My Dark Hour

Song facts

“My Dark Hour” is a song by Steve Miller Band, recorded and released in 1969 with the contribution of Paul McCartney, under the pseudonym “Paul Ramon“. From Wikipedia:

“My Dark Hour” was recorded in a late-night session on May 9, 1969 after an acrimonious argument between McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr over signing a contract appointing Allen Klein as The Beatles’ financial manager. Lennon, Harrison and Starr walked out, while McCartney remained at Olympic Studios. Miller was the only member of the band to attend the session, and the song emerged from him and McCartney jamming.

There was a big argument and they all went, leaving me at the studio. Steve Miller happened to be around: ‘Hi, how you doing? Is the studio free?’ I said: ‘Well, it looks like it is now, mate.’ He said: ‘Mind if I use it?’ So I ended up drumming on a track of his that night. It was called My Dark Hour – a good track actually. He and I made it alone. I had to do something, thrash something, to get it out of my system.

Paul McCartney, in Beatles Anthology

From Beatles Bible:

McCartney recorded drums, bass guitar, backing vocals and guitar to the track. Miller sang and performed all the other instruments. My Dark Hour appeared on Miller’s 1969 album Brave New World, and was released as a single in the US on 16 June, though it failed to chart.

McCartney didn’t receive a composer credit, but his performance was attributed to Paul Ramon, the pseudonym he had used in 1960 while on a tour of Scotland with The Silver Beetles.

From Ultimate Classic Rock:

The closing track from the Steve Miller Band’s third album, ‘Brave New World,’ ‘My Dark Hour’ finds him working at an altogether sweatier pitch than casual listeners might expect; although it incorporates the same basic ingredients as many of Miller’s other songs, it’s distinguished by a woozy lead guitar riff (later recycled for ‘Fly Like an Eagle’), a propulsive backbeat (delivered by some positively volcanic drums), and screaming background vocals.

It’s those drums and vocals that add a particularly interesting footnote to ‘My Dark Hour,’ because they — along with the bass — were performed by a moonlighting Paul McCartney, blowing off some steam after a particularly rough day in the studio with the Beatles on May 9, 1969. […]

As McCartney modestly noted, ‘My Dark Hour’ is a pretty good track; in fact, it’s tempting to imagine the path Miller might have followed if it had been a hit. The song is a basic blues strutter, sure, and one whose lyrics are basically just there to prop up the arrangement, but it’s performed with such tuneful abandon that you end up wishing it was twice as long (and at least twice as loud). […]

Last updated on August 28, 2019

Lyrics

Links

• http://ultimateclassicrock.com/steve-miller-band-my-dark-hour-weekend-songs/
• http://www.beatlesbible.com/1969/05/09/paul-mccartney-plays-drums-steve-miller-my-dark-hour/