Paul McCartney Reveals the Drunken Beatles Backstory Behind ‘Here Today’
An idea or experience generated many of The Beatles‘ most prolific songs. John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison regularly dove into their personal history to pen some of their most memorable tunes as a band and solo artists. Paul McCartney admits to focusing on core memories to help flesh out some of his biggest hits, including a drunken experience that formed the backstory of his 1982 tribute to John Lennon, “Here Today.”
Paul McCartney has written songs the same way for over 60 years
McCartney has a method he uses to generate song ideas. This formula has served him well for over 60 years. He shared his technique in an interview with NPR.
“If I were to sit down and write a song, now, I’d use my usual method: I’d either sit down with a guitar or at the piano and just look for melodies, chord shapes, musical phrases, some words, a thought just to get started with,” he shared.
“Then I sit with it to work it out like I’m writing an essay or doing a crossword puzzle. That’s the system I’ve always used, that John [Lennon] and I started with.” He continued, “I’ve never found a better system, and that system is just playing the guitar and looking for something that suggests a melody and perhaps some words if you’re lucky.
“Then I fiddle around with that and try and follow the trail, try and follow where it appears to be leading me. And sometimes, it leads me down a blind alley. So I must retrace my steps and start again down another road.”
The drunken backstory behind ‘Here Today’ as told by Paul McCartney
In a 2022 interview with Esquire, McCartney said he wanted to honor his long friendship with Lennon shortly after his 1980 death. However, his tribute to his former bandmate, who died in 1980, did not appear on a McCartney record until 1982.
“Here Today” was McCartney’s affectionate song of appreciation toward Lennon. The tune appeared on his album Tug Of War and detailed a drunken Beatles backstory within the song’s words.
“When I do ‘Here Today,’ that is very personal. That is me talking to John.” McCartney explained.
“But as you sing them, you review them. So I go, [sings] ‘What about the night we cried?’ And I’m thinking, ‘Oh, yeah: Key West.’ We were all drunk. We’d delayed Jacksonville because of a hurricane. We got parked in Key West, stayed up all night, and got drunk,” McCartney continued.
He recalled telling Lennon, “Let me tell you, man, you’re f****** great!” So I know that’s what I’m talking about. I know the night. I do think of that [when he performs the song.”
McCartney further elaborated on his inspiration for the song
For the Tug of War archive collection in 2015, McCartney discussed writing ‘Here Today” more in-depth, as The Paul McCartney Project reported.
“It was this desolate little house, and we just sat and drank a lot and got wrecked. We had in-depth conversations like you do when you’re just stuck in a room with a few guys. But I mean, normally, we’d be able to handle it at parties. But this was just stuck in a room with nothing to do but wait until we could go to Jacksonville,” McCartney explained.
“It was a number of days, and that meant just drinking all the time. It was very emotional because we cried; it was the only time we’d cried together. “Oh. I love you” One of those drunken crying sessions,” the entertainer continued.
McCartney concluded, “But again, that was one of the memories when I talked to John. ‘What about the night we cried? What about the time we met?; Come on, man, we had the most intimate relationship. and I think that’s what you think about when you lose a friend. About all those little things that jump into your mind.”
