Somedays
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- Album This song officially appears on the Flaming Pie Official album.
- Timeline This song has been written (or started being written) in 1994 (Paul McCartney was 52 years old)
Song facts
“Somedays” is a song from 1997 album “Flaming Pie“. From the liner notes:
At first, one session was all it took to commit ‘Somedays’ on to tape, but Paul felt that it could be enhanced by an arrangement. At this time he was occasionally meeting with George Martin at Abbey Road, sifting through unissued archive Beatles recordings for the Anthology albums (and still nervous, 30 years on, that he would not be the cause of any musical breakdowns…), and Paul asked George if he would listen to ‘Somedays’ and consider scoring it for an orchestra. “I see you haven’t lost your touch!” was the considered response; a 14-piece ensemble overdubbed their contribution on 10 June, 1996.
I’d driven Linda to a photo session for one of her cookery assignments. Knowing she’d be about two hours, I set myself a deadline to write a song in that time – so that when she’d finished and would say ‘Did you get bored? What did you do?’, I could say ‘Oh, I wrote this song. Wanna hear it?
Paul McCartney, from the liner notes of “Flaming Pie”
This was written the day Linda was doing one of her cookery assignments. I went along too, taking an acoustic guitar, and asked the lady in the house we were using if she had a little room where I could go and sit quietly. She offered me her son’s room and I went in there. In these situations I tend to make up a little fantasy, thinking: well, they’re going to be two or three hours, and when it’s all done they’ll say to me, “What did you do?” And I’ll be able to reply, “Oh, I wrote a song!” So I just started writing, with my guitar, and came up with ‘Somedays’ -“Somedays I look, I look at you with eyes that shine, somedays I look into your soul” The first verse came quite well, then the second and the middle, and whereas, at another time, I might have thought, “I leave the words there and finish them next week”, I finished them there and then. John and I used to do this too, occasionally: I don’t think we ever really took more than three or four hours on a song. I’d go to visit him, he’d come to visit me, and we’d sit down and write.
I’m not a great reader into moods: I don’t naturally say that if I wrote a sad song then I was sad that day, or if I wrote a happy song I was happy. I wrote ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I know a Desmond or a Molly. I compose songs like playwrights write a play. They don’t have to know everyone in the play, they don’t have to know anyone in the play, it’s just a product of their imagination. I remember George Harrison saying to me once, “I always have to write from something that’s happened to me, something in my experience.” Well, that’s certainly a good way to write but I’m more fluid, more flexible than that. Sometimes.
Mark Lewisohn, in Club Sandwich n°82, Summer 1997:
No matter how many songs a composer may have created, whether 5 or 500, mental mind-games are often employed to light the fuse. Paul McCartney, whose cache of hits extends much closer to the latter figure, still likes to impose arbitrary deadlines upon himself, and ‘Somedays’ was written under one such stricture. The date was 18 March 1994 when Paul drove Linda to a house in a village nearby their own, “where she would be photographed for a cookery assignment. While his wife was being snapped Paul retired to a bedroom, normally used by the house-owner’s son, and – possessing an acoustic guitar, pen and paper – conceived his newest song. Knowing that he had only 90 minutes, and realising the question “What did you do?” would be asked of him when the photo session was over, was all the prompting Paul needed to create, the melody and lyric arriving wholly intact. The house-owner’s son made his mark on the song, too, his soccer ephemera on the wall unconsciously prompting Paul to make footballing analogies in the lyric. Writing with John Lennon was often the same: the pair rarely spent more than three hours on a new song and were much influenced by everyday events and objects around them.
That’s a Spanish guitar made in Australia by a guy called Greg Smallman (?). I was turned on to him by John Williams, the guitar player, not the orchestrator and he said he’s really good, he’s got lovely tone. So that’s on the track “Somedays” which in the song in the middle of that you can hear that guitar.
Paul McCartney, in the “Flaming Pie Radio Special”
When I got to the final version of that, I thought that I just maybe could use a little arrangement. So I rang George Martin up. He’s such an old friend and so nice to work with that it’s great to find an excuse, you know, just to work with him on a song. Who’s better to do it than George. I said “by the way George, I’ve got this little tune, what do you think, you know”. “Oh, I see you haven’t lost your touch, Paul” Haha.
