Mull Of Kintyre / Girlschool (1977)
Paul McCartney’s B-Sides are some of the most sought items when trying to get all of his songs. Many long-time McCartney followers will tell you that some of Paul’s best songs are on his b-sides. I’m here to tell you… It’s all a lie. Generally, Paul puts the worst stuff on his b-sides. Right? So no need to read on.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get down to brass tacks. Yes, I know that’s a cliche. A fine album can be built from Paul’s b-sides. Much like the unreleased Cold Cuts album, the compilation of b-sides is more enjoyable than several proper albums. In fact, in many cases, the b-side song is so much better than the tracks that were included on the albums that Paul’s artistic judgment must be seriously questioned.
Take “Country Dreamer”, for instance. It’s a fine track recorded during the sessions for Red Rose Speedway, but left off the final album only to later become the b-side of “Helen Wheels”. Red Rose Speedway is a good album that could have been great. “Loup (The First Indian On The Moon)” is an okay experimental track, but it didn’t belong on the album when songs like “Country Dreamer” were available. And that’s not the only superior track left on the shelf. “I Lie Around” was held over for the b-side of “Live And Let Die”, while “Mama’s Little Girl” didn’t make it’s official appearance until 1990, and the sublime cover of “Tragedy” is still languishing on the shelf.
Skip forward six years, and we find another of McCartney’s best songs, “Daytime Nighttime Suffering” (possibly a career highlight – even Paul thinks so), on the b-side of “Goodnight Tonight”. Meanwhile the forthcoming album, Back To The Egg, needed a couple more killer songs to sell the album. “Daytime Nighttime Suffering” would have been a great choice, and no one would have complained if “Baby’s Request” had been a b-side.
Jump forward 10 years, and we find one of the strongest tracks from the Flowers In The Dirt sessions, “Flying To My Home” on the b-side on “My Brave Face”. As we discussed in this sites review of Flowers In The Dirt, the album took a particular turn for the worst toward the end. It got slow and the quality fell. Why not “Flying To My Home” instead of “How Many People” or “Don’t Be Careless Love”? Paul had his reasons for including “How Many People”, and those reasons had little to do with artistic quality.
One has to consider whether he was making what he believed to be the best decisions for his albums and career, or if he simply didn’t give a toss. Either possibility is troubling. Another possibility is that McCartney simply liked the idea of singles with really good b-sides, while considering albums to be a completely different matter.
At one time, some of these b-sides were difficult to find. Then almost all of them (almost) were made available as bonus tracks on CD. Currently, most of the b-sides can still be found by picking up used CDs. Most aren’t available by download. Having them added to CDs is convenient, but most people buying those albums probably don’t realize that “I Lie Around” and “The Mess” weren’t part of Red Rose Speedway or that Little Woman Love wasn’t on Wild Life. Here is a quick listing of the b-sides you need, and shouldn’t be too hard to find either on CD or 45.
- Another Day / Oh Woman Oh Why (1971)
- Mary Had A Little Lamb / Little Woman Love (1972)
- Give Ireland Back To The Irish / Give Ireland Back To The Irish (Version) (1972)
- Hi Hi Hi / C Moon (1972)
- My Love / The Mess (1973)
- Live And Let Die / I Lie Around (1973)
- Helen Wheels / Country Dreamer (1973)
- Band On The Run / Zoo Gang (UK single, available on the Band On The Run (Archive Collection) (1974)
- Junior’s Farm / Sally G (1974)
- Mull Of Kintyre / Girl’s School (1977)
- Goodnight Tonight / Daytime Nighttime Suffering (1979)
- Waterfalls / Check My Machine (1980)
- Ebony And Ivory / Rainclouds (never on CD) (1982)
- Take It Away / I’ll Give You A Ring (never on CD) (1982)
- Say Say Say / Ode To A Koala Bear (1983)
- Spies Like Us / My Carnival (1985)
- Press / It’s Not True (this version never on CD)
- Once Upon A Long Ago / Back On My Feet (1988)
- My Brave Face / Flying To My Home (1989)
- This One / The First Stone (1989)
Why isn’t Give Ireland Back To The Irish listed here? Do you not consider it essential? I do.
