Macca's Gems: Somebody Who Cares

Do you know that feeling? “Like somebody has taken the wheels off your car, when you had somewhere to go?” That “it's annoying, not going to get very far”. And that “it’s happening day in, day out”. Well, yes, I know by now, after living more than three weeks with a lockdown.  

Paul McCartney could have written the lyrics of Somebody Who Cares with the corona crisis in mind. Which, of course, he didn’t. The song was written just less then two months after John Lennon’s unexpected death and in several interviews McCartney reveals that he had written it with John in his mind. The part about the wheels off the car probably expresses the state Paul was in at that time.

Somebody Who Cares is an acoustic song, with a bit of a Latin feel, sweet and gentle, containing a solo by Paul on Spanish guitar and a pan flute for the final touch. The track has a nice laidback groove, with a little bit of swing during the chorus, which is done by American jazz bass player Stanley Clarke and drummer Steve Gadd (best known for his brilliant drum part on Paul Simon’s 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover), who used brushes during most part of the song.

Lyric Video:

The song was written in 1981, in Montserrat, during the recording sessions of Macca’s 1982 album Tug Of War, just a day before the arrival of Clarke and Gadd. Paul:

I wrote Somebody Who Cares on a Sunday Afternoon. In Montserrat we used to take weekends off just to kind of have some holiday as well as recording, and this Sunday afternoon I was anticipating Steve Gadd’s arrival. (…) I sat outside and I just got my guitar and went off into a corner. (…) Steve and Stanley Clarke were coming in and I liked the idea of writing something for them coming, so it would be fresh for everyone.”

The next day Paul presented the song in the studio, but it wasn’t finished yet. Therefor he asked Clarke and Gadd to take a tea break and wait for him. Paul: “I said ‘give me an hour’. So I sat around for an hour, got that middle bit and went back to the studio.” Except for some overdubs – the pan flute and the backing vocals by Paul, Linda McCartney and Eric Stewart – the track was finished the very same day.

Somebody Who Cares is one of many comforting songs Paul wrote through the years, and listening to the lyrics now, they seem – as said – very appropriate to the situation the world is into at this moment. As a support to the people in the ‘frontline’, like the health workers, and to the people who lost their beloved ones due to the disease: There’s always somebody who cares.
Next week, Paul will contribute to the One World Together At Home telecast, probably from his home in Long Island. In my opinion, if there’s one song suitable enough to play, it should be this one.

Related Posts:

Paul To Perform At ‘One World: Together At Home’ Telecast
Macca’s Gems: Don’t Let It Bring You Down

-----------------

Out now: The Paul McCartney 2019 Fan Book
Order here!

André Homan

André Homan is a Dutch writer and journalist.

Nieuwere post Oudere post