of Paul's Beatles work, but I don't know. I like this track a lot. Yeah. Apparently this song tells the story of a young couple who ran away from their families and their responsibilities to be together. Yeah, there is a sense of danger in the lyrics a little bit. Yeah. They just kind of hop in the backseat of a car and drive away, leaving everything behind. Musically, this song features a grand somatic arrangement. Kind of ends it, like you said, with the strings and the horns. Kind of builds with this climax. And I think McCartney's vocals reach probably the most passionate and emotional peak on here. Yeah. I think it ends it, yeah. Out of all the songs, I think this is probably the greatest one to pick for a closer. Yeah, I agree. Do you think it's like him and Linda? Do you think it's inspired by that? Or do you think it's like... I definitely think it is. I think it's probably, you know, him and Linda are probably just stressed at some point. Yeah. And he's just kind of just a sweet set of men. Like, you know, they can just get in the car and drive somewhere together. Because, you know, all they need is each other. I think a lot of these songs are about Linda. Yeah. But yeah, that's kind of all I have to say about the tracklist for this album. Alright, so starting off with three of the week, Luke, do you want to kick us off? Sure thing. So my first pick is Yippee-ki-yay, which is a new single by Hippocampus from this year. My next pick will be Cosmic Hero off of Carsey Headrest's Teens in the Night album from 2016. And then lastly, I'm going to say Let Down by Radiohead off of the classic OK Computer album from 1997. Alright, solid. I'm going to go with Somebody's Crying by Chris Isaac off of his Forever Blue album from 1995. Then I'm going to go with Man on the Run by Colony House off the Cannonballers record from 2023. And then The Flame by Cheap Trick off of the Lap of Luxury album from 1988. Okay, so getting into the guessing game, I think we have one of the most difficult rounds of this game that we will ever have on this show with so many different tracks here. And we've got a weird track. I know. There's things I like about a lot of the tracks, but there's different things I like about them. Not very similar, but I don't know. Looking through this track list, what kind of humor you've said. Hugh Jefferty music. Hmm. I think... Is your favorite... I'm going to be shocked if you do. Okay, I'm going to say Long Haired Lady. No. Backseat in My Car. No. Dang it, I don't know this. It's Eat at Home. Oh, really? Interesting. You know, I can hear that. That was the only one. Not the only one, that sounds bad. But that was one of the ones that really stuck out to me that I'm like, okay, yeah, I would add this to my Paul McCartney playlist. You know, the other ones I found just a little too obscure. Yeah, ignore Long Haired Lady. That was a random guess. Yeah. I don't know. Would you say that this is at all any sort of like a concept album? Not like with a running theme, but certainly like an overall mood. I think definitely musically as a theme. Yeah. Kind of like that. But when I was reading, he had about 20 songs recorded. Really? That he was kind of trying to choose from. And I think it was kind of just decisions between like him and Linda and whoever their kind of producer was that they ended up making this track. So I wouldn't say it's a concept album, but definitely they were all recorded around the same time. So they have to have a vibe. All right. So I guess I got to guess yours now. Yeah. How many guesses do I get? I'll give you three. I'll give you three. Okay. I'm going to say it's part of a country. That is what you said. That's one of my favorites on this. So I'll give you like half a point for that, but that's not my favorite. Okay. That's in my top three. Man, I don't know. That's crazy. It's not too many people, is it? No. That's the other one. Okay. I guess I'm three. At least I'm on the right track. That was the first one I heard from this album, so I do really like that song. Is it the backseat of my car? Yep. That's it. Okay. Three guesses. That's impressive. I don't know. I guess part of the country based on what you said about it. Yeah. I just think I was kind of overlooked. Like, the contents of this album, it's a nice little break. Yeah. And then, I don't know, too many people. I think I've heard you listen to that before. Yeah, you probably have. That's been in my rotation for a while. That was the only one that I'm like, this sounds vaguely familiar. And then, backseat of my car, that was a shot in the dark. I don't know. What would you say is your favorite Paul McCartney song? Oh, ever? Yeah. Just in his catalog. Not with the Beatles. I love Band on the Run. Yeah. I mean, I just think of the song. I love him. I've always loved that song a lot. I just love all the changes in that song. I like Jet. I think that's a great Aria song. That's great. Say, Say, Say is great. Like you were talking about. I can remember, like, one of the first Paul McCartney solo songs that I knew was Let Em In. Oh. I can hear it. I can remember I had a teacher in preschool that would sing that all the time. I'm like, can y'all, can you cut that out? And Live and Let Die gets a lot of flack. I do. I love that song, though. Yeah. It's definitely, like, I wouldn't listen to it all the time. That is a great song. I can understand how people would not love it, but I mean, it's essential Paul McCartney. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, I actually, I had the chance to see Paul McCartney when I was pretty young. I don't know if that would have, I would have been in middle school. He came to, he came to Little Rock, and he did that song, and like, when it all kicks in, like, we've got flames. I can tell it's like the entire stage explodes. I watched his Super Bowl halftime show a couple times, like, on YouTube, and when he plays that one, the atmosphere just changes. Yeah, yeah. Turns to a rock concert. My favorite, my favorite Paul McCartney song is probably Stay, Stay, Stay, and I also really love Goodnight Tonight, which is a Wing song, but, you know, I found that from the Grown Ups soundtrack. The whole Down the Run album is perfect, I think, or most of it. I was between that album and this one. I picked this one just because it's a little more obscure, and I thought it'd be fun to talk about, but Down the Run has some of his greatest songs, too, in my opinion. Yeah, you know, you got everyone's favorite Christmas song, Wonderful Christmas Time. Okay, I don't like that song. I think we've talked about it before, I don't know. I don't think we have, but I don't know. And then I really like The Girl is Mine. I know that's a Michael Jackson song, but, I mean, and I know that a lot of people don't like that song. I like that song. I don't know. But, yeah, I guess that's all we have for this episode, really. Yeah. I don't know, this felt shorter than usual. I don't know if it's because of our setting. For those of you that, I mean, obviously wouldn't know this, but we usually record in the famous Washtub Baptist University Lyle Hall podcast studio, and unfortunately, we were locked out this evening, and we are recording in my dorm room with a little bit of a makeshift setup here. So if it sounds different in quality, that is why. We tried our best to make it the best we could, but yeah, we didn't have any more time this week to record. Yeah. So, yeah, we made do. Bear with us, and this could happen again, but we're hoping it won't, and yeah. Go follow us on Instagram at obu.fm.pod, and yeah, go read our podcast on Spotify, and tell your friends about us. We appreciate it. Yeah, thank you for joining us in this week of OBUFM, and yeah. Thanks, guys. This has been a Questone Entertainment production.