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. It was recorded in a late-night session on May 9, 1969, after an acrimonious argument between Paul, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr over signing a contract appointing Allen Klein as The Beatles’ financial manager. John, George, and Ringo walked out, while Paul remained at Olympic Studios and encountered Steve Miller.

Paul recorded drums, bass, guitar and backing vocals, while Steve Miller sang and performed all the other instruments. Paul 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.

The track was released as a single in June 1969 and on the Steve Miller Band’s album “Brave New World“.

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

Mum introduced me to a song [Paul McCartney] played drums on years ago, called “My Dark Hour”, by the Steve Miller Band. He’s credited as “Paul Ramon” and he does backing vocals, guitar, bass and drums. It was recorded in Olympic Studios in London towards the end of 1969, after an argument Dad had had with the others over Allen Klein becoming their manager. The others had gone off and he said Steve Miller walked in and asked if he wanted to play the drums on this track he was recording. I think the drumming on it is so good, but you can tell he’s letting out a lot of tension.

Mary McCartney – from Paul Weller in conversation with Mary McCartney: ‘We used to pinch a lot of Beatles songs’ | British GQ, June 4, 2021

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). […]

Paul would work again with Steve Miller for his 1997 album “Flaming Pie”.

Last updated on November 15, 2021

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