Paul McCartney possesses a natural gift for songwriting and is known to be able to create a song on the spot. He has a vast catalogue of original songs, many of which were written during periods of leisure, while others were created under the pressure of a deadline.
Paul McCartney’s Talent for Quick Songwriting
In an interview, McCartney revealed that he once challenged himself to write a song in just two hours and remarkably, he was able to accomplish this feat successfully. His ability to create music effortlessly has contributed to his legendary status as one of the greatest songwriters of all time.
Paul McCartney is a renowned songwriter, credited with penning some of the most iconic rock songs in history. His creative process varies from song to song, as some were written in a matter of hours, while others took days or even weeks. One example of McCartney’s efficiency in songwriting is his collaboration with John Lennon on “I Wanna Be Your Man” for The Rolling Stones in 1963. The song was written quickly and became the band’s first hit. McCartney’s ability to create music on the spot is also evident in his work with Dustin Hoffman, who asked him to come up with a song on the spot, resulting in “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me).”
Paul McCartney Pen a Song in Two Hours
Paul McCartney, the legendary musician, and songwriter has written many classic songs with his first wife, Linda. The couple had a natural way of collaborating and often wrote songs together while hanging out at home or on a date. While working on his 10th album, Flaming Pie, McCartney was able to write one of the songs, “Somedays,” while waiting for Linda to finish an appointment. He revealed in an interview with Global News that he only had to wait for about two hours and was able to use that time to write the song. This is just one example of McCartney’s ability to spontaneously come up with great songs, even in the midst of waiting for something else to happen.
“Songs can come from anywhere. Sometimes, I would drive Linda (McCartney) to one of her cookery assignments, and on one particular day, I had driven her to a photo session at a farmhouse in Kent. I kept out of the way, went upstairs, and made up a little fantasy for myself to write a song.”
“I knew that Linda would be about two hours doing the shoot, so I set myself a deadline to write a song in that time. And ‘Somedays’ was it. I wrote the whole song at that time. Normally, you might get most of it down and think you’ll finish it up next week. But I thought I’ll finish it up so that when Linda had finished the shoot, and would say, ‘What did you do? Did you get bored?’ I could say, ‘Oh, I wrote this song, wanna hear it?’”
McCartney and Lennon’s Songwriting Sessions Rarely Exceeded Three Hours
According to Paul McCartney, he and John Lennon had a competitive relationship when it came to songwriting. McCartney revealed that he shared a similar method with Lennon in that he would write a new song quickly so he could show it to his partner. Lennon would also do the same thing, which led to a kind of friendly competition between the two. This competition helped them write songs more efficiently and quickly.
“John and I used to play this game and I don’t think it ever took us more than three or so hours to write a song,” McCartney said.