Paperback Writer

Richard Furnstein: For my money, this is Paul's first true Wings song. It's all groove and words that sound nice but don't really mean anything (and it came out at a time when Paul was lauded for avoiding the word "love" in a song). "I'll be writing more in a week or two." Paul's talking about himself here. He's all ego and smooth ass tones. He'll give you a hit if you want a hit, it's no problem. Comin' right up!

Robert Bunter: Okay, there are two things about this song that everybody knows: it was the first time they were able to get that much of Paul's bass into the mix (Lewisohn tells us this was achieved by using his loudspeaker as a microphone, whatever the hell that means), and, as the flipside of "Rain," it is one of those perfect Lennon/McCartney contrast 45's which exemplify their respective tendencies (the others, of course, are "Penny Lane" b/w "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Hello Goodbye" b/w "I Am The Walrus"). McCartney - fun, happy, shallow songs about everyday people; Lennon - unsettling, dark, deep songs about himself. Great, thanks for the completely unoriginal, hackneyed insights. We're here for "Something New," so let's go!

Richard Furnstein: Paul really opens up this baby with the "dirty story about a dirty man and his clinging wife doesn't understand his son is working for the Daily Mail" verse. He knocks it out with such ease that you don't realize that he just told a better story than one of those million verse Springsteen songs. He got the whole family in there and you get an idea of what their Sunday dinners were about. No fuss, no muss. 


Robert Bunter: Paperback Writer is really about Paul's relationship with his father. I don't know. The falsetto backing vocals (overdubbed completely by an out-of-his-depth Ringo and oafish assistant Mal Evans) show the nascent Townshend/Who influence which would later inform such late-period masterpieces as ... I can't think of anything here. I'm sick of this blog.