Paul McCartney, in “Flaming Pie Radio Special”
When I heard Somedays, it immediately reminded me of the vintage Paul. It’s quite difficult to keep writing hits. Even when you know the greatest hitmaker of all. It was nice to see that Paul was getting back to his roots because I think Somedays is a classic song. I think it’s one of those simple ones, deceivingly simple, but so difficult to write. I loved it, I thought it was terrific. When I listen to it and then Paul said “what do you think we should do then”, I thought it needed small forces, I needed a chamber group again. So when I scored it, it was very simple instrumentation and I gave a kind of idea of what it would be. He liked it.
George Martin, in “Flaming Pie Radio Special”
In 1999, a classical version of “Somedays“, interpreted by a string quartet, was released on Working Classical . From the album liner notes:
Somedays is one of the finest tracks on McCartney’s solo album, Flaming Pie. Remarkably, it was written in just two hours after he had accompanied Linda to a photo session and found himself with some spare time on his hands.
Last updated on September 24, 2020
Lyrics
Somedays I look
I look at you with eyes that shine
Somedays I don't
I don't believe that you are mine
It's no good asking me what time of day it is
Who won the match or scored the goal
Somedays I look
Somedays I look into your soul
Sometimes I laugh
I laugh to think how young we were
Sometimes it's hard
It's hard to know which way to turn
Don't ask me where I found that picture on the wall
How much it cost or what it's worth
Sometimes I laugh
I laugh to think how young we were
We don't need anybody else to tell us what is real
Inside each one of us is love
And we know how it feels
Somedays I cry
I cry for those who live in fear
Somedays I don't
I don't remember why I'm here
No use reminding me, it's just the way it is
Who ran the race or came in first
Somedays I cry
I cry for those who fear the worst
We don't need anybody else to tell us what is real
Inside each one of us is love
And we know how it feels
Somedays I look
I look at you with eyes that shine
Somedays I don't
I don't believe that you are mine
It's no good asking me what time of day it is
Who won the match or scored the goal
Somedays I look
Somedays I look into your soul
Officially appears on
Official album • Released in 1997
4.11 • Studio version • A
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Bass guitar, Lead vocal, Producer, Spanish guitar
- George Martin :
- Orchestration
- Geoff Emerick :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Peter Lale :
- Viola
- Jon Jacobs :
- Recording engineer
- Keith Smith :
- Assistant engineer
- Gary Kettel :
- Percussion
- Rita Manning :
- Violin
- Skaila Kanga :
- Harp
- Martin Parry :
- Flute
- Jackie Hartley :
- Violin
- Keith Pascoe :
- Violin
- Levine Andrade :
- Viola
- Martin Loveday :
- Cello
- Peter Manning :
- Violin
- Christian Kampen :
- Cello
- Andy Findon :
- Alto flute
- Michael Cox :
- Flute
- Roy Carter :
- English horn, Oboe
- Session Recording:
- Nov 01-03, 1995
- Studio :
- Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
- Session Overdubs:
- Jun 10, 1996
- Studio :
- AIR Studios Lyndhurst, London, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • Buy Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989 on Amazon
Flaming Pie - 6-track sampler cassette
Cassette • Released in 1997
4:10 • Rough mix • A1 • It contains an alternate vocal and variations in the Mellotron backing and placement of the instruments
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Bass guitar, Lead vocal, Producer, Spanish guitar
- George Martin :
- Orchestration
- Geoff Emerick :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Peter Lale :
- Viola
- Jon Jacobs :
- Recording engineer
- Keith Smith :
- Assistant engineer
- Gary Kettel :
- Percussion
- Rita Manning :
- Violin
- Skaila Kanga :
- Harp
- Martin Parry :
- Flute
- Jackie Hartley :
- Violin
- Keith Pascoe :
- Violin
- Levine Andrade :
