The Paul McCartney Solo Song That Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour Loved

Only the most contrarian music fans would maintain that Paul McCartney didn’t significantly impact pop music. His songs — with The Beatles, Wings, and solo under his own name — remain some of the biggest hits ever. A fellow musician called Paul and John Lennon idiots in the early 1960s. The pair obviously proved him wrong. Decades later, a solo Paul song made Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour reach out to Macca and tell him how much he liked it.

The Paul McCartney song ‘You Tell Me’ left a mark on Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour

Miraculously for someone who reached his 70s and 80s in the 21st century, Paul has hardly slowed down. His 2007 solo album Memory Almost Full landed two years after his previous effort, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. 

Memory Almost Full was truly a grab-bag of styles. Paul explored folk stomp on “Dance Tonight,” danceable indie pop on “Ever Present Past,” hard-driving rock on “Only Mama Knows” and “Nod Your Head,” and faux-soul on “Gratitude.” Yet the song that touched Gilmour most was the delicate and melancholy “You Tell Me.”

Many of Paul’s most successful solo songs came in the 1970s and 1980s, but he wasn’t out of creative energy in the 2000s. As Paul wrote in The Lyrics: 1956 to Present, Gilmour reached out to tell him “You Tell Me” was a highlight song.

“David Gilmour and Paul Weller [of The Jam], a couple of musicians whose opinion I value, independently sent me messages to say, ‘Wow, I like that one,’ to say that this song was one of their favorites of mine. Your main feedback is generally from critics, so it’s nice to get responses from people who’ve heard the song, especially real musicians, and were affected enough that they can be bothered to actually write to you.”

Paul Mccartney

Only Paul knows the full content of Gilmour’s message about “You Tell Me,” but the tune strikes us as a songwriter’s song.

Macca’s voice threatens to crack at any moment. The strummed guitar holds it up, but the descending chord progression nearly crumbles under the weight. Sporadic backup vocals float in like ghosts from the past, hammering home the song’s theme. Even the brief guitar solo seems to disappear, just like the fleeting memories Paul sings about.

Interestingly, Gilmour seemingly glossed over the song “House of Wax” from Memory Almost Full. It’s the most Floydian song on the record with its spacious production, bleak lyrics, and Gilmour-like piercing guitar solo.

How ‘You Tell Me’ and ‘Memory Almost Full’ performed on the charts

Paul’s fragile song “You Tell Me” made Gilmour take notice, but the tune was an album deep cut. “Dance Tonight” was the only song from Memory Almost Full to hit the Billboard charts. It peaked at No. 69 in July 2007. The tune rose as high as No. 26 in England, per the Official Charts Company.

Since no one buys singles anymore, it’s unfair to judge Memory Almost Full’s success based on “Dance Tonight.” The album lasted 15 weeks on the Billboard albums chart, peaking at No. 3. The record rose as high as No. 5 in England.

Many of his tunes have earned fans worldwide over the years. Still, “You Tell Me” was a 21st-century Paul solo song that impacted Pink Floyd guitarist Gilmour hard enough he had to tell Macca about it. 

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