Today’s classic song of the day was Paul McCartney’s first solo single after leaving the Beatles in 1970. Released on Apple Records in February of 1971, “Another Day” peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 in McCartney’s native England. It went all the way to #1 in Australia, Ireland, and Spain.
McCartney began writing “Another Day” during the 1969 sessions for the Beatles album that would eventually turn into Let It Be. He recorded it for real in late 1970 and early 1971 in New York, during the sessions for his Ram solo album. Aside from McCartney himself, who played acoustic guitar and bass, the other musicians on the track included David Spinozza on electric guitar and Denny Seiwell on drums. Paul’s wife Linda provided some of the backup vocals (Paul sang some of those himself, too) and was credited as a co-writer on the song—although we all know that the writing was all Paul.
“Another Day” is, as Denny Seiwell once said, kind of like “‘Eleanor Rigby’ in New York City.” The song is about the lonely life of a lonely woman, making her way through “another day.” As the lyrics put it:
Every day she takes a morning bath, she wets her hair
Wraps a towel around her as she’s heading for the bedroom chair
It’s just another day
Slipping into stockings, stepping into shoes
Dipping in the pocket of her raincoat
It’s just another day
The somewhat mundane and depressing lyrics are accompanying by a typically bouncy McCartney melody. Here’s what Sir Paul remembers about the tune:
“I like the idea of writing songs about ordinary people and day-to-day lives, and ‘Another Day’ is one of them. We all get up in the morning and do our usual stuff, yet somehow—even through it all—there are often magic moments. We recorded it in New York with the help of Phil Ramone and it was a hit which, at that time, was especially pleasing.”
And here’s today’s bonus track of the day, Paul McCartney working through an early version of “Another Day” with the Beatles in January of 1969. You can hear the song take shape as he plays it for his mates. Very cool.
