A Love For You

“A Love For You” is a track written by Paul McCartney and recorded during the “RAM” sessions in 1971. Over the years, it was subject to various overdubs, as Paul contemplated including it in his album of rarities, “Cold Cuts”. This album was in the end shelved, and “A Love For You” was officially released in the soundtrack for the 2003 film “The In-Laws”.

Basic track recorded on October 26, 1970 during the Ram sessions, in the Columbia Studios, New York, with overdubs added in March 1971 in the Sound Recording Studio, in Los Angeles. The track was prepared by Paul and Eirik Wilhelm Wangberg (aka ‘Erik the Norwegian’) to be released on a single (with ‘Get On The Right Thing’ as the a-side and ‘Great Cock and Seagull Race’ as third song) later that year, but then Wings was formed and the single never materialized. ‘A Love For You’ wasn’t on the 1978 version of Cold Cuts, but opened the 1980 version. A February 2002 remix by Ralph Sall and David Khane was officially released in 2003 on The In-Laws soundtrack album, while the 1986 remix by John Kelly was released in 2012 as one of the bonus tracks on the Archive Collection of Ram. As Paul kept adding overdubs over the years, every version of it is a bit different. This is the edited remix from January 1981.

From Abbeyrd’s Beatles Page, May 5, 2003:

[…] I spoke with Ralph Sall, the Music Supervisor on “The In-Laws,” who gave me the following information about the two previously-unreleased Macca tracks featured in the movie:

Sall was provided multi-tracks for the song, which, while dating back to the early 1971 CBS New York recording sessions for McCartney’s Ram album, had been subject to various overdub attempts by the former Beatle over the years, as has been the fate of many unreleased McCartney titles. “It originally featured Paul and Linda McCartney, drummer Denny Seiwell and guitarist Hugh McCracken, who recorded the basic track,” explains Sall, noting that it was this version which had been previously bootlegged. “He did some more recording at one of the last-ever Wings sessions in January 1981, with guitarist Laurence Juber and drummer Steve Holly, who added percussion. It’s probably one of the only McCartney songs that has that many Wings members on it.”

McCartney did additional work to the track in 1986, says Sall, but then, for the new soundtrack release, came to Los Angeles in late February of this year to add some additional guitar at Henson Recording Studios. The song was then mixed by Sall and David Kahne, who produced McCartney’s Driving Rain album two years ago.
In addition to “A Love For You” and “I’m Carrying” (from 1978’s London Town), the soundtrack opens with a previously-unreleased version of “Live and Let Die” (itself the title track for the 1973 James Bond classic). “The version used here dates from the sessions for a never-aired television special,” says Sall. [That special was likely “One Hand Clapping,” filmed and recorded at Abbey Road studios in August 1974.] The recording features drummer Geoff Britton, who had only a brief tenure with Wings. The track was remixed by Sall himself for inclusion in the soundtrack. […]

Matt Hurwitz

From Abbeyrd’s Beatles Page, May 4, 2003:

The website of American fanzine Beatlefan reveals the following about “The In-Laws” soundtrack: “Ralph Sall, the film’s executive music producer, said McCartney added a few new guitar parts and did a little remixing to “A Love for You”. The cover of the album “The In-Laws” is appearing on the main page of Paul McCartney’s official website. Click on: http://www.mplcommunications.com/mccartney/ and see it.

João Paulo Petersen

From Abbeyrd’s Beatles Page, May 27, 2003:

[…] The disc open with “A Love For You”, a track I’ve had a fondness for since I’d heard the previously “final” mix of it on Pegboy’s 1996 “Cold Cuts” bootleg. I’ve heard every previous mix of it since then, and ultimately, the “In-Laws” version is generally the best. First off, the instrumental intro has been changed, not in duration but content, with harmonies preceding the first verse. Certain (high) lead guitar parts following the chorus have been newly replaced/recorded, and towards the end of the choruses, Paul has added new, double-tracked (and a little harmony) vocals, no doubt to make up for his slight mumbling on the original “Ram”-session vocals. And as with the much-bootlegged instrumental version, this new mix does not fade out. I’m still getting used to the new intro, but this version is terrific, and it’s nice to have the general public hearing this song at last (and in a movie, no less). […]

From Paul McCartney: versions of “A Love For You”…. | Steve Hoffman Music Forums:

Anyway, that 4:59 version on YouTube is from around 1971. It is lacking a lot of overdubs, and I either haven’t heard it before or haven’t heard it in years. It’s definitely sped up, though. Compare it to any other mix/version, and this is faster. Also, it does not come to a complete stop. It fades out. The vocals on this are a mix between what is on all subsequent versions and what is likely a different run through. It’s either that, or one complete vocal take before the best pieces of multiple vocal takes were spliced together to get the best bits. Some of the parts on this, like his, “surely work out fi-iiii-iii- ah ii- ii ii , oh uh oh, oh oh” part are definitely used on all later mixes (at 3:37 on this version), although some of the “baby, baby” stuff is slightly different here. Confusing, I know. This is not the earliest mix. There are two earlier ones I am aware of. One is an instrumental version, and the other is with Paul’s live vocal (this may actually be the same one as this 4:59 mix we’re talking about, but I’m not sure. I have the other mixes at home, and I’m at work now). On the latter, he repeats the first verse. Interesting. There are 6 mixes floating around out there, both released and unreleased. 3 are from 1971.

The 5:28 version is a 1981 mix. It is the longest and, in my opinion, the best. It features some overdubbed guitar by Laurence Juber (so I heard someone mention on here, but I can’t hear it). It is indeed from a Cold Cuts session. There is a 12-song Cold Cuts album out there containing mixes from 1981, and is likely how the album would have sounded had it been released then. The chorus seems different from the mix above, but it is still just as messy and inconsistent. I doubt it was newly-recorded for this mix, but who knows? His voice sure sounds exactly the same, and if he really did re-recorded the chorus in 1981, you would think he would have made the lyrics as consistent as he did when he re-recorded them in 1986. As you say, those messy chorus vocals have a charm, and they are even more charming in the above 1971 mix, where he keeps a nice rhythm in them that is not quite as present in any other version.

Now we hit the 1986 Jon Kelly mix. This is on the RAM set. It was indeed mixed in 1986. It has newly-recorded chorus vocals by Paul, making them finally consistent in the lyrics department (“really will, really can, really do, really have a love for you”). There is added piano and that stupid ‘80s snare drum (can you tell this is my least-favorite mix?). The backing vocals are not as prominent, and neither is the sweet guitar by Hugh. It’s interesting, and I’m very glad to have it, but it’s the worst mix of them all.

Ahhh, the 2003 mix. This one is pretty damn good. As far as I can hear, there are no newly-added Paul vocals. He did something interesting with the chorus vocals, though. He used the 1986 vocals for “I really will, really can, really do, really have” and used the 1971 vocals for “a love for you.” Interesting. I like it. The added piano from 1986 is still there, but it is at the perfect level in the mix: nicely in the background, peeking in when it best suits the song. In the 1986 mix, it is much more prominent and, together with the overdubbed snare, makes the song sound too different from its awesome 1970s sound. This 2003 mix is a very close second for me, and if it had 1) a better mastering, and 2) a COMPLETE GUITAR INTRO (seriously, what the hell is up with that?), it may be my favorite. Luckily, I spliced the complete guitar in, so I’m good.

Lyrics

Variations

• A
• A1 Edit version
• B Jon Kelly Mix

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

Live performances

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.

Going further

• http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/news/409maccafilmsong.html