However Absurd (song)

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Album This song officially appears on the Press To Play Official album.

Timeline This song has been officially released in 1986

Timeline This song has been written (or started being written) in 1985 (Paul McCartney was 43 years old)

Song facts

“However Absurd” is a song from 1986 album “Press To Play“.

From “Club Sandwich 42 – Autumn 1986“:

“‘Talk More Talk’ and ‘However Absurd’ are the two main surrealist lyrics… ‘Absurd’ was another thing you start off and think ‘Ooh no, that’s too Beatley, so I won’t do it.’ So I resisted it for a little while, but… it was a good system then, why ignore it now?.. .There’s a sort of ‘Walrus’ intro to this track… It’s a style I know and love. The lyrics on this one are a bit bizarre, but then again they make a kind of sense… In the middle it explains itself a bit… ‘Something special between us… Words wouldn’t get my feelings through’. That’s taking off into The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran – there’s a line of his that always used to attract me and John, which was ‘Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it just to reach you.’” Indeed, students of The Beatles’ White Album will recall those words from John’s poignant ‘Julia‘. Anne Dudley’s orchestration contrasts effectively with ‘bass effects’ and synthesised ‘strings’; synth and heavy guitar take over as the song repeats and intensifies in a slightly ‘Hey Jude‘ manner; the spacey fade-out completes the Beatles flavour. Move over all buskers: Mac’s back.

Club Sandwich No 42 Autumn 1986

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It did suggest the epic finale – which is why it’s at the end of the album! For me, it was another thing you start off and think ‘Ooh no, that’s too Beatley, so I won’t do it’. So I resisted it for a while, but I kept coming back to ‘Why? Tell me one good reason why you’re resisting this Beatles influence?’ Cos if anyone’s got a right to do it, there’s three guys alive who’ve got the right to do it. I’ve got past the point of comparisons with The Beatles, or being accused of being a ‘Beatle Stylist’, but I mean, I was involved in all that stuff very heavily, and realising it was a good system then, why ignore it now?
There’s a sort of ‘Walrus’ intro to this track, but of course any time you play that style on piano it evokes that. It’s a style I know and love. The lyrics on this song are a bit bizarre, but then again they make a kind of sense, a strange kind of sense. But then I find that things in life don’t always make sense, they’re not always conveniently wrapped up with a little sticker that says ‘This is very sensible!’ Sometimes they are completely absurd, which is what the song is about. In the middle section it explains itself a bit, less surrealist: ‘Something special between us… Words wouldn’t get my feelings through… However absurd it may seem.’ That’s taking off into ‘The Prophet’ by Kahlil Gibran – there’s a line of his that always used to attract me and John, which was ‘Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it just to reach you’. So it’s that kind of meaning to ‘However Absurd’.
Paul McCartney, in Sound On Sound interview, October 1986

From the “Press To Play” sleeve – These coloured diagrams by Paul show the position of the voices and instruments in the mix of each track.

Last updated on May 2, 2020

Lyrics

Ears twitch, like a dog, breaking eggs in a dish.
Do not mock me when I say this is not a lie.

It's funny thing, half serious, with our hands on our ears.
Living dreams with mouths ajar, wide awake, we go to sleep.

However absurd, however absurd… It may seem.
However absurd, however absurd… It may seem.

Something special between us,
When we made love the game was over.
I couldn't say the words,
Words wouldn't get my feelings through,
So I keep talking to you…

However absurd, however absurd… It may seem.
However absurd, however absurd… It may seem.

Custom made, dinosaurs, too late now, for a change.
Everything is under the sun, but nothing is for keeps…

However absurd, however absurd… It may seem.
However absurd, however absurd… It may seem.