Be What You See

Album This song officially appears on the Tug Of War Official album.

Timeline This song has been officially released in 1982

Timeline This song has been written (or started being written) in 1981 (Paul McCartney was 39 years old)

Song facts

“Be What You See” is a 34 seconds-long song from 1982 album “Tug Of War“, serving as a link between “Get It” and “Dress Me As A Robber“. As explained by Paul :

The idea originally was that I wanted a few moments on the album where, like on a Pink Floyd album, you’ll get a sound developing into another sound, and I like that kind of thing, like where a radio play atmosphere develops. Carl (Perkins) and I had a joke at the end of ‘Get It’ and he started laughing. It was a nice way to end the track. It was genuine laughing but I wanted the laughing to go on into something more mystical. So I got on a vocoder, which Herbie Hancock, the musician, uses, where you play the actual notes with your mouth. And I got into this and it developed like the way you hear on the album, mixed into the next track. It’s difficult because if you start a short track and it starts to sound good, how do you finish it? It’s only a link you’re making, but you’ve got to get out. You can’t stay there forever, because it was only meant to be a link. We kept it like that with the laughing.

Paul McCartney, from Badman, Keith. The Beatles: The Dream Is Over – Off The Record 2 (p. 303).

Last updated on April 16, 2020

Latest concerts where Be What You See has been played

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.