Warm and Beautiful

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"Warm and Beautiful"
Song by Wings
from the album Wings at the Speed of Sound
PublishedMcCartney Music Ltd.
Released25 March 1976
Recorded2 February 1976
GenreRock
Length3:12
LabelMPL Communications (UK)
MPL Communications/Capitol (US)
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Paul McCartney
Wings at the Speed of Sound track listing
11 tracks
Side one
  1. "Let 'Em In"
  2. "The Note You Never Wrote"
  3. "She's My Baby"
  4. "Beware My Love"
  5. "Wino Junko"
Side two
  2. "Silly Love Songs"
  3. "Cook of the House"
  4. "Time to Hide"
  5. "Must Do Something About It"
  6. "San Ferry Anne"
  7. "Warm and Beautiful"

"Warm and Beautiful" is a love ballad credited to Paul and Linda McCartney that was first released by Wings on their 1976 album Wings at the Speed of Sound. It is a love ballad sung by Paul directed to Linda. Critical opinion of the song has varied widely, ranging from a comment that it is "one of the most beautiful songs that Paul ever wrote for Linda," to a suggestion that it may be "one of the worst songs Paul McCartney has ever written." In 1998, after Linda's death, Paul rearranged the song for string quartet to be played at memorial concerts for his late wife. This version was included on the 1999 album Working Classical.

Lyrics and music

"Warm and Beautiful" is a

verses treat love as being eternal and proclaim that love, faith and hope are what allow people to transcend sadness.[2] The bridge uses images of sunlit mornings and moonlit water as metaphors for love.[2]

The song is in the

Beatles arrangement of "Falling in Love Again" that they used in their 1962 concerts in Hamburg.[5]

Chip Madiger and Mark Easter claim that the instrumental track of "Warm and Beautiful" includes two euphoniums.[1] Luca Perasi in his book Paul McCartney: Recording Sessions (1969-2013) reports an interview with arranger Fiachra Trench, who recalls they used two tenor horns and a string quartet. However, John Blaney list the only instruments on the track as Paul McCartney's piano and Denny Laine's and Jimmy McCulloch's guitars.[1]

Imagine."[6] Similarly, Holden believes that the simple lyrics and melody are a parody of Lennon's song "Love."[6]

"Warm and Beautiful" was originally considered for release as a single from Wings at the Speed of Sound, but was passed up in favour of "Let 'Em In" and "Silly Love Songs."[3]

Critical reception

Critical reception of "Warm and Beautiful" has been mixed.

Billboard Magazine's Timothy White considers the song one of McCartney's post-Beatle peaks.[7] Benitez describes the song as "sentimental, idealistic, but compelling."[2]

Chris Ingham has a mixed reaction, stating that "Warm and Beautiful" has a "typically attractive melody" but claims that it is "uncharacteristically overstated."[4] Author John Blaney notes that the song represents McCartney "at his most idealistic," but notes that depending on the listener's point of view the main melody may be either "compelling or tedious," but Blaney believes that the melody rescues the song.[3] Author Tim Riley acknowledges that the song is "a potentially gorgeous ballad" but suggests that it be "revised and saved from its unfinished limbo."[8] Chip Madiger and Mark Easter claim that only McCartney's "labored vocal performance" prevents the song from being among "the prettier songs Paul wrote for Linda."[1] They also feel that the string quartet version works better than the original.[1] Billboard said that "Warm and Beautiul" "is one of [McCartney's] patented love ballads that should become a standard."[9]

Pop music author Robert Rodriguez considers the song album filler and writes that the song "failed to reach the level of romantic poignancy that its composer usually reached effortlessly.[10] Rolling Stone's Stephen Holden considers the song overly didactic, stating that it serves up "with apparent sincerity, the stalest pop ballad clichés ever to emerge from an English music hall."[6] Holden suggests that McCartney may be using the song to make an ironic point about clichés, such as that these clichés will outlast pop music that critics consider art or that he can "transcend cliché by being the biggest cliché," but notes that alternatively it may just be "one of the worst songs Paul McCartney has ever written."[6]

Personnel

String quartet version

In 1998, after Linda McCartney's death, Paul McCartney rearranged the song for string quartet to be played at memorial concerts for his late wife.[1][3][11] The Brodsky Quartet performed the song at memorial services in London, and the Loma Mar Quartet performed the song at memorial services in New York.[1][3] The Loma Mar Quartet also recorded the string quartet version of the song for the 1999 album Working Classical.[1][2][3][12]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0-615-11724-4
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-313-34969-0
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-1-906002-02-2
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4053-8445-2
    .
  5. ISBN 978-0-19-514105-4
    .
  6. ^ a b c d Holden, S. "Wings at the Speed of Sound". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  7. Billboard Magazine
    . p. 87. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  8. ISBN 978-0-306-81120-3
    .
  9. ^ "Top Album Picks" (PDF). Billboard. April 3, 1976. p. 68. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  10. ISBN 978-0-87930-968-8
    .
  11. ISBN 978-1-84195-796-8
    .
  12. Allmusic
    . Retrieved 22 November 2011.
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