Sir Paul

I had a glimmer of an insight into why I like Paul McCartney. I think I see in him someone with a deep and powerful desire to find some way, any way, to express everything he feels, about people, about relationships, about love, about happiness and sadness and beauty and all those things that feel so all-important and overwhelming, but when you go to capture them you often find you've ended up with a bunch of empty cliches. But Paul keeps trying. He keeps writing songs, poems, symphonies, sound collages, making paintings, playing concerts...and I'm happy to admit that a lot of what he produces isn't that great, and some of it is downright bad. But he keeps trying, un-self-consciously, uncynically, confidently. I think I recognize that in him. I lie awake at night sometimes frustrated deeply by the knowledge that I don't know how to express the things that are most important to me. Or the things I feel are most important about the world. I admire Paul for spending his whole life trying. I find that powerful.

So let's have some Paul lyrics:

You'd think that people would have had enough of Silly Love Songs,
But I look around me and I see it isn't so;
Some people wanna fill the world with Silly Love Songs...
And what's wrong with that?
I'd like to know,
'Cause here I go, again...

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So sad, so sad,
Sometimes she feels so sad.
Alone in her apartment she'd dwell,
'Til the man of her dreams comes to break the spell.
Oh, stay, don't stand her up --
And he comes, and he stays,
But he leaves the next day...So sad.
Sometimes she feels so sad...

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Did I ever touch you on the cheek,
Say that you were mine,
Thank you for the smile?
Did I ever open up my door,
Let you look inside?

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Bend, little willow,
Wind's gonna blow you
Hard and cold tonight.
Life as it happens,
Nobody warns you.
Willow hold on tight.

Nothing's gonna shake your love,
Take your love away.
No one's out to break your heart,
It only seems that way...

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I stood inside Egyptian temples;
I looked into eternal gardens;
Lay on the shores of distant islands, listening
To the seabirds' song of joy...

Oh, I owe it all
To you, you make me happy.
Oh, I owe it all to you.

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Somedays I cry,
I cry for those who live in fear.
Somedays I don't,
I don't remember why I'm here.

No use reminding me, it's just the way it is,
Who ran the race or came in first.
Somedays I cry,
I cry for those who fear the worst.

We don't need anybody else
To tell us what is real;
Inside each one of us is love,
And we know how it feels...

Somedays I look,
I look at you with eyes that shine.
Somedays I don't,
I don't believe that you are mine.
It's no good asking me what time of day it is,
Who won the match or scored the goal.
Somedays I look,
Somedays I look into your soul.