Friday, April 17, 2009

Junk

I don't really want to talk too much here about the Beatles' careers as solo artists-- in my own head, it's just a different body of work completely, and I've never been able to get as interested, though I can be extremely opinionated when pressed. But I did happen to notice that today is the anniversary of the release of McCartney, Paul's first solo album, in 1970. That album is significant because it made the breakup of the Beatles pretty official-- promotional copies included a press release in the form of an interview, which you can read here at DM Beatles, in which Paul makes his feelings on the subject pretty clear.

For an album that signaled such a bombshell, though, McCartney's musical touch is very light, and frankly, what you take away from it is that Paul remains unsure of where he'd like his musical career to go. He experiments with unfinished fragments and nonsensical splicings thereof in tracks like "The Lovely Linda" and "Hot as Sun/Glasses" right alongside complete freaking blissed-out masterpieces like "Maybe I'm Amazed." I'm of the camp that sometimes wishes Paul would apply himself a little more and just FINISH those unfinished bits, and then put out an album full of tracks as strong as "Maybe I'm Amazed," which might have spared him a bit of mockery over the years. But, whatever. The thing with Paul's unfinished fragments is that, since he wrote them, they have no small degree of merit.

And "Junk" strikes me as one of those strong unfinished fragments that I have a kind of frustrated affection for. The version I'm mainly talking about, by the way, isn't the one from McCartney, but the demo version from Anthology 3, though you could be forgiven for getting the two versions confused. See, Paul actually composed this on their trip in India in 1968. A lot of songs were written on that trip, and after they all got back they got together at George's home in Esher to lay down demos of what's they'd written, several of which made it onto Anthology 3 (which is why this one has made it onto my list for the year). Here's that demo version of "Junk."



And here, for the sake of comparison, is the McCartney version, released about two years after the demo was made.



So, in those intervening years, he didn't do any revision or anything to drastically change the song, except to change the key very slightly and to add some minimal drumming and percussion on the later track. Well, okay, and he wrote another verse. I mean, look, I'm not saying I require Mellotron and a twelve-piece string section on every single song, but it's a bit striking how the album version sounds so much like the demo, isn't it? The other Beatles found "Junk" too weak for the White Album, and then too weak again for Abbey Road, but clearly Paul thought it was so fantastic in demo form that it didn't really need to be changed at all. And that is maybe a little conceited. Especially considering that the melody is really, really gorgeous, and it could have been put to use in something that felt more substantial, more finished.

But then I always start to disagree with myself. I listen to the lyrics and they sound like a miniature, pointillistic version of "Two of Us," though the ambiguity of the refrain gives the whole thing a more tentative vibe than in that song. And gees, that melody is really so pretty. The way Paul is singing it, all sweet and breathy into the mic, makes you feel as though he's sharing something secret with you-- like he's speaking in a code only you understand. And, damn it, maybe Paul was right after all-- maybe "Junk" DOES work best this way, because when Paul whispers about brokenhearted jubilees to me I want to nod sagely and tremble girlishly all at the same time.

And yet-- and yet-- even when I quite like "Junk" (which truthfully is most of the time), it never sounds like a Beatles song. This aesthetic of intimacy is just not a mode the Beatles really worked in very much. It's interesting that both Paul and John released initial solo albums that are so very intimate, as if they needed to peel off the Beatles veneer and remind everyone of how human they really were.

"Junk," released in the U.K. disc 1 track 7 of Anthology 3, October 28, 1996; in the U.S. October 29, 1996.

9 comments:

  1. Yeah, I agree with the four of you that this song shouldn't have made the White Album. There are already enough tracks on there that don't really make the grade.

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  2. Quite right. Do you ever play that parlor game where you try to imagine a single-disc White Album? George Martin lobbied for them to leave off the chiff and make a really strong single disc, but they weren't into it. It can be fun to while away the hours thinking of which songs to cut. Anyway, I find "Junk" stronger than the likes of, say, "Wild Honey Pie," which is another Paul baby, though it sounds more collaborative than this one.

