Paul McCartney : Ram (Album) Song by Song Thread

He didn't say that.

BTW, I got a copy of the mono version, not the actual vinyl.

 

Looking forward to this. Ram has a lot of good and certainly a little bad, but its one of the only solo albums that sound as fresh as some of the Beatles stuff. While there are other good solo albums from the 4, the others aren't really that close to the Beatles.

 

I'm not a huge Paul fan, but I LOVE this particular album, having only discovered it (via the DCC version) a few short months ago. What a lush, sonic delight, with inventive, unpredictable arrangements and textures. Until "Smile Away," I find the first side to be absolutely sublime. For me it takes a bit of a dip for the next few songs, but comes back with "Long-Haired Lady" and concludes on a high note with "Back Seat of My Car." I've haven't heard anything I like quite so much form any of the ex-Beatles' solo works (although maybe a third of All Things Must Pass--the more brooding tracks--and individual songs from various Lennon albums come close).

I actually agree fully with the review. To me, RAM is a far better album, although I think a couple songs, mainly "Jet" and "Mrs. Vanderbilt," come close to RAM-quality in terms of songwriting. I honestly don't understand why many people seem to prefer BOTR to RAM.

I can agree with critics that the lyrics to RAM are fairly inconsequential (aside from "Too Many People"). However, for me the music more than makes up for the lightweight lyrics.

 

Grant, chill dude.

I didn't say you didn't like the album. I just found it amazing that you had the album in your collection for so long and hadn't listened to it.

If you read my post it was directed at the critical reception it received and you'll note that comment is in a separate paragraph talking about critics it doesn't talk about you.

I appreciate the defense but I didn't say anything about anybody except CRITICS and the reaction AT THE TIME.

 

'Uncle Albert' is a great tune!

 

Shall we begin...

 

"Too Many People" Paul McCartney 4:10

Too many people going underground,
Too many reaching for a piece of cake.
Too many people pulled and pushed around,
Too many waiting for that lucky break.

That was your first mistake,
You took your lucky break and broke it in two.
Now what can be done for you?
You broke it in two.

Too many people sharing party lines,
Too many people ever sleeping late.
Too many people paying parking fines,
Too many hundred people losing weight.

That was your first mistake,
You took your lucky break and broke it in two.
Now what can be done for you?
You broke it in two.

Mm-mm-uh-uh.

Uh!

Too many people preaching practices,
Don't let 'em tell you what you wanna be.
Too many people holding back,
This is crazy, and baby, it's not like me.

That was your last mistake,
I find my love awake and waiting to be.
Now what can be done for you?
She's waiting for me

 

Like many here, "Ram" is my all time favorite McCartney album.
"Too Many People", "Smile Away" "Eat at Home"

Hope the new remaster is released as a double disc.

 

"Too Many People" has quite a few twists and turns that make it an interesting song. Starting off with the 'bridge'-chords' it has a bit of a Beatlesque feel to it. A great, energetic opener. Just a few years ago I read about his 'digs' at especially John and Yoko in this song...

 

Not really.

 

This and London Town are about neck and neck for my favorite McCartney work sans Beatles

 

I always thought the opening line of Too Many People was "piece of cake", until I read this in an interview with McCartney in Mojo:

Interviewer: Have I mis-heard, or does it really start with the words “Piss off”?

Paul: Yeah. Piss off, cake. Like, a piece of cake becomes piss off cake, And it’s nothing, it’s so harmless really, just little digs.

 

Too Many People is divine. Arguably Paul's best song ever.

 

For me, Too Many People is in top 5 of his post-Beatles songs. Very nice 5-note guitar riff. Good solo too. I was quite surprised when the song appeared on the Space Within Us-dvd. Didn't follow the set-lists for that tour.

Damn good song.

 

"Too Many People", the only song McCartney played live from this album in his regular set since 1973 . Yes, until he decided to play "Ram On" on request last year .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxpHxGVTqg0

For some reason I skip this song now more often. Though it was a real stunner for me when I discovered the McCartney solo collection.

 

I love the little instrumental bit that occurs just after "you broke it in two." This is definitely one of his very best upbeat songs. I really feel that Lennon overreacted to the supposed digs at him in this song. To me, "Too many people preaching practices" is hardly in the same personal and vitriolic league as pretty much any line in "How Do You Sleep."

By the way, isn't the line "Too many hungry people losing weight"? That would make more sense, IMHO.

 

To me, this is Paul revisionism. He clearly says 'piece of cake' at the start and when you 'OOPS' that section Linda can be heard saying the same thing underneath Paul's vocal. Maybe it's one of his 'word plays' he'd do over the years but I'll always hear it as 'piece of cake'.