- Viola
- Martin Loveday :
- Cello
- Peter Manning :
- Violin
- Christian Kampen :
- Cello
- Andy Findon :
- Alto flute
- Michael Cox :
- Flute
- Roy Carter :
- English horn, Oboe
- Session Recording:
- Nov 01-03, 1995
- Studio :
- Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
- Session Overdubs:
- Jun 10, 1996
- Studio :
- AIR Studios Lyndhurst, London, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • Buy Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989 on Amazon
Flaming Pie - 3-track sampler cassette
Cassette • Released in 1997
4:10 • Rough mix • A1 • It contains an alternate vocal and variations in the Mellotron backing and placement of the instruments
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Bass guitar, Lead vocal, Producer, Spanish guitar
- George Martin :
- Orchestration
- Geoff Emerick :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Peter Lale :
- Viola
- Jon Jacobs :
- Recording engineer
- Keith Smith :
- Assistant engineer
- Gary Kettel :
- Percussion
- Rita Manning :
- Violin
- Skaila Kanga :
- Harp
- Martin Parry :
- Flute
- Jackie Hartley :
- Violin
- Keith Pascoe :
- Violin
- Levine Andrade :
- Viola
- Martin Loveday :
- Cello
- Peter Manning :
- Violin
- Christian Kampen :
- Cello
- Andy Findon :
- Alto flute
- Michael Cox :
- Flute
- Roy Carter :
- English horn, Oboe
- Session Recording:
- Nov 01-03, 1995
- Studio :
- Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
- Session Overdubs:
- Jun 10, 1996
- Studio :
- AIR Studios Lyndhurst, London, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • Buy Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989 on Amazon
Flaming Pie (White-Label Promo LP)
Official album • Released in 1997
4.11 • Studio version • A
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Bass guitar, Lead vocal, Producer, Spanish guitar
- George Martin :
- Orchestration
- Geoff Emerick :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Peter Lale :
- Viola
- Jon Jacobs :
- Recording engineer
- Keith Smith :
- Assistant engineer
- Gary Kettel :
- Percussion
- Rita Manning :
- Violin
- Skaila Kanga :
- Harp
- Martin Parry :
- Flute
- Jackie Hartley :
- Violin
- Keith Pascoe :
- Violin
- Levine Andrade :
- Viola
- Martin Loveday :
- Cello
- Peter Manning :
- Violin
- Christian Kampen :
- Cello
- Andy Findon :
- Alto flute
- Michael Cox :
- Flute
- Roy Carter :
- English horn, Oboe
- Session Recording:
- Nov 01-03, 1995
- Studio :
- Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
- Session Overdubs:
- Jun 10, 1996
- Studio :
- AIR Studios Lyndhurst, London, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • Buy Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989 on Amazon
Official album • Released in 1997
4.11 • Studio version • A
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Bass guitar, Lead vocal, Producer, Spanish guitar
- George Martin :
- Orchestration
- Geoff Emerick :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Peter Lale :
- Viola
- Jon Jacobs :
- Recording engineer
- Keith Smith :
- Assistant engineer
- Gary Kettel :
- Percussion
- Rita Manning :
- Violin
- Skaila Kanga :
- Harp
- Martin Parry :
- Flute
- Jackie Hartley :
- Violin
- Keith Pascoe :
- Violin
- Levine Andrade :
- Viola
- Martin Loveday :
- Cello
- Peter Manning :
- Violin
- Christian Kampen :
- Cello
- Andy Findon :
- Alto flute
- Michael Cox :
- Flute
- Roy Carter :
- English horn, Oboe
- Session Recording:
- Nov 01-03, 1995
- Studio :
- Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
- Session Overdubs:
- Jun 10, 1996
- Studio :
- AIR Studios Lyndhurst, London, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • Buy Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989 on Amazon
Official album • Released in 1999
3:05 • Classical version • B
- Paul McCartney :
- Executive producer
- Eddie Klein :
- Recording engineer
- Keith Smith :
- Recording engineer
- Steve Rooke :
- Mastering
- Krista Bennion Feeney :
- First violin
- Anca Nicolau :
- Second violin
