Pretty Boys

Song facts

“Pretty Boys” is a track from 2020 album “McCartney III“.

The lyrics for “Pretty Boys” are inspired by Paul seeing bicycles for hire around New York and London. It was also inspired by certain photographers who have been known to get out of the line in the studio. The “objects of desire” in the song are male models. But Paul finishes the song with a warning. “You can look, but you’d better not touch…”

From Spotify Storyline. Storyline is a feature of Spotify that gives behind-the-scenes information from artists about their songs, presented with a carousel of cards featuring a combination of text and images.

There’s a song on “McCartney III,” “Pretty Boys,” that is kind of unusual for you in how the music is sort of unassuming but the lyrics have an almost sinister edge. What inspired that one? 

I’ll tell you exactly. I’ve been photographed by many photographers through the years. And when you get down to London, doing sessions with people like David Bailey, they can get pretty energetic in the studio. It’s like “Blow-Up”, you know? “Give it to me! [Expletive] the lens!” And it’s like: “What? No, I’m not going to.” But I understand why they’re doing that. They’re that kind of artist. So you allow it. Certain photographers — they tend to be very good photographers, by the way — can be totally out of line in the studio. So “Pretty Boys” is about male models. And going around New York or London, you see the lines of bicycles for hire. It struck me that they’re like models, there to be used. It’s most unfortunate.

Paul McCartney – from interview with New York Times, November 29, 2020

I got to use the Kay M-1 upright bass on this. Previously played and owned by Bill Black when he played and toured with Elvis. How cool is that!

Paul McCartney talking about “Pretty Boys” – From Twitter

Here’s what Keith Smith, Paul’s technical manager, remembers about the recording of “Pretty Boys“:

[With Paul’s way of working, it] always starts from the song. That’s kind of how some of this started. When he did Pretty Boys, he sat down and said ‘I’ve got this really nice little thing I’ve been working on’. It was a riff that he’s had going for ages, I recognised it from way back when he started playing it.  He just sat down with an acoustic and knocked out the vocal and the acoustic at the same time. Then it just developed.

Keith Smith – from Music Radar, December 18, 2020

In 2021, for the “McCartney III Imagined” project, American trio Khruangbin reimagined “Pretty Boys“.

Last updated on April 18, 2021

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