Paul McCartney Explains How He Knows When a Song Should be Released as a Single
Many of Paul McCartney’s biggest hit songs with The Beatles and his solo career were released as singles. Even if these songs would later be part of albums, releasing them as singles would allow them to climb the charts, registering them as certified hits. However, there is a process in deciding which songs get released as singles, and Paul McCartney shares his method.
Paul McCartney says there are a few ways to know if a song should be released as a single
In an interview for his website, Paulmccartney.com, Paul McCartney discussed the many singles in his career and how he knew if a song should be released that way. Firstly, the former Beatle says that sometimes it’s instinct. He can simply tell that what he wrote will be a massive hit.
“Sometimes you just have a definite idea – like ‘Hey Jude’ or ‘Let It Be’ or ‘Live and Let Die’, those are obvious choices,” McCartney said. “Those felt like the big song of the moment so they should be the single. A few times I’ve got lucky, and when I’ve been writing a song, I could just tell it was a good one. Sometimes those ones come very quickly – there it is, you’ve written it, and it becomes the single. And because it arrived so luckily and quickly and positively, you just go, ‘Oh right, this is a good one.’”
Macca also listens to advice from colleagues. He may not be sure if a song should be a single until he plays it for someone and they tell him it should be a single.
“Sometimes, though, it’s difficult to see whether you’ve made a single or not,” he added. “Particularly with ‘Get Back’, as it had arrived out of a jam, I didn’t think, ‘Wow, I did a spectacular job in writing this’. I just thought it was okay and that the recording was good. I remember I played it for Twiggy, and she went crazy saying, ‘This is great, it’s got to be the single!’ So, that helped. It’s nice to see things through other people’s eyes.”
McCartney often needed approval from the studio
The other area where Paul McCartney would get feedback on a song is from the studio. The studio wants as many hits as possible, and sometimes they will ask the former Beatle to release a song as a single that he wasn’t even considering. One example is “Jet” from 1973’s Band on the Run.
“Then there’s the record label’s opinion if they have a certain idea. In the seventies there was this guy called Al Coury at Capitol who was their hot salesman. He rang me just after Band on the Run had come out, and it was starting to go back down the charts after its first week or so. He said, ‘You can’t let this happen. You’ve got to get it back up to the top, and “Jet” has got to be the single!’ I hadn’t particularly spotted it but when he said it, I thought, ‘yeah that could work’. Soon everyone knew ‘Jet’, and it sold the album. In that case it was Al’s choice, and he just persuaded me it was a good idea.”
McCartney recently released ‘The 7” Singles Box”
Paul McCartney recently released The 7” Singles Box, a collection of many of the artist’s most popular singles. The digital compilation includes 159 tracks from his solo career and Wings. There is also a physical box that fans can collect that includes 80 seven-inch vinyl singles. However, fans will have to pay a hefty price for the box as it is priced at $611.98.
