See Your Sunshine

Song facts

“See Your Sunshine” is a song from Paul McCartney’s 2007 album, “Memory Almost Full“. The song was written with Heather Mills McCartney in mind, Paul’s second wife whom he separated from in May 2006.

That is pretty much an out-and-out love song for Heather. A lot of the album was done before, during and after our separation. I didn’t go back and take out any songs to do with her. That one was written during a good time with Heather. I don’t want to deny those times. When you’re going through a separation it’s always tempting to put all that behind you, but I don’t think that’s right.

Paul McCartney, from Mirror.co.uk, June 22, 2007

I’d already recorded most of the song, and when the time came to put the bass on it I played a fairly straightforward track. Then I was messing around, because I thought it was done, so just for my own pleasure I started goofing around, playing way too much, and afterwards I joked with the producer, saying, ‘Whoa – that was way over the top!’ He said, ‘No, that’s great – do another take like that. I think that’s exactly what the song needs.’ That was dangerous, because I pulled out every trick in the book and just had fun playing. But when I listened back it all seemed to make sense. I was going where I wouldn’t normally go, throwing in notes that I didn’t think were needed, but somehow it fitted. I think I only did two takes.

Paul McCartney – interview with Mail On Sunday, May 12, 2008

Interview with David Khane, from Mix Online, October 1, 2007:

Kahne says this track features “Paul playing bass at his absolute best. There was a bass fix that we needed to do, right before the bridge, which I asked him to do. He played it and was just goofing around — he was playing all over the place, like only he can play; just amazing stuff. So I asked him, ‘Can you play from the beginning of the song the same way?’ And he goes, ‘Sure,’ which he did. When we were done, I said, ‘Well, that could be the bass part,’ and he said, ‘I don’t know…’ He thought it was too busy, but after he listened to it, he said, ‘That’s really cool.’”

The two also spent a good amount of time on drums. “We just kept doing more and more drums and loops,” Kahne says, “just getting the groove right and the tempo. We gave it several tempo changes.” A few hours’ work also generated the song’s wonderfully soulful background vocals. “It’s a voicing of the piano part, so it’s really an orchestration rather than a brand-new part.”

Last updated on January 19, 2021

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