Sobra do Álbum Branco, “Can You Take Me?” entrou só como uma vinheta no final de “Cry Baby Cry” – ou uma introdução a “Revolution 9”. Sua versão integral chegou a ser gravada num take alternativo de “I Will” e circula há tempos em discos piratas. E poderia entrar tranquilamente no primeiro disco do Paul, dizaê.

Q: Are you able to describe the texture or feel of the album…?
A: Home, family, love.

Por falar nisso, você conhece o primeiro disco do Paul? Batizado apenas com seu sobrenome, o disco de 1970 é o motivo dos Beatles terem acabado na data que acabaram, pois Paul queria aproveitar o auê em torno do fim da banda para promover seu primeiro disco gravado por conta própria – algo que ele levou ao pé da letra. McCartney é gravado apenas por ele e por Linda e é um disco tão autoral quanto pessoal, cru, melancólico e familiar em diferentes níveis. Tanto que Paul o lançou o disco acompanhado por uma auto-entrevista – e a descrição de cada uma das faixas.

Precursor do lo-fi (a maior parte do disco foi registrado num estúdio portátil de quatro canais), o disco funciona como uma resposta de Paul ao trabalho de sua musa definitiva, Linda – fotógrafa -e faz com que o beatle registre o dia-a-dia musicado do casal da forma mais naturalista possível, sem efeitos especiais nem a sensação de pertencer à maior banda de rock do mundo.

Durante esta manhã de segunda até o início da tarde, visito este disco com vídeos e algumas aspas do próprio Paul sobre as músicas, retiradas do release que veio junto com o disco. E como eu tou na mesma vibe descrita pelo Paul na tal auto-entrevista (ela vem a seguir), resolvi compartilhá-la aqui.

Composta no piano de sua casa quando ele tinha apenas 14 anos, “Suicide” nunca foi lançada oficialmente, embora aparecesse em menos de dez segundos no final de “Glasses” e tenha sido oferecida a ninguém menos que Frank Sinatra (que respondeu na lata: “Esse cara tá me tirando?”). É uma das canções em que o beatle mais exercita seu flerte com a música norte-americana e os musicais da Broadway (a lista é enorme: “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”, “Honey Pie”, “Your Mother Should Know”, “When I’m 64″…) e dá para ver como ele se diverte fazendo o sotaque americano. Embora não tenha lançado-a, Paul já registrou “Suicide” algumas vezes: no vídeo acima ela foi gravada em 1969, ainda nos Beatles; no de baixo, temos seu registro em 1975 para o documentário sobre os Wings que nunca foi lançado, chamado One Hand Clapping, e no vídeo do final, ele a apresenta no programa Michael Parkinson Show,em 2001.

C Em
Girls it’s been my pleasure
G Dm7 C
To know quite a lot of you
Dm7
And in the main
C
You’re pretty sane, it’s true
Dm7
But there are a few who do
C
The duty to do too beautiful a job
Dm7 C
It isn’t quite what they planned
Dm7 C
The man gets the upper hand
Dm7 C
He’s takin’ her for a ride
Dm7 C
I call it… S uicide

C Dm7 Em
If when she tries to run away
G C
And he calls her back, she comes
C Dm7 Em
If there’s a next time, he’s ok
G C
Cause she’s under both his thumbs
Em Dm7
She limps along to his side
G
Singing a song of ruined life

C Dm7
Daddy says nothin’ doin’
Dm7 C
Ah—
G C
I call it… S uicide

C Dm7 Em
She loves to ride in big parades
G C
But he wouldn’t so she won’t
C Dm7 Em
She needs at least a dozen lays
G C
But if he says no she don’t
Em Dm7
He wishes she knew his sign
G
Soon there’ll be trouble brewin’ ah—

C Dm7
Daddy says nothin’ doin’
Dm7 C
Ah—
G C
I call it… S uicide

C Em Dm7 G
Sui cide, she’s com mitin’ it
C Em Dm7 G
Sui cide, he’s not gettin’ it
C Em Dm7 G C
Sui cide, it’s a quittin’ a day

