Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman met for the first time at a London club in May 1967. Eastman was on assignment as a photographer, and McCartney was there hanging out with friends. They had a cinematic “eyes meeting across the room” moment, which prompted McCartney to reach his hand out to her as she passed his table. He introduced himself and invited her to the club they were headed to next.
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Two springs later, the two wed in a small, understated civil ceremony at Marylebone Town Hall. Despite a massive fight that almost called the whole wedding off, the pair made it to the courthouse the following day and became the McCartneys. “We were very up and down. Quite funky compared to the eventual image of 25 years of married bliss,” Paul recalled to Barry Miles in Many Years From Now.
Paul and Linda’s relationship coincided with the end of The Beatles. That meant some of his earliest solo work consisted of songs inspired by and dedicated to his new wife, with whom he was happily married until her death in the spring of 1998. Here are some of the best songs Paul wrote for his bride.
“Maybe I’m Amazed”
Perhaps the most obvious song Paul McCartney wrote for Linda McCartney, “Maybe I’m Amazed”, was a highlight from the former Beatle’s eponymous solo debut. “Linda and I were probably already married. I can now visualize sitting at the lovely black Steinway piano that we got after our wedding. I was playing on it one day, and this song came to me,” Paul later recalled.
“The central idea being that there’s so often a split between the inner and outer,” he continued. “The elements of fear and loneliness are very much to the fore. ‘Maybe I’m afraid of the way I love you’ is itself a troubling idea.” The songwriter added, “While it’s true that Linda is the person I’m addressing, it’s also true that I’m dealing in fiction.”
“Two Of Us”
One of the best songs Paul McCartney ever wrote about Linda McCartney is often thought of as an ode to his relationship with his former bandmate, John Lennon, as the song came out on The Beatles’ final album, Let It Be. However, the “Two Of Us” McCartney is referring to is him and Linda, who used to go out driving in the English countryside with the sole purpose of getting lost.
“Because John and I sang it, obviously, then the interpretation would be, ‘Oh, those are the two of us.’ It was basically about me and Linda. But when I sang it with John, it becomes about me and John. I love that reinterpretation that songs do. It’s magical,” McCartney said in 2016.
“Long Haired Lady”
Paul McCartney’s Californian love song and ode to his wife, Linda McCartney, appeared on his 1971 album Ram. Featuring vocals from both, the song is a clear testament to his affection for Linda. “Who’s the lady that makes that brief occasional laughter? She’s the lady who wears those flashing eyes. Who’ll be takin’ her home when all the dancin’ is over? I’m the lucky man she will hypnotize.”
Listening to McCartney’s lyrics, you can almost imagine his eyes meeting Linda’s at the Bag O’Nails in London that fateful spring night in 1967. In a 2005 interview, mixing engineer Eirik Wangberg recalled Paul listening back to “Long Haired Lady” and crying, apparently moved by the sound of him and Linda singing together.
“Heart of the Country”
“Heart of the Country” from Ram has a similar feeling to “Two Of Us” from Let It Be. Both songs describe Paul and Linda McCartney enjoying their lives together, doing the seemingly mundane: driving through the countryside, watching the rain, and enjoying the quiet life of their Scottish farm. Coming from one of the most famous musicians in the world, Paul’s sentiments about simple living were even more poignant.
When he sang, “I look high, I look low,” he was speaking from experience as a well-traveled celebrity. And despite all he had seen throughout his stardom, he concludes that the true destination is “a home in the heart of the country.”
Photo by WATFORD/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images
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