Personnel:
Cliff Wilson: Vocals, Guitars
Louise Wilson: Vocals, Whistling
Cliff Hockberg: Drums
Why this song is on the album:
When Ticket to Ride didn’t work out as a duet for Louise and me, she suggested this song as an alternative. A song about marital companionship, the lyrics, if anything, are too apt: “You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.” Yes, but Ouch!*
*This is not a reference to Ouch!, a hilarious parody of the Beatles’ song Help by The Rutles:
Ouch! Don’t desert me.
Ouch! Please don’t hurt me.
Ouch! Ow, Ow, Ouch!
Performance notes:
I had never before realized that the bass line in this song is played on a guitar, by George Harrison. And what a cool bass line it is!
A new set of strings on my Martin D-35 acoustic guitar gave a nice bright tone for the intro. I should have done that for the other acoustic songs on this album – duh!
Cliff H. and I spent a fair amount of time choosing and tuning the drum sounds from the impressive collection included with the Superior Drummer 3 software. I highly recommend that package.
How it’s different from the Beatles’ version:
McCartney played the acoustic guitars on the original, and he went at it with campfire enthusiasm. For better or worse, my tracks are rather more subdued.
I improvised some additional banter at the end, making it even more silly.
Fun facts:
The song was inspired by McCartney’s new relationship with his future wife and bandmate, Linda Eastman.
The Beatles had the Everly Brothers in mind when recording this tune, and even broke into a rendition of their Bye Bye Love during one of the recording sessions.
CCW