Every Night

“Every Night” is a track from Paul McCartney’s debut solo album, “McCartney“, released in April 1970.

This came from the first two lines, which I’ve had for years. They were added to in 1969 in Greece (Benitses) on holiday. This was recorded at EMI with:

1. vocal and
2. acoustic guitar
3. drums
4. bass
5. lead guitar (acoustic)
6. harmony to the lead guitar
7. double-tracked vocal in parts
8. electric guitar (not used)
9. track.

Paul McCartney, from the press release of “McCartney”, April 1970

Paul premiered “Every Night” during the “Get Back” sessions with The Beatles: they messed around with it on January 21 and January 24, 1969. He then completed the lyrics in May/June 1969 while on holiday in Corfu.

From Wikipedia:

[…] The lyrics of “Every Night” reflect the difficult situation McCartney was dealing with at the time the song was written, which was in light of the imminent breakup of the Beatles; the words do, however, convey some optimism for the future. According to James McGrath, the last line, “But tonight I just wanna stay in / And be with you,” is the key to the song, in that it “quietly challenges the uneasy relationship between rock and domesticity.” McGrath points out that Bob Dylan’s song from the previous year, “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You,” ended on a similar note.

The vocalized bridge begins with the same melody that begins McCartney’s Beatles song, “You Never Give Me Your Money“.

“The structure of ‘Every Night’ is different from many McCartney songs [as rather than] a true chorus, the vocal refrain of ‘every night’ occurs at the beginning of each verse. The repeated section, which could be nominally classed as [the] chorus, [comprises] ‘oo’ vocalisations.” (from “Paul McCartney After The Beatles: a musical appreciation” by Adrian Allan, 2019)

Paul McCartney and Wings performed “Every Night” during their last UK tour in 1979, as well as at the Concert For The People of Kampuchea, a charity concert organized on December 29, 1979.

Paul also recorded a version of “Every Night” for his MTV Unplugged concert in 1991 and performed it during the short 1991 summer tour. He brought back it for his 2002 / 2003 concerts and regularly played it during soundcheck since 2010.

“This was really nice to do on Unplugged. I always enjoyed ‘Every Night’ and particularly associate it with first being with Linda. I remember sitting outside a Greek villa on a lovely night and playing it [in 1969]. Phoebe Snow did a great version, because of which a lot of people don’t know it’s my song. I like that: it suggests that the song is strong — it’s not just my voice or personality that helped, somebody else can get some emotion out of it, too. But I suppose, in a way, I wanted to reclaim it.

“We all enjoyed playing it, and got the idea for the a cappella singing, which worked very well in the small TV studio. It’s a good trick for live work: anybody who stops their song and sings it a cappella always goes down well. So I really liked doing this one, although, of course, I sang the wrong words, which is a feature of the Unplugged album!”

Paul McCartney – From Club Sandwich 58, Summer 1991

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

I didn’t think it was going to be an album. It was just me recording for the sake of it. Then I started trying to put a few songs in it, alongside the instrumentals. I got things like ‘Every Night’, and ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’, so it started to have validity as a collection.

Paul McCartney – From “Conversations with McCartney” by Paul du Noyer

From PopMatters:

“Every Night” is one of Paul McCartney’s greatest solo accomplishments. For the life of me, I don’t understand why it (or any songs from the McCartney album) wasn’t ever released as a single. It is rare to find a song that paints such a perfect view of romantic love while staying unique, personal, and cliché-free. […] A lot changed for Paul McCartney in the year 1969, and he reportedly didn’t handle it well. The band that his entire life revolved around—the biggest band in the world, the Beatles—was falling apart, and the resulting tangled mess of hurt feelings and legal matters left him sorely depressed. Getting him through this difficult time was his wife, Linda, who suggested that he should start working on his own music apart from the group. “Every Night” became the resulting tribute to his inspiring spouse.

The album on which it appears has a reputation of being quickly put together, but “Every Night” started out as a possible track for the Beatles’ final album, Let It Be. Though he has stated that he “had the first two lines for a few years” before its recording, Paul finished writing the song later on in 1969 while on vacation in Greece. In the final completed version, acoustic and bass guitars mix together with drums and some background vocals from Linda, who would go on to duet with Paul on many more songs.

Rumor has it that he may have recorded an electric guitar part for this song that was never used and that it may or may not appear on the first take, an alternate version that could be released in the future. […]

Lyrics

Variations

• A Stereo version • From "McCartney"
• A1992 1992 remaster • From "McCartney (by DCC Compact Classics)"
• A1993 1993 remaster • From "McCartney (1993)"
• A2001 2001 remaster • From "Wingspan Hits And History"
• A2011 2011 remaster • From "McCartney - Archive Collection"
• A2020 2020 half-speed mastering • From "McCartney (50th Anniversary)"
• L1 Live version • "Concert For The People of Kampuchea" • Dec 29, 1979
• L2 Live version • "MTV Unplugged" • Jan 25, 1991 • From "Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)"
• L3 Live version • Dallas • Reunion Arena • USA • May 09, 2002 • From "Back In The U.S."
• L4 Live version • Glasgow • Apollo Centre • United Kingdom • Dec 17, 1979 • From "McCartney - Archive Collection"

Officially appears on

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Live performances

“Every Night” has been played in 138 concerts and 97 soundchecks.

Latest concerts where “Every Night” has been played

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