Hosanna

Song facts

“Hosanna” is a song from 2013 album “NEW“, produced by Ethan Johns, one of the four producers who have collaborated to this album. Ethan Johns produced four tracks during the sessions for this album, and “Hosanna” has been the first one.

Next up was the producer Ethan Johns. “He’d done Kings of Leon records, so I knew there was an authenticity and a realness about what he did,” McCartney says. “I brought him ‘Hosanna’” – a tender, tentative acoustic ballad – “and I said, ‘I wrote this song.’ He said, ‘Why don’t you go in and sing it?’ So I did that and said, ‘Should I do it again? Should we fix it up?’ He said, ‘No, that’s beautiful the way you did it. I think that’s enough.’ I thought, ‘OK, this is the way he works: He’s gonna be very raw, he’s gonna want it to spill out, don’t think about it too much, just say it.’”

From RollingStone, November 7, 2013

I hooked up with Ethan Johns, the son of my friend Glyn Johns, who I had worked with on Beatles and Wings recordings. Ethan, a full bearded Glastonbury man, was easy to get along with and I got a feeling that his style suited my more acoustic songs. We went to Abbey Road Studios and fairly swiftly put down a take of Hosanna. Later, in my studio in Sussex, we recorded Early Days a song based on my reminiscences of formative times with John before The Beatles, when we were first starting out. It was good to work with young producers whose approaches were so different. Their aims were the same but the variety of their work methods kept the recordings fresh and energetic. Together. we finished more tracks than appear on the album. They will, no doubt, show up somewhere sooner or later.

Paul McCartney – From the liner notes of the album

It’s classic Paul. This is very different to the last album. We’ve done two sessions already and the third is in a few weeks. It’s sounding great. He’s still one of the most extraordinary recording talents. There’s a song on the record called ‘Hosanna’ which is absolutely heartbreaking – just Paul and an acoustic guitar. It’s gorgeous…

Ethan Johns, about working with Paul McCartney on “NEW”, from NME, October 18, 2012

There was no plan. It was, ‘Let’s just go into the studio for a few days and see what happens’. I walked through the door with no preconceptions with what I was going to do. It was a complete blank canvas. I’m not even sure in his mind he has a defined idea of what he wants to do. He wants to react to the moment. It was very much, ‘What do you feel like doing?’ […] He had a CD, which had a number of titles on it. But then he said, ‘I’ve got this song called Hosanna’, and played it through on acoustic guitar. And the feeling of it I mean, I just lit up like the sun when I heard it, because I could feel the inspiration, the connection, the musicality of it. It wasn’t trying to be something it wasn’t, it just was. It was right. So it was simple. What you hear on the record, that’s pretty much it. Just him playing, with a couple of mics set up.

Producer Ethan Johns – “New” album biography, october 2013

[Paul] also likes to experiment with abstract stuff – in fact, some of the tape loops he did for Hosanna were done on the same machine he used in The Beatles days, which he carries around with him. He had me singing into it with him, making chanting loops. I had a great time, he’s a very inspiring guy. One of the greatest creative minds of the 20th century and beyond.

Ethan Johns

Last updated on December 17, 2020

Lyrics

Variations