Paul McCartney discusses his contribution to upcoming “Ethel & Ernest” animated film

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On this day, Paul McCartney met with graphic novelist Raymond Briggs, film producer Camilla Deakin and film director Roger Mainwood, to discuss if / how Paul could contribute to the soundtrack of their upcoming project, an animated film named “Ethel & Ernest“.

Paul McCartney’s contribution would become an original song, “In The Blink Of An Eye“, used over the end credits of the film. “Ethel & Ernest” would be released in 2016.

From the liner notes of the soundtrack album:

Raymond Briggs, Camilla Deakin, and myself met up with Paul McCartney in his Soho office on May 14th 2014. I had suggested to Raymond that he might write a letter to Paul to see if he was interested in composing a song for our Ethel and Ernest film. Raymond’s book ‘Fungus the Bogeyman’ had influenced Paul’s track Bogey Music on his 1980 album McCartney II. So that connection, and Paul’s well known love of animation, encouraged us to believe that he might be interested. We were thrilled when he said he was.

At the meeting he produced a CD of some music that he had been working on. On track was entitled Mum and Dad. This track eventually became In The Blink Of An Eye which we have used over the end credits.

Raymond and Paul found many connections as they chatted. They had both been grammar school boys, and their fathers were both auxiliary firemen in World War 2. We talked about Paul’s father being a band leader, and how he composed a piece of music that Paul later recorded. The track is called Walking In The Park With Eloise, and we suggested to him that it would be really nice to have it in the film.

We had a chat about the style of Ethel and Ernest. I said it would be hand drawn animation but there would be 3D elements in it for vehicles, plances, and the mangle that Ethel uses for washing. We showed him some of the artwork for the film. He stopped at a picture of the mangle in the scullery and recalled how he and his brother used to try and feed old 78rpm records through the rollers to see if they could get them through without breaking. He laughed and added, “we couldn’t!”.

Roger Mainwood, Director

Last updated on April 11, 2021