Paul McCartney is one of the game’s all-time greats, and despite being 80 years old, he is still very much alive in culture, with his creative juices never running dry. One of the greatest living songwriters, alongside the eminent Bob Dylan, without Paul McCartney’s many different efforts, from The Beatles to Wings and as a solo artist, the world of music would be a very different place. It shows how influential the man from Walton has been.
As a member of The Beatles, he and John Lennon formed the world’s most extraordinary songwriting partnership. Together they wrote hits ranging from ‘Yesterday’ to ‘Let It Be’. He has a talent for writing short but powerful anthems. As a result, many consider his songs among the best The Beatles ever wrote, and numerous musical legends cite McCartney as a hero.
As The Beatles disbanded in the late 1960s, McCartney launched his solo career. He released McCartney in 1970 and the critically acclaimed Ram with his wife Linda in 1971. Later that year, the couple formed Wings. McCartney stated, “I didn’t really want to keep going as a solo artist … So it became obvious that I had to get a band together.” Linda and I discussed it, and it was like, ‘Yeah, but let’s not form a supergroup; let’s start over.'”
The formation of Wings was to be one of McCartney’s most important decisions, and this period would prove to be one of his most productive. During the band’s ten-year existence, they produced a variety of moments. The songs includes ‘Band on the Run’, ‘Live and Let Die’, and ‘Arrow Through Me’.
One of their finest cuts, as the mainstream discovered when it burst through the speakers at the cinema in Licorice Pizza, is ‘Let Me Roll It’, the swooning B-side to ‘Jet’ from Band on the Run. An undeniable classic, it faced criticism for resembling John Lennon’s sound at release, with its slow-grooving R&B and distinctive riff.
Of course, McCartney denied that he copied his old friend’s style. He later stated, “I still don’t think it sounds like him, but that’s your opinion. I can dig it if it sounds good to you.”
Elsewhere, Macca mentioned: “‘Let Me Roll It’ was not really a Lennon pastiche. However, my use of tape echo did sound more like John than me.” But tape echo was not John’s sole domain! And you have to remember that, despite the myth, we had a lot in common in our thinking and working styles.”
Interestingly, the song’s association with The Beatles does not end there. The title was inspired by a line from former bandmate George Harrison’s song ‘I’d Have You Anytime,’ which reads ‘Let me roll it to you’. Lennon incorporated the ‘Let Me Roll It’ riff into his 1974 song ‘Beef Jerky’.
