The four individual members of The Beatles all went at their own pace when it came to embracing the legacy of the group during their solo years, instead of running from it. Once he got over that hump, Paul McCartney rarely shied away from referencing his former group, as long as it felt right for whatever he was creating.
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In the case of the song “Flaming Pie,” the title track from McCartney’s 1997 album, he was alluding to a famously off-the-wall story John Lennon created to explain how The Beatles got their name. Macca tapped into Lennon’s irreverent spirit with the song he formulated from that title.
Easy as “Pie”
When Paul McCartney began the process of making his 1997 album, he did so while still awash in Beatles nostalgia. For several years before that, he and the other two living Beatles had spent a great deal of time compiling the massive Anthology project.
That process required sitting for interviews for a documentary, going through the archives to sift through unreleased music, and even recording some new songs based on John Lennon demos. Considering his former group was likely still top of mind when he went back to his solo career, it’s not surprising they popped up in the songs he was writing.
“Flaming Pie” grew organically out of a jam session McCartney was enjoying with producer Jeff Lynne. Liking what he heard, he asked engineers to start running tape as he began working up a melody to the loosely funky combination of the rhythm and chords he had concocted.
As for the title, it came from when the three Beatles, during the process of making Anthology, had revisited the topic of how they came up with their name. Which brought McCartney back to John Lennon’s famously fantastical insistence it had been bestowed upon them by a man on a flaming pie. (In actuality, it was Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe who came up with the moniker after riffing on the insect name The Crickets and combining it with the beat music they were playing.)
Exploring the Lyrics to “Flaming Pie”
In “Flaming Pie,” McCartney imagines the kind of character who might indeed zip around on the titular conveyance. He’d probably be fascinating, illogical, and maybe even a bit discombobulated, when it comes right down to it. There’s no deeper meaning here, but it gives Macca a chance to show off his flair for absurdist lyrics that had adorned other classics of his, like “Monkberry Moon Delight” or “Temporary Secretary.”
You get the sense right off the bat about how this character might be a little off, considering his chosen setting for romance: Making love underneath the bed. In the second verse, McCartney subtly alludes to Lennon’s crazy story: Go ahead, have a vision / I’m the man on the flaming pie.
The narrator admits he might be a bit much for some folks: When I’m with you, you could do with a vacation. His actions strain credulity: I took my brains out and stretched them on the rack. And it turns out all his wildness comes with a price to pay: Cut my toes off to spite my feet / I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Perhaps sensing the song captured the spirit of the record he was making, one that was unafraid to ride the Beatle wave a little, McCartney made “Flaming Pie” the title track. Giving off vibes both hilariously nonsensical and touchingly sentimental, the song was a perfect choice.
Photo by David Lefranc/Kipa/Sygma via Getty Images
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