That Would Be Something (song)

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Album This song officially appears on the McCartney LP.

Timeline This song has been officially released in 1970

Timeline This song has been written (or started being written) in 1969 (Paul McCartney was 27 years old)

Song facts

It’s very McCartney, very me.
Paul McCartney – Quoted in “Paul McCartney: Recording sessions (1969 – 2013)” by Luca Perasi

“That Would Be Something” is the second track of Paul McCartney’s debut solo album, “McCartney“, released in April 1970. It was also the second song recorded for the album. From Wikipedia:

McCartney sings and plays acoustic guitar, bass, electric guitar, tom tom and a cymbal. This song and “Valentine Day” were mixed at Abbey Road Studios on 22 February 1970. McCartney would also record “Every Night” and “Maybe I’m Amazed” the same day. In the song McCartney also performs vocal percussion to simulate a drum kit.

This song was written in Scotland in 1969 and recorded at home in London – mixed later at EMI (No. 2). I only had one mike, as the mixer and VU meters hadn’t arrived (still haven’t).
Paul McCartney – From the press release of “McCartney”, April 1970

Despite the sentiment of betrayal that the other Beatles members felt when Paul McCartney issued the press release for the “McCartney” album (suggesting he was quitting The Beatles), George Harrison had some positive words about “That Would Be Something” and “Maybe I’m Amazed“:

That Would Be Something and Maybe I’m Amazed I think are great and everything else I think is fair, you know. It’s quite good, but a little disappointing, but maybe I shouldn’t be disappointed, it’s best not to expect anything, then everything’s a bonus. I think those two tracks are very good and the others just don’t do anything for me. The arrangements for ‘Teddy Boy’ and ‘Junk’, with a little bit more arrangement could have sounded better. Me, Ringo and John, not only do we see each other, but we see so many musicians and other bands, maybe Paul does too. But I just get the impression that he doesn’t. That he’s so isolated from it, he’s out on a limb. The only person he’s got to tell him if the song’s good or bad is Linda. In the Beatle days, if someone came in with a song that had a corny line and some of the others got a bit embarrassed by it, we’d say it!
George Harrison, 1970 – From “The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After The Break-Up 1970-2001” by Keith Badman

Paul McCartney first performed the song live on January 25, 1991, during the recording of Unplugged (The Official Bootleg), which was released later that year. He also performed it during the small 1991 summer tour to support the release of this album.

In 2001, Paul McCartney recorded a version of “That Would Be Something” on acoustic guitar which appeared on a radio show to promote the “Wingspan” compilation and on the Wingspan TV special.