Tag: Wings

Let’s start things off with one of my favorite McCartney songs – a tune most people haven’t heard but should’ve been a big hit.  This song has everything I love about McCartney– a terrific lead vocal, great bass part, an arrangement that keeps evolving and cool production.  Enjoy!

“Daytime Nighttime Suffering” (Paul McCartney) Copyright 1978 MPL Communications Inc

TRANSCRIPT:
Hi and welcome to the I’m in love with that song podcast. This time we’ll be listening to “Daytime Nighttime Suffering” by Paul McCartney and Wings. My name is Brad Page and I thank you for joining me on this journey as we explore some of my favorite songs.

Now, it’s not about music theory or technical applications; it’s about those songs that we love. What is it about them that moves us? So, what I’d like to do is to really listen to these songs and uncover the individual elements that come together to ultimately make the sum more than just the parts.

So, let’s start with one of my favorite songs by Paul McCartney called “Daytime Nighttime Suffering”.

This song was released by Wings in March of 1979. It was the B-side to the “Goodnight Tonight” single. Now, to me, it’s criminal that this song was relegated to a B-side, because I think it’s one of the best things that McCartney has ever done. It was recorded in January of ’79 during sessions for the Back to the Egg album. It’s 3 minutes and 21 seconds long, and I’ve broken it down into four parts, plus an intro and the ending.

The song opens with a single strum from one electric guitar, immediately followed by backing vocals recorded in stereo. The guitar is panned to the center of the stereo image and you can hear some tremolo or vibrato effect on the guitar.

Those harmony vocals are textbook Wings. That classic blend of Paul, Linda, and Denny Laine that are really the most consistent and definitive feature of Wings. That intro is a variation on what I’ll refer to as part one of the song, the “what does she get” part with a little deviation at the end.

You can hear that vibrato on the guitar as the bass comes in.

The lead vocal will ride in over some backing vocals.

Then kick drum and symbols lead us into part one.

Okay. The band is all in now. You’ve got drums, bass, some organ, and guitars playing just some accent parts. I’m kind of surprised because this song is always sounded so full to me. I never realized how simple the orchestration is. Let’s go back and pick it up from the beginning of that verse.

There are those guitar accents.

I like his phrasing here.

Let’s back it up a bit and listen to how Paul suddenly changes the syncopation on the bass to play on the offbeats just for like one measure.

Did you see what I mean? It’s just all about the little touches. I think it’s cool. Let’s pick it up from the same spot again.

This is part two, the disco part.

Still just bass, drums, guitar, and organ.

And we’re back to part one again.

Wait, there’s some low growly sound in the background there. Let’s go back and listen to that. Did you hear that?

I don’t know. The organ maybe or possibly a synthesizer? Anyway, let’s keep going.

Now, we’ve come to the third part of the song. And there’s at least two things I think are cool about this section: First, check out how the percussion instruments pan back and forth from left to right. That’s kind of a cool effect. And then second, listen to how the backing vocals echo the lead vocal, even to the point where when Paul changes his inflections on the lead vocal, the backing vocals actually mimic or offer a complementary inflection.

I love those two inflections there.

Now, did you hear that sound in there? I’ll go back and play it again.

Apparently, that’s the sound of Paul and Linda’s son, James, who was just a baby at the time, crying in the studio. I don’t know if it was accidental or intentional, but there it is. I’ll let the song play through so you can hear it again.

And check out the bass guitar here, too.

The organ gets more prominent here as well.

And here’s a great little bass part.

This vocal break– it’s short, but let me break it down before we play through it. Recorded all in stereo. First, you’ve got the low bass part that’s panned hard left and hard right. The staccato vocals, not really sure what else to call them, but that part that’s kind of in the middle that is slightly panned a bit. And then the higher vocal part, which is actually following the main melody, “the what does she get?” melody riding on top.

Now, this part, which I’ll refer to as part four, it just comes out of nowhere. There’s no hint of anything else like this in the rest of the song, and it brings something completely new to the tune.

This lead vocal is awesome.

Now check out how the backing vocals are going to harmonize with the lead vocal here.

The song slows down.

And they wrap it up as the bass walks down, the organ holds a note.

And there are those classic Wings harmonies. So, there you have it.

“Daytime Nighttime Suffering” by Wings. One of my all-time favorite pop songs. Now, what is the song about? Well, I’ve heard that it’s about the challenges of being a mother, but I don’t really hear any specific references to parenthood in this song other than the crying baby guest appearance. But clearly, it is about the struggles of women in general, whether it’s about relationships or their career or parent. Parenthood. As usual, McCartney songs can be a little vague lyrically. To my knowledge, McCartney has never played the song live, although I guess he’s referenced it a few times as being one of his favorite songs. Regardless, it’s one of my favorite songs, and it’s been a blast to dig into it with you here on I’m in love with that song. Thank you so much for sitting in with me, and we’ll do it again next time on the podcast. You can reach me via email at love that songongodcast@gmail.com or look for the podcast on Facebook. Thanks for joining me on this episode for Wings “Daytime Nighttime Suffering”.

This is where you come in. Listen to the whole song by buying it, downloading it, or streaming it from your favorite source of legitimate music. Remember to support the music that you love.