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Released in 1989

Distractions

Written by Paul McCartney

Last updated on April 13, 2017

Album This song officially appears on the Flowers In The Dirt Official album.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1989

Timeline This song was written, or began to be written, in 1987, when Paul McCartney was 45 years old)

Master album

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

Related interviews

“Distractions” is a song written by Paul McCartney, released on his 1989 album “Flowers In The Dirt“. After having recorded a demo of it in August 1987, he started recorded it in the studio in April 1988, later moving to California to add string overdubs.

Paul McCartney in “Club Sandwich 52, Summer 1989“:

There’s a nice story about this… I heard an album a few years ago by someone off Prince’s label. Paisley Park, called the Family …And there were some string arrangements on it that were really interesting… I thought’ Wow, great. I wonder who this is?’… it said Clare Fischer…So I said to Linda, ‘These arrangements are incredible and it’s this Clare Fischer…some LA chick, I think’…and while she thought it was this kind of great, blonde LA lady she didn’t like them. We found out, actually, it’s this guy who’s about 50 years old, who’s got a grey beard and he’s a great fellow.. .So then Linda was saying ‘I love these arrangements, I love this guy’s work!’ That’s wives, you know!… he did an arrangement which I love, it’s very Hollywood and it’s very… like Doris Day movies, which is a very strange little area, you know, but it’s lovely.

Club Sandwich No 52 Summer 1989

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From paulmccartney.com, March 10, 2017:

“I like a good love song, you know. And it’s always nice to be in the mood to write a ballad and that was the case when I sat down to write this. It just occurred to me that if you love someone, one of the problems is that you don’t always spend enough time with that person. Because you’ve got things to do, you’ve got work or you’ve got other obligations to other people or whatever. And so I thought, yeah you could call those distractions from the main event kind of thing. That was basically what this is:

What is this thing in life that persuades me to take time away from you?
… Distractions, like butterflies

I elaborated on that theme, it’s just someone wishing they could spend more time with their loved one. And you know for me at that time it was about Linda. But people often say to me, ‘Who did you write this about?’ and even though then I would have been writing specifically about Linda – because she was the object of my affection – I liked the idea that it could also be the sort of dream of romance. It could just be an ideal – we all love someone and wish we could spend more time with that someone. A romantic ideal! I know that a young couple won’t hear this about me and Linda, the guy will hear it about him and his girlfriend, the girl will hear that it’s about her and her boyfriend, and I like that. I like that about my songs, that people use them for their own purpose. And I think that’s a very romantic idea.”

Paul McCartney, in People Music, March 24, 2017:

“That’s one of my favorites. I got in touch with this guy called Clare Fischer, who I thought was a woman with the name Clare. I just knew of the person’s work off of a Prince album [1986’s Parade], where I heard a really nice arrangement. When I’d written this song I thought, ‘It would be really nice to have a really good arrangement, slightly jazz tinged but not too much.’ So I got in touch with Clare, and I was quite surprised to find out that he was a middle-aged man. [laughs] But he was great—a bit of a genius. He and I talked about it a lot and he got the idea. I really liked that arrangement.

Sometimes you hit a lyric that means something to you. For me, if you love someone, you really want to just hang out with them all the time and then just have the best time and the best life. But then you’ve got to go to work, you’ve got to do this, you’ve got to do that. So I just call all of those things distractions.”

At some point, “Distractions” was considered to be the 3rd single from “Flowers In The Dirt” (potentially with “Lindiana“, an unreleased song from 1984 sessions with David Foster, as B-Side); but was finally dropped in favor of “Figure Of Eight“.

As part of the “Put It There” documentary, a video containing studio clips was shot; with an alternate mix [A1] as soundtrack.

Lyrics

What is this thing in life that persuades me to spend

Time away from you?

If you can answer this you can have the moon

This is the place to be, anyway you can see

There's a lovely view

Why are there always so many other things to do?

Distractions, like butterflies are buzzing 'round my head,

When I'm alone I think of you

And the life we'd lead if we could only be free

From these distractions.

The postman's at the door

While the telephone rings on the kitchen wall,

Pretend we're not at home and they'll disappear.

I want to be with you, tell me what I can do,

Nothing is too small

Away from all this jazz we could do anything at all.

Distractions like butterflies are buzzing ‘round my head.

When I'm alone I think of you

And the things we'd do if we could only be through

With these distractions.

I'll find a peaceful place far away from the noise of a busy day

Where we can spend our nights counting shooting stars,

Distractions like butterflies are buzzing ‘round my head.

When I'm alone I think of you

And the things we'd do if only we could be through

With the distractions like butterflies they're

Buzzing round my head, when I'm alone I think of you

And the life we'd lead if we could only be free

From these distractions.

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

Related film

  • Distractions

    1990 • For Paul McCartney • Directed by Geoff Wonfor

Videos

Album 2017 exclusive downloads

Live performances

“Distractions” has been played in 1 concerts.

Latest concerts where “Distractions” has been played

  • Fantastico

    May 03, 1989 • United Kingdom • The Barn at the Mill • TV show

Going further

The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present

"Distractions" is one of the songs featured in the book "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present," published in 2021. The book explores Paul McCartney's early Liverpool days, his time with the Beatles, Wings, and his solo career. It pairs the lyrics of 154 of his songs with his first-person commentary on the circumstances of their creation, the inspirations behind them, and his current thoughts on them.

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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.

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Paul McCartney writing

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