Skip to main content

Paul McCartney‘s “Maybe I’m Amazed” was written for an album that wasn’t supposed to be an album. He called the song “very sort of basic.” Despite this, he felt differently about it than any of Wings’ other singles.

"Maybe I'm Amazed" singer Paul McCartney with a guitar
Paul McCartney | Norbert Försterling/picture alliance via Getty Images

Paul McCartney said 1 of his albums did not feel like an album at 1st

In the 2015 book Conversations with McCartney, Paul discussed the origin of his first solo album, McCartney. “I didn’t think it was going to be an album,” he said. “It was just me recording for the sake of it.

“Then I started trying to put a few songs in it, alongside the instrumentals,” he continued. “I got things like ‘Every Night,’ and ‘Maybe I’m Amazed,’ so it started to have validity as a collection.”

Paul explained why he has fond memories of the album McCartney even if it wasn’t initially supposed to be an album. “For me now, it’s great memories of a happy period: getting with Linda, earliest days,” he said.

“She helped me, because I’d have a guitar and amp in the house and she’d say I never knew you played guitar!’ Yeah, I’d play a few blues licks, you know?

“I’d say I did this and that, did the ‘Taxman‘ solos,” he recalled. “She was very encouraging, and that led me to ‘Momma Miss America,’ ‘Kreen-Akrore,’ which were right off the wall.” Paul said McCartney only started to feel like an album when he added some “normal” tracks to it.

Paul McCartney’s ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ is a ‘basic’ song abut Linda McCartney

During a 1989 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Paul named “Maybe I’m Amazed” as one of the best songs he ever wrote, alongside “Penny Lane,” “All My Loving,” and others. Notably, he had less to say about “Maybe I’m Amazed” than his other favorites.

“It’s a very sort of basic, honest song about me and Linda getting together in the early days … a documentary of how I felt,” he said. Notably, “Maybe I’m Amazed” was the only song on Paul’s list that became a hit single for Wings.

How the original version of ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ and the Wings version performed on the pop charts in the United States

The original version of “Maybe I’m Amazed” was not a single so it didn’t chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, McCartney reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for three weeks and stayed on the chart for 50 weeks in total.

Wings recorded a live version of “Maybe I’m Amazed” for the live album Wings over America. This rendition of the ballad reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 13 weeks. On the other hand, Wings over America peaked at No. 1 for one of its 90 weeks on the album chart. Wings over America remains one of the mot famous live albums of the 1970s.

“Maybe I’m Amazed” is a “basic” song from an album that wasn’t supposed to be an album. Paul loved it anyway.

Best in Entertainment