This song gets me everytime
Lyrics courtesy www.letssingit.com.
Since this song always brings me to tears, I thought I'd do my interpretaion of it. It's gonna be pretty accurate... not that I'm arrogant, but I know Paul better than a lot of people.
So here we go.
"Here Today" Paul McCartney. Writing credits: McCartney. 1982. On album Tug of War.
Note: This song is from Paul to John. Paul and George both wrote tributes to John after his death.
And if I say,
I really knew you well what would your answer be?
If you were here today
He's trying to sum up and tie together all his memories of John from when he was 16 and first met John until he died when he was 38. (John was 18 and 40, respectively.)
Ooh- Ooh- Ooh, here to-day.
Well knowing you,
you'd probably laugh and say that we were worlds apart.
If you were here today
John would laugh. He'd tell Paul that he was nuts, but he'd also know that Paul was probably kind of right.
Ooh- Ooh- Ooh, here to-day.
But as for me,
I still remember how it was before,
and I am holding back these tears no more
Paul is saying that he remembers the way things were when it was just John Paul and George playing until 4 in the morning in Hamburg and all that stuff from before they were famous. And now that he doesn't hate John anymore, he can dwell on the memories, and that makes him cry. (still does.)
Ooh- Ooh Ooh, I love you, Ooh. They never said this to each other out loud, but always thought it, so now that John is gone, Paul wants to tell him he's not afraid to say it anymore.
What about the time we met?
Well, I suppose that you could say that we were playing hard to get. John debated having him in the group; Paul debated joining, but they both really wanted to play together.
Didn't understand a thing,
but we could always sing.
They were kids and didn't understand the world the way it was or the things that happened to them, but they could always get together and play and work on their music and forget about the rest of the world... this is probably from their teen years together.
What about the night we cried,
beacuse there were no reasons left to keep it all inside?
This probably means one of those nights when they just couldn't take it anymore, you know, an American tour and the hassles of being John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and relationship troubles and all that crap... John once was putting on stage makeup before a concert when he looked at himself in the mirror and said, "I wish I could paint on a smile." Paul knows John hated it and they both did, so they cried. Easy enough.
Didn't understood a word,
but you were alwas there - with a smile.
They kinda grew apart in their Beatles years, so John didn't always know what was going on in Paul's life- case in point, Hey Jude. John thought it was about Jane Asher; it was about John's own son, Julian. But John was always ready to tell a joke and laugh and smile, and people liked that, especially his "brother" Paul.
And if I say,
I really loved you and was glad you came along.
If you were here today.
He's glad John came into his life and he loves him. he's also sorry he acted to bastardish in the years before John's death. His guilt is coming through.
Ooh- Ooh- Ooh, for you were in my song. He's saying that because he sang about John, he's here with him again.
Ooh- Ooh- Ooh, here to-day.
The end.
I really love this song.
Ivyette @ 10:22 PM
Since this song always brings me to tears, I thought I'd do my interpretaion of it. It's gonna be pretty accurate... not that I'm arrogant, but I know Paul better than a lot of people.
So here we go.
"Here Today" Paul McCartney. Writing credits: McCartney. 1982. On album Tug of War.
Note: This song is from Paul to John. Paul and George both wrote tributes to John after his death.
And if I say,
I really knew you well what would your answer be?
If you were here today
He's trying to sum up and tie together all his memories of John from when he was 16 and first met John until he died when he was 38. (John was 18 and 40, respectively.)
Ooh- Ooh- Ooh, here to-day.
Well knowing you,
you'd probably laugh and say that we were worlds apart.
If you were here today
John would laugh. He'd tell Paul that he was nuts, but he'd also know that Paul was probably kind of right.
Ooh- Ooh- Ooh, here to-day.
But as for me,
I still remember how it was before,
and I am holding back these tears no more
Paul is saying that he remembers the way things were when it was just John Paul and George playing until 4 in the morning in Hamburg and all that stuff from before they were famous. And now that he doesn't hate John anymore, he can dwell on the memories, and that makes him cry. (still does.)
Ooh- Ooh Ooh, I love you, Ooh. They never said this to each other out loud, but always thought it, so now that John is gone, Paul wants to tell him he's not afraid to say it anymore.
What about the time we met?
Well, I suppose that you could say that we were playing hard to get. John debated having him in the group; Paul debated joining, but they both really wanted to play together.
Didn't understand a thing,
but we could always sing.
They were kids and didn't understand the world the way it was or the things that happened to them, but they could always get together and play and work on their music and forget about the rest of the world... this is probably from their teen years together.
What about the night we cried,
beacuse there were no reasons left to keep it all inside?
This probably means one of those nights when they just couldn't take it anymore, you know, an American tour and the hassles of being John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and relationship troubles and all that crap... John once was putting on stage makeup before a concert when he looked at himself in the mirror and said, "I wish I could paint on a smile." Paul knows John hated it and they both did, so they cried. Easy enough.
Didn't understood a word,
but you were alwas there - with a smile.
They kinda grew apart in their Beatles years, so John didn't always know what was going on in Paul's life- case in point, Hey Jude. John thought it was about Jane Asher; it was about John's own son, Julian. But John was always ready to tell a joke and laugh and smile, and people liked that, especially his "brother" Paul.
And if I say,
I really loved you and was glad you came along.
If you were here today.
He's glad John came into his life and he loves him. he's also sorry he acted to bastardish in the years before John's death. His guilt is coming through.
Ooh- Ooh- Ooh, for you were in my song. He's saying that because he sang about John, he's here with him again.
Ooh- Ooh- Ooh, here to-day.
The end.
I really love this song.
Ivyette @ 10:22 PM