Today’s earworm is brought to you by our musical correspondent Bill, who a couple of days back shared a link to “Dear Boy,” from Paul McCartney’s “Ram” album in 1971.
I focused on it more than usual because of a quirk in the way it’s recorded: During the day, I almost always listen to music or anything else involving sound with earbuds. (I don’t wish to bother my neighbors.) And apparently the lead vocal was on the right side, where I’m almost completely deaf.
It gave the song an eerie sort of feel. So I listened to it a couple of ways as an experiment, including putting the buds in the wrong ears. I’m still adjusting to this hearing loss thing, and find it interesting to explore the limits of it.
As a result, it lodged somewhere in my brain, good and tight, and then emerged this morning, and kept playing over and over in my mind.
Which is strange, because I don’t remember taking much note of the song when the album came out and I listened to it over and over. Like everyone, I listened a lot to “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey,” to a lesser extent the musical joke “Smile Away,” and maybe “The Back Seat of My Car.” (Yes, I was 17, and my tastes weren’t terribly sophisticated, or even cool. If they had been, I might not have bought the album in the first place.)
But now, I learn to my surprise that “Dear Boy” is an infectious tune. And I can’t seem to shake it…
I also enjoyed Lennon’s send-up of the cover, several months later.
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It’s one of my favorite songs;there’s so much going on with the harmonies;very Brian Wilsonish.John Lennon thought the song was about him but it was written about Linda McCartney’s exhusband…
Hearing this cover version(done LIVE,no less),is testament to what a timeless composition it is…
It was always one of my favorites on this album, along with Too Many People. But I was only 1 1/2 when it came out so I was listening long after the fact. I think that’s why Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey doesn’t register as part of this album to me. I’d already heard it alot since it was a hit, but those two were the new ones to me that I liked.
I must admit, when this album first came out, I had a very strong bias that the “gestalt” of the Beatles was gone, that any solo album would be sorely lacking. This really is a very good, if not great, album. My two favorites are the songs Bill and Scout refer to.