Paul McCartney – Here Today, Publicly Dealing With His “Ever Present Past”

For reasons I can’t explain, I woke up at 4:20 am with my brain telling me I should create a post about the lyrics from Paul McCartney’s latest album “Memory Almost Full.”  Before I looked up the lyrics this morning, I had only heard parts of three songs from the album: ”Dance Tonight,” “Ever Present Past,” and “Only Mama Knows” on the T.V. or radio.  Here’s the post that resulted out of my slumber’s prompting:

Paul McCartney on Wikipedia

According to Wikipedia:

“When McCartney was young, his mother read him poems and encouraged him to read books.  McCartney’s father was interested in crosswords and invited the two young McCartneys (Paul and his brother Michael) to solve them with him, so as to increase their “word power”.  McCartney was later inspired – in his school years – by Alan Durband, who was McCartney’s English literature teacher at the Liverpool Institute.  Durband was a co-founder and fund-raiser at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, where Willy Russell also worked, and introduced McCartney to Geoffrey Chaucer’s works.  McCartney later took his A-level exams, but passed only one subject – Art.

In 2001 McCartney published ‘Blackbird Singing’, a volume of poems some of which were lyrics to his songs, and gave readings in Liverpool and New York.  Some of them were serious: “Here Today” (about John Lennon):”

Here Today lyrics by Paul McCartney

And if I said
I really knew you well
What would your answer be?
If you were here today.

Well, knowing you
You’d probably laugh and say
That we were worlds apart.
If you were here today.

But as for me
I still remember how it was before
And I am holding back the tears no more
I love you.

What about the time we met?
Well I suppose that you could say that
We were playing hard to get,
Didn’t understand a thing
But we could always sing.

What about the night we cried?
Because there wasn’t any reason left
To keep it all inside,
Never understood a word
But you were always there with a smile.

And if I say I really loved you
And was glad you came along,
Then you were here today,
For you were in my song
Here today.

Here is Paul performing the song, with a video montage of images of him and John.  I highly recommend this video:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1ff-CW0ef-8&mode=related&search=

All the images in this post are from the YouTube fan video.

See Your Sunshine lyrics by Paul McCartney

She makes me feel glad
I want her so bad
My heart is beating madly for her
If you ask me why (if you ask me why)
I’m not going to lie (i’m not going to lie)
I’ll have to say that I adore her

Look what you do to me baby
You’re making me feel so fine (so fine, so fine)
Step out in front of me baby
They want you in the front line (so fine, so fine)
They want to see your sunshine (so fine)

She picks up daisies from a field
She loves to weave them in her hair
And though she knows it isn’t real
She still hears music in the air
It’s coming from inside her heart
I hope it lasts forever

The sun is shining in her sky
She wants to dance around the world
And though I’d love to be the guy
That gets to walk off with the girl
I’ll go along with all she needs
And it will be my pleasure

Look what you do to me baby
You’re making me feel so fine (so fine, so fine)
Step out in front of me baby
They want you in the front line (so fine, so fine)
They want to see your sunshine (so fine)

She makes me feel glad
I want her so bad
My heart is beating madly for her
If you ask me why
I’m not going to lie
I’ll have to say that I adore her

Look what you do to me baby
You’re making me feel so fine (so fine, so fine)
I want to see your sunshine

Paul discussing recording “See Your Sunshine”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra2Iz-pKMao

Only Mama Knows lyrics by Paul McCartney

Well I was found in the transit lounge
Of a dirty airport town
What was I doing on the road to ruin
Well my mama laid me down
My mama laid me down

Round my hand was a plastic band
With a picture of my face
I was crying, left to die in
This God forsaken place
This God forsaken place

Only mama knows why she laid me down
In this God forsaken town
Where she was running to what she ran from
Though I always wondered I never knew
Only mama knows
Only mama knows

I’m passing through I’m on my way
I’m on the road no ETA.
I’m passing through no fixed abode
And that is why I need to try
To hold on I’ve gotta hold on gotta hold on

Was it planned as a one night stand
Or did she leave in disgrace
Well I never will I ever see my fathers face, see my fathers face

Only mama knows why she laid me down
In this God forsaken town
Where she was running to what she ran from
Though I always wondered I never knew
Only mama knows
Only mama knows

Only mama knows (only mama knows) why she laid me down
In this God forsaken town
Where she was running to (only mama knows) what she ran from
Though I always wondered I never knew
Only mama knows (only mama knows)
Only mama knows (only mama knows)
(Only mama knows, only mama knows)

I’ve gotta hold on (only mama knows)
I’ve gotta hold on (only mama knows )
You’ve gotta hold on

You Tell Me lyrics by Paul McCartney

ahh 1,2,3
When was that summer when the skies were blue?
The bright red cardinal flew down from his tree
You tell me

When was that summer when it never rained?
The air was buzzing with the sweet old honey bee
Let’s see
You tell me

Were we there?  Was it real?
Is it truly how I feel?
Maybe
You tell me

Were we there?  Is it true?
Was I really there with you?
Let’s see
You tell me

When was that summer of a dozen words?
The butterflies and humming birds flew free
Let’s see
You tell me

Let’s see
You tell me (you tell me)

Paul discussing writing “You Tell Me”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k3ItBXTZ0g

Mr. Bellamy lyrics by Paul McCartney

I’m not coming down
No matter what you do
I like it up here
Without you

All right Mr Bellamy
We’ll have you down soon

No one to tell me what to do
No one to hold my hand
Bellamy’s got a lot to do
And I hope that you’ll understand
Nobody here to spoil the view
Interfere with my plans
Bellamy’s got a job to do
And he’s hoping you’ll understand

Steady lads
Easy does it
Don’t frighten him
Here we go

I’m not coming down
No matter what you say
I like it up here
Anyway

Sit tight Mr Bellamy
This shouldn’t take long

In a delusionary state
No wonder he’s been feeling strange of late

Nobody here to spoil the view
Interfere with my plans
Bellamy’s got a job to do
And he’s hoping you’ll understand

Steady lads
Easy does it
Don’t frighten him
Here we go
Here we go

I’m not coming down
No matter what you do
I like it up here
Without you

Come down
Come down
Come back to me

Dance Tonight lyrics by Paul McCartney

“Everybody gonna dance tonight
Everybody gonna feel alright
Everybody gonna dance around tonight

You can come over to my place if you want to
You can do anything you want to do – ooh

If you want to watch ghosts come out as he plays his latest songs, you can watch 2 videos here:

http://www.amazon.com/Memory-Almost-Full-Paul-McCartney/dp/B000P2A242

© All rights reserved by Paul McCartney.

“A person’s art is often their heart on their sleeve.”

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Related Posts:

http://sexualityinart.wordpress.com/2007/07/06/a-love-poem-in-3-lines-little-known-relationship-tips/

http://sexualityinart.wordpress.com/2007/03/28/john-lennons-request-for-everyone-to-imagine/

http://sexualityinart.wordpress.com/2007/01/13/epstein-the-beatles-the-chemistry-of-5-or-more/

http://sexualityinart.wordpress.com/2007/01/06/indigo-girls-the-beatles-blackbirds/

http://sexualityinart.wordpress.com/2007/07/01/7-cover-songs-you-may-not-have-heard-that-are-worth-hunting-down-buying-and-adding-to-your-ipod/

Paul discussing his latest album and general thoughts:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOcIzRY7CcE

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