Paul McCartney Said the Lyrics of a ‘Flaming Pie’ Track Are Similar to The Beatles’ ‘It Won’t Be Long’

Paul McCartney thinks the lyrics of a Flaming Pie track are similar to The Beatles‘ “It Won’t Be Long.” Despite consciously trying to steer clear of Beatle-like lyrics, they sometimes appeared.

Paul McCartney didn’t want the lyrics of his solo songs to be similar to The Beatles

In 1971, Paul released his first solo single, “Another Day.” In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul wrote that it felt like a big moment for him, “thrilling, though tinged with sadness.” Paul had already released his debut solo album, McCartney, amid The Beatles’ split, but he felt he had something to prove. That feeling didn’t dissipate for a while.

Shortly after releasing “Another Day,” Paul released RAM. Still, Paul was dealing with his former band’s painful split. He confessed later that the period was a disaster, with days at home in Scotland either smoking pot or getting drunk.

Paul had no idea how to continue in music. Paul wrote that he considered stopping. How do you follow The Beatles? Thankfully, Paul liked music too much. One night, he saw Johnny Cash and his band on TV and suddenly fancied starting another band. The result was Wings.

Paul wrote that the band was “in many ways and experiment to see whether there was life after The Beatles, to see whether that success could be followed.” However, Wings had a rough start. They used to drive to universities all over the U.K., practically begging to perform for a low price of 50p.

Paul’s biggest challenge was staying away from Beatle-like lyrics even though the group was ingrained in him. It was hard enough trying to live up to the world’s expectations. Paul said he tried to keep Wings’ lyrics away from The Beatles’ style.

“There were avenues I could go down that I wouldn’t have gone down with The Beatles,” Paul wrote. Sometimes it felt constrictive. Other times Paul felt like he could do anything. However, Beatles-like sounds still cropped up here and there.

Paul McCartney thinks the lyrics of a ‘Flaming Pie’ track are similar to The Beatles’ ‘It Won’t Be Long’

No matter how hard Paul tried, some of his song’s lyrics sounded like The Beatles. He claims his song, “Come And Get It,” off The Magic Christian soundtrack, sounds like The Beatles’ “Love Me Do.”

The Beatles even appeared in Paul’s songs way later in his career. The chorus of Flaming Pie‘s “Great Day” is almost identical to The Beatles’ “It Won’t Be Long.” In The Lyrics, Paul revealed that many people had pointed it out to him.

However, Paul remembers John Lennon saying something about a song of theirs that dealt with a similar situation. “I can’t remember what the line was, but let’s say it was from a Dylan song, and I was pretty much stealing it for my song,” Paul wrote. “John said, ‘Well, no, it’s not stealing. It’s a quote.’ And that made me feel better.”

“Great Day” and “It Won’t Be Long” both have the repetitive chorus of “it won’t be long,” whether Paul consciously meant the lyrics to be similar to The Beatles or not.

‘Great Day’ and ‘It Won’t Be Long’ talk about yearning for something that would one day come

In The Lyrics, Paul explained he often sat around following The Beatles’ split. One day during his rut, the chords of “Great Day” came to him. They made him feel “optimistic,” and he liked “the idea of a song saying that hope is coming and there’s a bright light on the horizon.”

At the time, Paul needed hope. Without knowing if the song would help anyone else, the uplifting song helped raise Paul’s own spirits and move him forward.

Paul and John wrote “It Won’t Be Long” in a similar vein. It’s about someone being apart from their loved one, yearning for the time that would soon come when they reunited. There’s hope. So, “Great Day” and “It Won’t Be Long” don’t just have similar lyrics. They’re about the same thing.

The person in “It Won’t Be Long” is counting the days until he sees his love. Paul was counting the days until he could return to normal after The Beatles split. They both yearned and hoped for something that would one day come.