Take the lyric and by extension the song and recording as the best and most direct retort to Frank Zappa's famously negative outlook on pop love songs, best expressed creatively through the classic satire of Cruisin' with Ruben and the Jets.
"Silly Love Songs" rates as one of Paul McCartney's greatest songs. Indeed, it may be considered his ultimate philosophical treatise as well.…
Article comments
26 - Mark Saleski
yea, but YOU, Al Barger, get to do the 'singing'.
c'mon, you can do Chuck D...
27 - JR
"When Doves Cry" sung by Ozzy Osbourne?
28 - HW Saxton Jr.
I wouldn't mind hearing Prince doing a
cover of "My Uzi Weighs A Ton"...
29 - Eric Olsen
I want to hear Declan doing "Little Red Corvette" or Prince doing "Oliver's Army."
30 - Al Barger
Elvis does in fact sometimes sing "Pop Life" in concert. There are bootlegs of such performances floating around.
I'd dig hearing Prince sing "Silly Love Songs."
31 - Nicole
I love this song. Paul brings up a really good point: since when has it become a bad thing to sing about love? It's not like cheerful songs are unfashionable all of a sudden.
32 - Al Barger
JR- I'm a couple of months late getting the joke, but there will be NO Ozzy singing "When Doves Cry." Perhaps he can sing "Wings of a Dove." Perhaps we could compromise by having him sing "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park."
I'm also pleased to note from my referrer logs that this page is one of the top 10 results of a Google search for "philosophical songs."
33 - Argit
Wat alot of mindless crap !
34 - argit
Wat a lot of mindless damned shit crap posted by people who noe a shit about music...
35 - Eric Olsen
it's not just crap, it's shit crap
36 - Rodney Welch
It's the SHITTIEST of shit crap, but what else is new? Argit apparently isn't as aware as the rest of us that Al only writes music reviews after he's spent an afternoon toking the old dummy pipe.
37 - Eric Olsen
I like it too, actually, though not for the lyrics: catchy melody, great bassline, and I really like the intertwining vocals.
I like the term "shit crap," though, reminds me of Jim Bouton's "fuckshit" and its brother "shitfuck"
38 - Rodney Welch
There are "catchy" melodies and there are "gum on your shoe" melodies that you can't get rid of. "Silly Love Songs" and "Coming Up" are typical of Sir Paul in his dotage.
39 - sadi
silly, crap, yes, but still makes me sing in my car. still, nothing beats Mull of Kintyre, which i still love... remember that one?
40 - Mark Saleski
but still makes me sing in my car
on some days, that's the most important thing of all.
41 - Al Barger
Rodney, Rodney, Rodney. Why all the hatin' brother?
It doesn't make much sense to call "Silly Love Songs" an example of Paul's "dotage" as it came out in 1976, when he was about 33 years old.
Plus, the melody of "Silly Love Songs" not only has good hooks, but a lot of gentle soul. "Coming Up" is also a fine little pop song, though it has less significant emotional content.
Plus, as Eric suggests, "Silly Love Songs" has outstanding songwriting and arranging craft. It took serious SKILLZ to roll this joint.
Plus, Argit's head is full of poopy shit crap. So there.
42 - Eric Olsen
as far as I can tell the only difference between "catchy melody" and "gum in the shoe melody" is the mood of the person making the determination
43 - Al Barger
"Mull of Kintyre" seems to be an English thing. It was apparently one of his biggest hits in England, but didn't make much impression stateside.
It's put together pretty well, but never did a lot for me. It doesn't have a beat, and the emotional tone strikes me as kind of sloppy sentimentality, rather than a real and current emotion.
44 - godoggo
I've changed my mind in the interim. I'm no longer with Al, which means, of course that I must be against him.
45 - Rodney Welch
For me, Eric, the difference is a pleasant melody and an annoyingly memorable arrangement of notes
46 - J.P.
See post #43 and apply to almost any McCartney tune (sloppy sentamentality. I was a fan but his music just got more tiresome as the years went by. With a Little Luck, Ballroom Dancing? Yuck!Who cares about songcraft if the music is drippy and the lyrics are unengaging. Another poor song on that album was Let'em In. Paul really cornered the market on garbage in '76. Thank GOD he let Linda do a song on that ALBUM!
Yes, sarcasm.
47 - Steve
Well, I think Paul in his Wings days was probably a happy family guy, I can't begrudge him those uplifting/positive tunes. "Mull Of Kintyre" was a fave of mine too, though having spent alot of years in Scotland, I suppose I'm a little prejudiced towards that song.
48 - John Gabriel
If you Love it or Hate it. I don't care. I personally love it always have always will. Its one of McCartneys best songs that he's ever written. The Lyrics, the Bass line hook. the melody, the whole comlexity of how he arranged it, leaves most song written today for dead.
Say you don't like it , thats fine. But if you say its crap, then you have'nt got a f..........g clue about Music
John G
49 - Christopher Rose
John Gabriel, meet Al Barger, your long lost father...
50 - Al Barger
John, come join me on the Dark Side...
51 - Pico
Anyone who likes "Silly Love Songs" probably needs to turn in their Dark Side membership card immediately.
52 - Al Barger
OK Pico, you got me there.