Sunday, February 22, 1970
Recording "Maybe I'm Amazed", mixing "That Would Be Something", "Valentine Day"
For Paul McCartney
Last updated on April 5, 2022
Sunday, February 22, 1970
For Paul McCartney
Last updated on April 5, 2022
"McCartney" sessions at EMI Studios, Abbey Road
February 21 to March 1970 • Songs recorded during this session appear on McCartney
Recording studio: EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Session Feb 21, 1970 • Mixing "The Lovely Linda", "Momma Miss America", "Singalong Junk"
Session February 21 to March 1970 • "McCartney" sessions at EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Session Feb 22, 1970 • Recording "Maybe I'm Amazed", mixing "That Would Be Something", "Valentine Day"
Session Feb 23, 1970 • Recording "Every Night"
Some of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "McCartney" LP.
During that 12 pm – 10 pm session at EMI Studios, Paul McCartney mixed two tracks recorded at his home in late December 1969 – “That Would Be Something” and “Valentine Day” – and recorded two new tracks.
The writing of “Every Night” was completed in May/June 1969, when Paul and his family were on holiday in Corfu. On this day, he tried recording it but would end up recording it again the day after.
Going back to earlier songs, ‘Every Night’ could stand up to being remade. Other people have made good recordings of it, and I remember that when I played the “McCartney” album to Ringo he said that he preferred my original solo version, when I had first sung it to him.
Paul McCartney – From interview with Club Sandwich, Winter 1994
“Maybe I’m Amazed” was then recorded, overdubbed and mixed, during that single session. Phil McDonald is credited as the mixing engineer, but engineer Chris Thomas claimed he did some attempts at mixing it as well (he also declared that the track “sounded lots ballsier before Paul mixed it“).
[…] But then he sat down at the piano and came up with “Maybe I’m Amazed,” an impassionedly conceived, beautifully realized tribute to the woman who had just pulled him through his darkest moments. You help me sing my song / You right me when I’m wrong… Paul booked time at EMI to record that one, sneaking in as quietly as possible, then playing all the instruments himself. Another thoroughly composed song, “Every Night,” came together in the studio, too. John Kurlander, who had engineered so many Beatles sessions in the last few years, was on the board for these first solo sessions, too. Linda was there, of course, so were the kids, drinking their grape juice and chasing their toys around the control-room floor. If the absence of the other Beatles consumed him, Paul could look up, see his family, and feel reassured. “Paul was relaxed, bearded, cheerful,” Kurlander recalls. Linda didn’t sing or perform, but she had opinions about what she was hearing, and Paul was obviously listening to what she said. “It was definitely a family business now.”
Paul booked his EMI sessions under a phony name to avoid alerting the press to his new project. But when onetime Beatles engineer Chris Thomas happened upon a mixing session and sat in long enough to get a good listen to “Maybe I’m Amazed,” he was astonished. “He’d played everything himself; wrote it, produced it. I was like, wow! Amazing!”
From “Paul McCartney – A Life” by Peter Ames Carlin
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording • Every Night was recorded on this date, but re-recorded the day after.
Unreleased track
Written by Paul McCartney
Mixing
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney
Written by Paul McCartney
Mixing
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording
Written by Paul McCartney
Mixing
AlbumOfficially released on McCartney
Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989
With 25 albums of pop music, 5 of classical – a total of around 500 songs – released over the course of more than half a century, Paul McCartney's career, on his own and with Wings, boasts an incredible catalogue that's always striving to free itself from the shadow of The Beatles. The stories behind the songs, demos and studio recordings, unreleased tracks, recording dates, musicians, live performances and tours, covers, events: Music Is Ideas Volume 1 traces McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1970 to 1989 in the form of 346 song sheets, filled with details of the recordings and stories behind the sessions. Accompanied by photos, and drawing on interviews and contemporary reviews, this reference book draws the portrait of a musical craftsman who has elevated popular song to an art-form.
Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium
We owe a lot to Chip Madinger and Mark Easter for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details!
Eight Arms To Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium is the ultimate look at the careers of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr beyond the Beatles. Every aspect of their professional careers as solo artists is explored, from recording sessions, record releases and tours, to television, film and music videos, including everything in between. From their early film soundtrack work to the officially released retrospectives, all solo efforts by the four men are exhaustively examined.
As the paperback version is out of print, you can buy a PDF version on the authors' website
If we modestly consider the Paul McCartney Project to be the premier online resource for all things Paul McCartney, it is undeniable that The Beatles Bible stands as the definitive online site dedicated to the Beatles. While there is some overlap in content between the two sites, they differ significantly in their approach.
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