Paul McCartney Got the Name of a Song From Being Overly Affectionate to His Daughter

There are plenty of fascinating stories behind the song titles for Paul McCartney’s music. They’re often based on his family, his friends, or just something he pulled out of the blues. One song he released with Wings was based on something his daughter would say to him when he was overly affectionate. 

Paul McCartney named ‘One More Kiss’ after a phrase his daughter said

Paul McCartney often names songs after the people he loves. There are many songs named after his first wife, Linda, and dozens of other love songs about the women in his life. In an interview with his website, McCartney discussed the track “One More Kiss” from Red Rose Speedway, the second album he made with Wings. The former Beatle said it came from his daughter trying to push him away while he was being affectionate. 

“Mary was three or four around this time, so just a little kid,” McCartney said. “And you know how fathers often fuss over their kids? So I was fussing over her, she was a really cute baby. And I’m fussing away going, ‘Give me a kiss. Come on, give me a kiss!’ And she’d get fed up with me and sort of go: ‘Dad. Alright. But only one more kiss.’ So I got one more kiss… and a song! It suggested a country and western thing. And I was thinking that when we just listened back to it. A country singer should cover it!”

It isn’t the only song title Paul McCartney got from his kids

In 1972, Paul McCartney and Wings released “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, a song based on the classic children’s nursery rhyme. The track was released as a non-album single but later included on the bonus disc of Red Rose Speedway. The song was a minor hit but flopped with critics. In Paul McCartney: In His Own Words, McCartney said he got the idea for the song from having small kids, but he recognized it “wasn’t much of a record.”

“I do things that aren’t necessarily very carefully thought out. Now, you know, I’ve just got three kids over the last few years, and when I am sitting at home playing at the piano my audience a lot of the time is the kids. I just wrote that one up, the words were already written, you know, I just found out what the words to the nursery rhyme were, wrote a little tune up around it, went and recorded it. I had an idea in my head to find out what the words to the original nursery rhyme were. I thought it was all very deep and all very nice. I see now, you know, it wasn’t much of a record.”

‘Red Rose Speedway’ is celebrating its 50th anniversary

Red Rose Speedway was released on April 30, 1973, and will turn 50 this year. While it isn’t considered the best of Wings’ discography, it still has a few hits on the album, including “My Love”.  It also performed well on the charts, reaching No. 5 in the U.K. and No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200.