This week in his post I’m Awesome Jim has set us the theme of sharing a song about ‘amaze, astonish, curious, shock, surprise.’ As you can see, I didn’t get beyond the first of those words – this one just leapt out at me.

Maybe I’m amazed at the way you love me all the time
Maybe I’m afraid of the way I love you
Maybe I’m amazed at the the way you pulled me out of time
And hung me on a line
Maybe I’m amazed at the way I really need you

The opening verse of one of the most sincerely felt love songs ever written. Paul McCartney wrote this in 1969 for his wife, Linda, during a time when he was still a member of the Beatles but the band was going through the hard times which eventually caused them to break up. To him, it was too personal to include on a Beatles album, and it saw the light of day on his first solo album, simply entitled McCartney, which was released on 17 April 1970. The album caused conflict with band members, as although the band had already called it a day they had still been recording their final album, Let It Be, which came out on 8 May 1970. Spot the clash! Paul mostly recorded the album at home, playing all the instruments himself with occasional backing vocals from Linda, and it was mastered at a local recording studio. At this stage it was solely an album track, but as it was getting a lot of radio airplay a video was produced to support it, using still photos taken by Paul and Linda:

I’ve always loved the song, and it has become a firm favourite of mine. The outpouring of love in its lyrics still feels special to me, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Paul plays it during his headlining set at Glastonbury next weekend, as it has been a regular feature of his concerts over the years. As a reminder, the great man turned 80 yesterday and has just finished a concert tour in the US in which he played for nearly three hours a night. The album topped the charts in the US and Canada, and got to #2 here in the UK. It has been described as ‘lo-fi,’ meaning that it was a much simpler production than Beatles albums had been, and it contains several very good songs in addition to this one: Every Night and That Would Be Something are favourites of mine, too.

Although the original version has never been released as a single a live version by Paul’s band Wings was included on their 1976 album Wings Over America, and this came out as a single in February 1977, reaching #10 in the US and #28 in the UK. I thought I’d play this one for you too:

That still feels pretty special. I’ll be watching the BBC’s coverage of Glastonbury and am so hoping he plays this!

Maybe I’m Amazed is widely regarded as one of Paul’s finest love songs, and was ranked #347 in the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list compiled by Rolling Stone magazine in November 2004:  the only solo Paul McCartney song to make the list. Paul has been quoted as saying that this was “the song he would like to be remembered for in the future”. With a closing verse like this, maybe it will be:

Maybe I’m amazed at the way you’re with me all the time
Maybe I’m afraid of the way I leave you
Maybe I’m amazed at the way you help me sing my song
Right me when I’m wrong
Maybe I’m amazed at the way I really need you

Wouldn’t we all like to have someone in our lives who felt like that about us?

Song credits:

Writer/s: Paul James McCartney 
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind