Part of
"McCartney" sessions at EMI Studios, Abbey Road
February 21 to March 1970 • Songs recorded during this session appear on McCartney
- Album Songs recorded during this session officially appear on the McCartney LP.
- Studio:
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Timeline
More from year 1970
Some songs from this session appear on:
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About
On this day, Paul McCartney was at EMI Studios at 10:45 am, for a 45-minute playback of the tracks recorded so far the “McCartney” album. He then recorded and mixed “Man We Was Lonely“.
The basic track was recorded in 12 takes between 11:30 am and 2:15 pm. Various overdubs were added from 3:15 pm to 9 pm, including some harmony vocals by his wife, Linda.
The song was mixed in the evening, in just one attempt (the mixing session was booked from 9 pm to 11 pm). It was then added to the master reel.
The chorus (“Man We Was Lonely”) was written in bed at home, shortly before we finished recording the album. The middle (“I used to ride…”) was done one lunchtime in a great hurry, as we were due to record the song that afternoon. Linda sings harmony on this song, which is our first duet together. The steel-guitar sound is my Telecaster played with a drum peg.
Paul McCartney, from the press release of “McCartney”, April 1970
Last updated on April 13, 2022
Songs recorded
1.
2.
Staff
Musicians
- Paul McCartney:
- Producer
- Phil McDonald:
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
Musicians on "Man We Was Lonely"
- Paul McCartney:
- Acoustic guitar, Vocals, Percussion, Drums, Backing vocals, Electric guitar, Bass
- Linda McCartney:
- Backing vocals, Vocals
Going further
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 like to think, in all modesty, that the Paul McCartney Project is the best online ressource for everything Paul McCartney, The Beatles Bible is for sure the definitive online site focused on the Beatles. There are obviously some overlap in terms of content between the two sites, but also some major differences in terms of approach.
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