Writing Tools

Paul McCartney was always my favorite Beatle. Yes, girls, I too like the "cute one." But I admit half-heartedness when it comes to the post-Beatles McCartney. Silly love songs, and all that.

So I'm delighted to report how much I'm enjoying his latest CD, "Memory Almost Full." On the last track, Paul chats about his songwriting process. It's a lovely monologue, revealing that songwriters and prose writers have much in common.

 According to Paul:

•  He began imitating singers like Elvis Presley and Little Richard before he found his own voice.

• He loves choosing names for characters in his songs: Mr. Bellamy, Eleanor Rigby, Father McKenzie, Sheila, Chuck, and Dave.

• He writes from a combination of his own experience and direct observation of the world.

•  He finds serious themes and images by experimenting, just playing around.

• During the process, he discovers things he didn't know he wanted to say. 

• He takes advantage of accident, an odd musical chord that he comes upon.

• He looks for something concrete and specific to express a larger idea.

•  He often begins with just a chord or a phrase.

•  He tries different versions before settling on a final.

•  He pays attention to what other musicians and producers think about the early versions.

•  He arranges the sequence of scenes in a song, and the sequence of songs in an album.

•  He sees himself as writing from various traditions of music: rock, soul, pop.

•  He's surprised and delighted when listeners get things out of a song that he did not intend.

•  He sees himself, in large measure, as a storyteller. 

As I listened to all this in my PT Cruiser, I wondered, "Hey, maybe Paul read 'Writing Tools.' " Thanks, Paul, I've bought a lot of your stuff, too.

So who was your favorite Beatle?  And why?