- Joanna Hood :
- Viola
- Myron Lutzke :
- Cello
- Loma Mar Quartet :
- Arranger
- Performed by :
- Loma Mar Quartet
- John Fraser :
- Producer
- Arne Akselberg :
- Balance engineer
- Paul Baily :
- Editor
- Caroline Haigh :
- Editor
- Session Recording:
- February 21-25th, 1999
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio One, Abbey Road
Download • Released in 2020
4:29 • Studio version • A2 • Without Orchestra. Listen to the original album version without orchestra presented exclusively with www.clashmusic.com
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Bass guitar, Lead vocal, Producer, Spanish guitar
- Geoff Emerick :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Jon Jacobs :
- Recording engineer
- Keith Smith :
- Assistant engineer
- Session Recording:
- Nov 01-03, 1995
- Studio :
- Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • Buy Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989 on Amazon
Flaming Pie - Archive Collection
Official album • Released in 2020
4:15 • Studio version • A2020 • 2020 remaster
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Bass guitar, Lead vocal, Producer, Spanish guitar
- George Martin :
- Orchestration
- Geoff Emerick :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Peter Lale :
- Viola
- Jon Jacobs :
- Recording engineer
- Keith Smith :
- Assistant engineer
- Gary Kettel :
- Percussion
- Rita Manning :
- Violin
- Skaila Kanga :
- Harp
- Martin Parry :
- Flute
- Alex Wharton :
- Remastering
- Jackie Hartley :
- Violin
- Keith Pascoe :
- Violin
- Levine Andrade :
- Viola
- Martin Loveday :
- Cello
- Peter Manning :
- Violin
- Christian Kampen :
- Cello
- Andy Findon :
- Alto flute
- Michael Cox :
- Flute
- Roy Carter :
- English horn, Oboe
- Session Recording:
- Nov 01-03, 1995
- Studio :
- Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
- Session Overdubs:
- Jun 10, 1996
- Studio :
- AIR Studios Lyndhurst, London, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • Buy Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989 on Amazon
Flaming Pie - Archive Collection
Official album • Released in 2020
4:15 • Demo • C • Home Recording
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Producer, Vocal
- Alex Wharton :
- Mastering
- Session Recording:
- March 1994
Official album • Released in 2020
4.11 • Studio version • A2020.1 • 2020 half-speed remaster
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Bass guitar, Lead vocal, Producer, Spanish guitar
- George Martin :
- Orchestration
- Geoff Emerick :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Peter Lale :
- Viola
- Jon Jacobs :
- Recording engineer
- Keith Smith :
- Assistant engineer
- Gary Kettel :
- Percussion
- Rita Manning :
- Violin
- Skaila Kanga :
- Harp
- Martin Parry :
- Flute
- Miles Showell :
- Mastering
- Jackie Hartley :
- Violin
- Keith Pascoe :
- Violin
- Levine Andrade :
- Viola
- Martin Loveday :
- Cello
- Peter Manning :
- Violin
- Christian Kampen :
- Cello
- Andy Findon :
- Alto flute
- Michael Cox :
- Flute
- Roy Carter :
- English horn, Oboe
- Session Recording:
- Nov 01-03, 1995
- Studio :
- Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
- Session Overdubs:
- Jun 10, 1996
- Studio :
- AIR Studios Lyndhurst, London, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • Buy Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989 on Amazon
Bootlegs
Flaming Pie - Ultimate Archive Collection
Unofficial album • Released in 2016
4:26 • Rough mix • A1 • Early mix. Written on Friday March 18, 1994 , while Paul accompanied Linda to a photo session for her vegetarian cooking book. To pass the time he wrote ‘Somedays’. This is the early mix, released on January 30, 1997 on the Capitol 3 track album sampler. The differences become most apparent in the second verse with alternate orchestration, variations in the Mellotron (some answering flute “laughs” on the first line where Paul sings “laugh”) and the line “Somedays, I look, I look at you with eyes that shine” is repeated at the end.