BTW nice site. I’m apple-richard on the SH Forums
Glaring oversight on my part. Fixed it. Thanks.
I like the B-Sides to one of the songs from Chaos. Summer of ’59 was the best thing from those sessions! lol
I like that he’s adding some nice extras to these deluxe sets, and some extra downloadable tracks. I suppose he wants to get people to sign up for tracks you need to “join his club” or something once HP gets it all rolling. Either way, I’ll join, take what I need then not join for a while. Sorry, but I won’t give him money every month endlessly.
I hear we are finally getting the Rockshow on DVD this year. Also 2 more Archive sets which are not as large as Ram’s set. I hope so anyway.
I’d like to think I won’t give him my money every month, but my track record for turning over my hard-earned cash to McCartney isn’t encouraging. Hopefully the HP think will be worthwhile eventually.
I think Paul has difficulty deciding what is good and what is not – after all, something he tosses off in a few minutes is often more compelling than something he clearly spent huge amounts of time on – I’d venture that he worked hard on “Motor of Love” and “C’mon People”, though those are both unfortunate album closers.
Let’s rank the TOP TEN SONGS PAUL LEFT OFF ALBUMS
1. Waterspout
It fits musically and thematically with the rest of London Town, is catchy as hell and would have made a fine follow-up to With a Little Luck. This one is still in the vaults.
2. Tommy’s Coming Home
One of the finest (next to Veronica) McCartney/MacManus songs, it has not featured on any record by either artist- despite some fantastic lyrics and harmonies (and that’s just the demo!)
3. Daytime Nighttime Suffering
As mentioned, this would have been a nice addition, even first single, from Back To the Egg.
4. Flying To My Home
As mentioned, this killer track would have made a fantastic and upbeat closer for Flowers… in place of Motor of Love.
5. A Love For You
Finally released in bastardized form in 2003 on a movie soundtrack, this song from the Ram Sessions could have filled out a lackluster Red Rose Speedway next to its cousin from the same sessions, Get On the Right Thing. Or even spruced up Wild Life. Take yer pick.
6. It’s Not True
Sure, it’s a bonus track, but this very nice adult-contemporary tune would have given some much-needed warmth to Press To Play.
7. Back on My Feet
This first McCartney/MacManus track would have been a nice addition to Flowers in place of Don’t Be Careless Love.
8. Mama’s Little Girl
Already mentioned, could have been a nice addition to Wild Life or Red Rose.
9. Kicked Around No More
One of the many b-sides from Off the Ground era. Not sure why this nice contemporary ballad was left off in place of some other lackluster material.
10. Have We Met Somewhere Before?
This rejected theme for Heaven Can Wait would have given a nice lift to Back To the Egg.
Honorary Mention:
Cage (Back To the Egg)
Rainclouds (Tug of War/Pipes of Peace)
Best Friend (Wild Life/Red Rose Speedway)
Big Boys Bickering (Off the Ground)
Tragedy (Red Rose Speedway)
I suppose the good news is we should soon see more of these (what I consider) classics. He has built in a legacy of songs which for most people are untapped insofar as hearing them. So it may in the long run help his legacy to have so many good songs which did not get airplay during his lifetime and it leaves a little for future generations to hear and enjoy. But I doubt he has thought that far ahead.
I recall an interview where he said the folks at the record companies have input as to what is on his albums and they make suggestions for singles and such as well. So he apparently takes bad advice as well as not knowing which of his material is actually strongest.
OK, let’s play the other side (so to speak…).
Let’s say he released the tracks you listed because they were better, would be as found of tracks like C’mon People and How Many People if things like Flying To My Home was on the album instead? Or will we think that THOSE SONGS are superior? lol