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  3. Hey Megan, great post. I've always liked Junk. As you mentioned, it has a lovely melody and Paul sings it sincerely. I don't have the problem you have with viewing it as "unfinished." Feels like a song to me. I think there could be several reasons why Junk is on the McCartney album when considered NG for Beatles albums. You mentioned one - Paul's ego. But another might be his rush to get McCartney released. I'm totally speculating here, and perhaps you can weigh in on this as you certainly know the Beatles history better than i do. As i recall Ringo had some sort of album in the works and Paul wanted his own to be the first released so he was probably working under a deadline. Junk is pretty simple musically, so it would be easy to record, and he did need to fill an album. So, i am wondering if that may be a reason to use it. Regarding intimacy, Julia, Something, and Yesterday aren't too shabby. In the end, isn't it about quality not quantity? There are lots of human emotions to be evoked in song other than intimacy.

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  4. Your point is well-taken-- I think he did sort of rush McCartney along. There's a story, too, about how the others thought it would compete on the marketplace with Let It Be, which I'm sure Paul totally intended considering he hated that album and how it had come to exist. Apparently Ringo came to talk to Paul about delaying his release, and Paul threw him out of the house, which says something about how well they were getting along at that point.

    And although there are songs that sound very intimate in the Beatles catalog, I think they're the exception rather than the rule. And it's not a complaint, just an observation. "Julia" seems to be the best example of that sound. But overall, you don't associate the sound in "Junk" with the Beatles' sound-- it sounds totally McCartney.

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  5. Oh, yea, totally agree that Junk "sounds" like a McCartney number, not a Beatles song. And that is not necessarily a bad thing. But, just listening to any of his post-Beatles albums it seems clear to me that McCartney never wrote a song that he didn't love. I've wondered repeatedly "does he really think this is good music?" Then i get to challenging myself, like maybe I'm the one with bad taste, ya know? Then i go, no, it's him in love with his own stuff. But, when he hits one on the sweet spot, it's a home run!

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  6. Another thought, Megan. You wrote: "as if they needed to peel off the Beatles veneer and remind everyone of how human they really were." Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but i see those first solo efforts as being more personal. Is that what you mean? Because looking at the Beatles work, i see lots of examples where their songwriting explores what it means to be human. But, perhaps we're saying the same thing.

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  7. I think we are saying the same thing, Frank. I agree that Beatles music is all over the "human experience," such as it is, but I find it interesting that John's and Paul's early solo work IS kind of personal. (Particularly John's.) So, yeah, I agree...

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  8. I have done that White Album exercise, but I wasn't satisfied with my sequencing. Too much of what I like from the White Album is down-tempo. I think the idea was to cull it down to 14 songs, and these would be mine:

    Back in the USSR
    Dear Prudence
    Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
    Happiness is a Warm Gun
    Martha My Dear
    I'm So Tired
    Blackbird
    Rocky Raccoon
    I Will
    Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
    Sexy Sadie
    Revolution 1
    Savoy Truffle
    Cry Baby Cry

    Tough leaving Helter Skelter off, but those are the 14 I'd want to hear.

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  9. Great list, Troy. And you are right, it is damn hard to make choices. I can't leave off the higher energy songs, and the trick becomes having some sort of balance in the play list. Near impossible. If forced at gun point to choose, my list would be:

    Back in the USSR
    Dear Prudence
    Ob-La-Di
    Happiness is a Warm Gun
    I'm So Tired
    BlackBird
    I Will
    Birthday
    Yer Blues
    Everybody"s Got Something to Hide
    Sexy Sadie
    Helter Skelter
    Long, Long, Long
    Cry Baby Cry

    Tough leaving off Revolution, but i like the single version better anyway, so ...

    I'm just glad this is academic!

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