Heather

Song facts

“Heather” is an improvisation by Paul McCartney, assisted by Donovan and Mary Hopkin, recorded during the session for Hopkin’s “Post Card” LP, in November 1968. The song was written with Linda McCartney’s daughter Heather in mind.

Not to be confounded with “Heather“, a song from 2001 album “Driving Rain“, written for Heather Mills, Paul’s second wife.

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Transcript of Paul McCartney and Donovan recorded during the sessions for Mary Hopkin’s Postcard LP as heard on the “No. 3 Abbey Road N.W. 8” bootleg CD. (reproduced from https://davidgray101.tripod.com/PaulandDonovan.html ):

Paul begins singing a strange little tune he’s written for Linda’s daughter, Heather. The song’s descending chord sequence, for the most part, is strikingly similar to George Harrison’s While My Guitar Gently Weeps. In fact, the words and melody to While My… can be sung perfectly over most of Heather’s passages, with the only deviation from George’s main progression coming during the section where Heather’s name is repeated. This similarity is noted here, since this seems to be the only recording of this song in popular circulation. Perhaps its odd resemblance to his partner’s obviously superior song is the reason it is never heard of again after this point. Just brainstorming here…

Paul: (singing) Well, you take a feather,

In any kind of weather,

You put it together,

And what have you got?

You got Heather, Heather, Heather.

(Mary Hopkins joins in on the last ‘Heather’, drawing laughs from the others)

You take a cap,

And maybe fat,

You put it on the map,

And what have you got?

You got Heather, Heather, Heather.

Well, you take a goose,

Cut it loose,

Drink some juice,

And what have you got?

You got Heather, Heather, Heather.

Donovan joins in on acoustic and another guitar duet develops, with Donovan laying down some superb guitar licks that perfectly compliment Paul’s playing. The guitars continue their performance for a while and eventually die down with Paul and Donovan repeating over and over “Heather, Heather, Heather…”

Last updated on September 23, 2021