Love his 1 take guitar solo at the end of the song and the mono version fades out for an additional 5 seconds.

 

My fave Macca album!

Ram is my favorite Macca album and so I'm very much looking forward to reading people's thoughts about the songs. To me, Ram always sounded like Paul picking up where he left off on the Side 2 of Abbey Road. Great melodies and lush arrangements - one can only dream how some of this material would have evolved if he was still working with Lennon and Martin. Ram could also be considered as the first Wings album as its Paul's first stab at creating a new sonic signature with Linda on backing vocals.

'Too Many People' is a great opener and immediately got me hooked on to this album. The guitar solo has definite characteristics of Paul's playing style and was put down on tape in a single take. The little digs at John & Yoko didn't endear Paul to anyone but showed that he was still hurt by the break-up and angry at his former collaborator.

I hope Concord and MPL reissue this gem in splendid deluxe versions with alternate takes and mixes.

 

I agree, but that was how John was. He could be very acidic at the slightest provocation. The recent BBC doc 'Lennon Naked' provides some insight into his personality during that period.

 

This was a ripper of an opener. I'd have to go back to 1971 to recall who we thought PM seemed to be specifically taking pot-shots at (keep in mind that there were oodles of politics in the air). The Lennon(/Beatles) ones seemed to be a no brainer; 'lucky break', 'preaching practices' are the only ones PM admits to in one interview, then above there's 'piss' of cake that lotsa folks heard. I read someone venture (as fans did) that the whole line about "my love's awake waiting for ME" may have refered to the whole Yoko history; YO approached Paul first in '66 for artistic financing (she soon got Paul to donate the Beatles' hand-coloured lyric working sheet for "The Word" for John Cage's private collection of scores), PM fobbed her off on JL, JL eventually fell and the rest is history...but the fan's point being that PM is having a jab by sayin' JL was YO's 2nd choice(!!; Paul & Yoko is too much to handle), and PM wakes up with a '1st string wife". (Every fan knows that LM wasn't exactly a 1st string girlfriend, but that's the story above anyway.)

Anyway, for me the lp's considerable strengths are musical. I can't just say I like one bit or another; I'd have to map out the album practically second-by-second. This one's got the foreboding little intro, which when returned to has the sustained horn. The acoustic and electric guitars have both 'crisp' and 'crunch' when needed, especially when PM winds his lead through that convoluted chord change in the outtro. I'm impressed by PM's attention to detail sonically and the panoramic changes in the course of the tune; i.e, the little echoes at the beginning and drawn out on the occasional words or breaks, or a lone horn or sustained vocal backing dropping in, or the way the whole mix shifts to a big crunch, crunch, crunch at the end. (I've yet to hear the DCC, and I envy SH having a crack at this one.)

 

Yes, why is is it so hard to find a decent lyric site on the internet? One that isn't trying to sell you ringtones. I mean Michael Nesmith has this amazingly classy and acurate lyric site, so why doesn't Paul?

 

Loved the album then and love it now.

Time to find it on CD (enough already with Band On The Run reissues if anybody's listening).

 

One of my top 3 favorite albums of all time... fantastic earthy quality to the album. Far superior to "McCartney" IMO. This ties with the White Album as my favorite McCartney non-baroque work.

So basically, I'd say, "Love this song!" to every track save for "Smile Away" which is just okay (too generic-sounding for me - familiar chords and not up to the quality of songwriting of say, "Monkberry").

Plus, we get Paul in studio on ukulele!

I'll rate the songs in order I dig them... but again, almost all excellent.

1. "Monkberry Moon Delight" (Paul's most underrated song)
2. "Eat at Home"
3. "Dear Boy"
4. "Too Many People"
5. "Ram On" + Reprise
6. "Back Seat of My Car"
7. "Uncle Albert"
8. "Long Haired Lady"
9. "Heart of the Country"
10. "3 Legs"
11. "Smile Away"

Jeff

 

Too Many People. My favorite song on the album and one of his all time best. Love the lyrics, the guitar solo and the ending instrumental that goes into 3 Legs. So much going on in this song that it sounds like its longer than it really is.

 

Ram has some of my favorite McCartney compositions, Beatles or not. The whole album contains songs full of such infectious joy, it is hard not to walk away smiling after a listen.

While "Too Many People, "Uncle Albert" and the spectacular "Long-Haired Lady" get all the love, there is nary a skippable song over the album's two sides, and I find the "lesser" songs to be superb.

"3 Legs" is surprisingly funky, and a great way to follow "Too Many People"

"Heart of the Country" has always been one of my favorites, for the way the song actually transports me to the place being sung about.

"Smile Away" is just flat-out rockin' -- the bass explosion after the "smile away horribly" line just floors me every time.

I think it is time to get my Ram on...