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Bass guitar, Lead vocal, Producer, Spanish guitar
- George Martin :
- Orchestration
- Geoff Emerick :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Peter Lale :
- Viola
- Jon Jacobs :
- Recording engineer
- Keith Smith :
- Assistant engineer
- Gary Kettel :
- Percussion
- Rita Manning :
- Violin
- Skaila Kanga :
- Harp
- Martin Parry :
- Flute
- Jackie Hartley :
- Violin
- Keith Pascoe :
- Violin
- Levine Andrade :
- Viola
- Martin Loveday :
- Cello
- Peter Manning :
- Violin
- Christian Kampen :
- Cello
- Andy Findon :
- Alto flute
- Michael Cox :
- Flute
- Roy Carter :
- English horn, Oboe
- Session Recording:
- Nov 01-03, 1995
- Studio :
- Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
- Session Overdubs:
- Jun 10, 1996
- Studio :
- AIR Studios Lyndhurst, London, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • Buy Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989 on Amazon
Complete Flaming Pie - Sessions & Beyond (1997-1998)
Unofficial album
4:25 • Rough mix • A1 • Version 1
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Bass guitar, Lead vocal, Producer, Spanish guitar
- George Martin :
- Orchestration
- Geoff Emerick :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Peter Lale :
- Viola
- Jon Jacobs :
- Recording engineer
- Keith Smith :
- Assistant engineer
- Gary Kettel :
- Percussion
- Rita Manning :
- Violin
- Skaila Kanga :
- Harp
- Martin Parry :
- Flute
- Jackie Hartley :
- Violin
- Keith Pascoe :
- Violin
- Levine Andrade :
- Viola
- Martin Loveday :
- Cello
- Peter Manning :
- Violin
- Christian Kampen :
- Cello
- Andy Findon :
- Alto flute
- Michael Cox :
- Flute
- Roy Carter :
- English horn, Oboe
- Session Recording:
- Nov 01-03, 1995
- Studio :
- Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
- Session Overdubs:
- Jun 10, 1996
- Studio :
- AIR Studios Lyndhurst, London, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • Buy Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989 on Amazon
Complete Flaming Pie - Sessions & Beyond (1997-1998)
Unofficial album
4:25 • Rough mix • A1 • Version 2
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Bass guitar, Lead vocal, Producer, Spanish guitar
- George Martin :
- Orchestration
- Geoff Emerick :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Peter Lale :
- Viola
- Jon Jacobs :
- Recording engineer
- Keith Smith :
- Assistant engineer
- Gary Kettel :
- Percussion
- Rita Manning :
- Violin
- Skaila Kanga :
- Harp
- Martin Parry :
- Flute
- Jackie Hartley :
- Violin
- Keith Pascoe :
- Violin
- Levine Andrade :
- Viola
- Martin Loveday :
- Cello
- Peter Manning :
- Violin
- Christian Kampen :
- Cello
- Andy Findon :
- Alto flute
- Michael Cox :
- Flute
- Roy Carter :
- English horn, Oboe
- Session Recording:
- Nov 01-03, 1995
- Studio :
- Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
- Session Overdubs:
- Jun 10, 1996
- Studio :
- AIR Studios Lyndhurst, London, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • Buy Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989 on Amazon
Unofficial album • Released in 2014
4:17 • Rough mix • A1
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Bass guitar, Lead vocal, Producer, Spanish guitar
- George Martin :
- Orchestration
- Geoff Emerick :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Peter Lale :
- Viola
- Jon Jacobs :
- Recording engineer
- Keith Smith :
- Assistant engineer
- Gary Kettel :
- Percussion
- Rita Manning :
- Violin
- Skaila Kanga :
- Harp
- Martin Parry :
- Flute
- Jackie Hartley :
- Violin
- Keith Pascoe :
- Violin
- Levine Andrade :
- Viola
- Martin Loveday :
- Cello
- Peter Manning :
- Violin
- Christian Kampen :
- Cello
- Andy Findon :
- Alto flute
- Michael Cox :
- Flute
- Roy Carter :
- English horn, Oboe
- Session Recording:
- Nov 01-03, 1995
- Studio :
- Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
- Session Overdubs:
- Jun 10, 1996
- Studio :
- AIR Studios Lyndhurst, London, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • Buy Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989 on Amazon
Latest concerts where Somedays has been played
London • Royal Albert Hall • United Kingdom
Nov 03, 2006 • Part of Ecce Cor Meum