Em Dm7
She limps along to his side
G
Singing a song of ruined life

“Lovely Linda”

“When the Studer 4-track was installed at home, this was the first song I recorded, to test the machine. On the first track was vocal and guitar, second track another acoustic guitar, then I overdubbed hand slaps on a book and finally bass. Written in Scotland, the song is a trailer to the full song which will be recorded in the future.” -McCartney 1970

“That was when Linda and I first got together. The record is me playing around the house. You hear her walking through the living room doorway out to the garden and the door squeaks at the end of the tape. That’s one of the songs from my personal experience, with “the flowers in her hair.” She often used to wear flowers in her hair, so it’s a direct diary. I was always going to finish it and I had another bit that went into a Spanish song, almost mariachi but it just appeared as a fragment and was quite nice for that reason. It opened the McCartney album, so it’s evocative of it now.” -McCartney 2001

“That Would Be Something” ao vivo no Unplugged da MTV (1991)

“That Would Be Something”

“This song was written in Scotland in 1969 and recorded at home in London – mixed later at EMI(No.2). I only had one mike, as the mixer and V.U. meters hadn’t arrived (still haven’t).” -McCartney 1970

“Recorded at home. Made up as I went along – acoustic guitar first, then drums (maybe drums were first). Anyway – electric guitar and bass were added and the track is all instrumental. Mixed at EMI. This one and Momma Miss America were ad-libbed with more concern for testing the machine than anything else.” -McCartney 1970

“Rock’n’roll Springtime – Take one!”

“An instrumental recorded completely at home. Made up as I went along – first a sequence of chords, then a melody on top. Piano, drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar. Originally it was two pieces but they ran into each other by accident and became one.” -McCartney 1970

“Every Night” é demais.

“This came from the first two lines which I’ve had for a few years. They were added to in 1969 in Greece (Benitses) on holiday. This was recorded at EMI with” -McCartney 1970
1 vocal and
2 acoustic guitar
3 drums
4 bass
5 lead guitar (acoustic)
6 harmony to the lead guitar
7 double tracked vocal in parts
8 ? electric guitar (not used)

“A song written in about 1958 or 9 or maybe earlier when it was one of those songs that you play now and then. The middle was added in Morgan Studio where the track was recorded recently.” -McCartney 1970
1 acoustic guitar
2 electric guitar
3 drums
4 rhythm guitar
5 organ
6 maracas
7 bass
8 bongos

A faixa também foi gravada pelos Beatles, em tom jocoso, no meio das sessões do Let it Be.

Instrumental, “Hot as Sun” ainda foi usada nos anos 80 como música-tema do programa The All-New Popeye Hour, safra de desenhos do Popeye feita naquela década. Detalhe: a versão para TV era tocada em 45 RPM – e soava assim:

No finzinho, “Hot as Sun” virava a experimental “Glasses”:

“Wine glasses played at random and overdubbed on top of each other – the end is a section of a song called Suicide – not yet completed.” -McCartney 1970

E, no final, surgia um trecho minúsculo de uma canção que Paul fez aos 14 anos, chamada “Suicide” (já já falo mais dela).

Outra música linda:

“Junk” foi composta em 1968, quando os Beatles fizeram seu retiro na Índia, e iria entrar no Álbum Branco com o título de “Jubilee”.

“Originally written in India at Maharishi’s camp and completed bit by bit in London. Recorded vocal, two acoustic guitars and bass at home and later added to (bass drum,snare with brushes,and small xylophone and harmony) at Morgan.” -McCartney 1970

“The chorus (“Man We Was Lonely”) was written in bed at home shortly before we finished recording the album. The middle (“I used to ride…”) was done one lunchtime in a great hurry as we were due to record the song that afternoon. Linda sings harmony on this song which is our first duet together. The steel guitar sound is my Telecaster played with a drum peg.” -McCartney 1970
1 guitar
2 voices (two tracks)
3 bass drum
4 bass
5 steel guitar