Guess you never knew...
Feb. 25th, 2011 12:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakAnother minor "Eureka!" moment of more limited interest, on a note of "the things you learn via YouTube...": to my surprise, I saw that there are actually several cover versions of Paul McCartney's 1971 song Dear Boy (from his second solo album, Ram) around, the most prominent one being by Death Cab For Cutie (see below) from 2009. This startled me, because while Dear Boy isn't a bad song, I can think of a dozen solo Paul songs more attractive for cover versions. In fact, I hadn't been aware Dear Boy was known at all outside of the biographical context, because it's one of the songs John Lennon insisted was about him, from the musical breakup aftermath of 1971, gory details here . So I wondered: why this song, various bands? (Other than: like many a McCartney song, lesser or major, it's an ear worm.)
And then it hit me. I guess thinking about the musical 70s brought it on. Because no matter whether you believe John or Paul (who said the song wasn't about John, it was about Linda's ex husband, of whom she'd gotten divorced in 1965, two years before she met Paul), this is a (bratty, if you ask me) song about a clueless ex partner who didn't know a good thing when he had it, rubbing it in that the cluelessly dumped party is now fine and happy, thanks a lot, with their new life and companion. (Basically, what Paul claims it means is "your loss, now I'm with her", and what John claims it means is "your loss, now I'm with her".) Now, which incredibly popular anthem of the 1970s does this description remind me of, thought I? I Will Survive, of course.
...yeah. Dear Boy is Paul doing a Gloria Gaynor seven years earlier. Obviously. This realisation makes me alternatively facepalm and grin. No wonder one of the cover versions linked above is by a female group. (Before you ask, I Will Survive is the better song, undisputedly.) Like I said, not the best he can do, but the combination of jaunty tune and taunting lyrics speaks to the smarting ex in all of us. I'm back to facepalming and grinning again.
P.S. But while most smarting exes have to live with the suspicion the clueless partner in question doesn't much care we moved on as well, and it's not known what (if anything) the former Mr. Linda, Mel See, thought about the song, you can always rely on John Lennon to reveal to you and the general public you've hit a sore spot: "I heard Paul's messages in Ram - yes there are dear reader! (...) I mean Yoko, me, and other friends can't all be hearing things!" (Crawdaddy magazine).
And then it hit me. I guess thinking about the musical 70s brought it on. Because no matter whether you believe John or Paul (who said the song wasn't about John, it was about Linda's ex husband, of whom she'd gotten divorced in 1965, two years before she met Paul), this is a (bratty, if you ask me) song about a clueless ex partner who didn't know a good thing when he had it, rubbing it in that the cluelessly dumped party is now fine and happy, thanks a lot, with their new life and companion. (Basically, what Paul claims it means is "your loss, now I'm with her", and what John claims it means is "your loss, now I'm with her".) Now, which incredibly popular anthem of the 1970s does this description remind me of, thought I? I Will Survive, of course.
...yeah. Dear Boy is Paul doing a Gloria Gaynor seven years earlier. Obviously. This realisation makes me alternatively facepalm and grin. No wonder one of the cover versions linked above is by a female group. (Before you ask, I Will Survive is the better song, undisputedly.) Like I said, not the best he can do, but the combination of jaunty tune and taunting lyrics speaks to the smarting ex in all of us. I'm back to facepalming and grinning again.
P.S. But while most smarting exes have to live with the suspicion the clueless partner in question doesn't much care we moved on as well, and it's not known what (if anything) the former Mr. Linda, Mel See, thought about the song, you can always rely on John Lennon to reveal to you and the general public you've hit a sore spot: "I heard Paul's messages in Ram - yes there are dear reader! (...) I mean Yoko, me, and other friends can't all be hearing things!" (Crawdaddy magazine).
