Dear Boy - Paul McCartney (1971)

 “Dear Boy” is the 1972 debut solo album by Paul McCartney. Whom, is a member of the 1960s-1980s group The Beatles. 

Tracklist

Side A:

1. Ram On (Part One)*

2. 3 Legs 

3. Another Day

4. Sunshine (Sometime)

5. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey

Side B:

1. A Love For You 

2. Heart Of The Country 

3. Long Haired Lady 

4. Hey Diddle 

5. Ram On (Part Two)

6. Dear Boy1

Single: Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey b/w Another Day  

After having agreed to an official hiatus period for The Beatles, McCartney began to feel lost. Sure he had his wife, Linda, but he began to withdraw further and further from his fellow Beatles, before going fully radio silent by moving out to a farm in Scotland. Here, McCartney would remain unplugged and removed from any involvement with the media for around a year. 

McCartney would begin to have a taste for recording again however, as he would go out into the fields of his farm land, and spend long hours writing up songs and recording demos to a tape recorder. 

“I had this little spot out in the field to sit and write. It was a great lookout where you could see the road to our farm, and our cattle as well. Really gave me my bearings y'know?” - McCartney 

Many of these demos also feature Linda singing with Paul, or suggesting different ideas to Paul. On the demo of the title track, Paul can be heard saying:

“Definitely not for John.” 

As the year grew on, Paul began to roommate on an idea for a new album. He barely had a direction, but all these songs were just sitting in his pocket. Soon enough, McCartney would put out an ad for a new drummer, simply as a “session player”. A large number of drummers would be called upon and pulled, but Denny Seiwell would be chosen. MAinly due to his personality fitting well with McCartney. Thus, a new album had begun. Originally, McCartney would go into the sessions with the theme of a letter to a close friend. This mainly shows in songs like “Ram On '', “3 Legs' ', “Hey Diddle' ' and the title track “Dear Boy' '. These songs would exemplify the amount of emotion McCartney was experiencing at the time. As he revealed later in an interview with John Lennon, 

“We were very harsh to each other for that short while. Never really giving each other a break or some slack. I think us reforming in The Beatles helped out our friendship and music a lot. We were raised hard, so I think it tends to bleed through in how we treat each other. We don’t mean to hurt one another, we just don’t know how to say we care for one another.” 

• Paul McCartney in 1978

The album would be released in late September of 1971. It would be primarily panned by critics, and would be viewed as “Musically intelligent, but overly indulgent.” The single “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” would be favored by many rock stations, yet still would fail to reach a major high on the charts. 

McCartney looks back on the album with an air of fondness. Often crediting it as an album that helped him deal with a hard time in his life. He also often claims it as his favorite, mainly due to the heavy implementation of his wife Linda. 

“We didn’t care. We were in love with the music, and in love with each other. I think thats all you need in times like that.” 

• Paul McCartney, 1982

03/02/'24