Tomorrow (Paul McCartney song)

"Tomorrow" is a song by the British–American band Wings from their debut album Wild Life, released in December 1971. It was written by band members Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney. In 1976, American singer David Cassidy had a hit with his cover version of the song.

"Tomorrow"
Song by Wings
from the album Wild Life
Released7 December 1971
RecordedJuly–August 1971
GenrePop[1]
Length3:28
LabelApple
Songwriter(s)Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney
Producer(s)Paul McCartney
"Tomorrow"
Single by David Cassidy
from the album Home Is Where the Heart Is
B-side"Half Past Your Bedtime"
ReleasedJuly 1976 (South Africa)
GenrePop
Length3:32
LabelRCA
Songwriter(s)Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney
Producer(s)Bruce Johnston, David Cassidy

Composition and recording

Paul McCartney had taped a demo of "Tomorrow" before he and Linda began recording their album Ram in New York City in late 1970.[2] The song is a piano ballad and ends with a gospel-style coda,[3] which is played at a slower tempo than the main portion.[4] The composition is in the key of D major.[5] According to author Robert Rodriguez, McCartney's lyrics "[extol] optimism in the face of yesterday's sorrows",[3] while Tom Doyle likens the song to a sequel to "Yesterday", as McCartney reveals his insecurity and "plead[s] with his lover not to let him down".[6]

Wings recorded the basic track for the song between 25 and 27 July 1971 at Abbey Road Studios in London. Overdubs on this and other songs from the band's debut album took place in August.[7] According to drummer Denny Seiwell's recollection, McCartney played piano on the basic track and Denny Laine played bass; he says Linda might also have played some piano.[8]

Release and reception

Apple Records released Wild Life on 7 December 1971. "Tomorrow" was sequenced as the penultimate track, ahead of "Dear Friend", McCartney's song of reconciliation towards his former Beatles bandmate John Lennon.[9] The album received highly unfavourable reviews from music critics.[10][11][12] Writing in Rolling Stone, John Mendelsohn said that "Tomorrow" was "archetypal post-Beatles McCartney: banal, self-celebrating lyrics full of many of the most tired rhymes in Western pop; glossy, if unfocussed production; pretty, eminently Muzakable melodies".[13] By contrast, Billboard's reviewer highlighted the track as one of the album's four "triumphs".[14]

Beatles biographer Nicholas Schaffner said that, although the song was among the "one or two half-decent tunes" on Wild Life, it was "suffocated by Linda's gloppy oohs and aahs unaccountably mixed as high as the lead vocal".[15] Howard Sounes identifies it and "Dear Friend" as the album's "only two interesting songs".[16] In his book on the former Beatles' careers from 1970 to 1980, Rodriguez includes "Tomorrow" in a chapter covering the best "unsung" McCartney songs.[17] He describes it as a composition that "evoked his Beatle triumphs, or at least McCartney's stronger cuts" and says that had it been released as a single, the song might have created more public interest in Wild Life.[3]

In 1975, McCartney recorded an instrumental version of "Tomorrow" in the reggae style, which, according to author Luca Perasi, appears to be a musical parody.[8] The track began circulating on bootleg compilations, paired with "Proud Mum", an instrumental that McCartney recorded as an intended advertising jingle for Mother's Pride bread.[18] In a 1976 interview with Paul Gambaccini, McCartney said that "Tomorrow" was one of the Wild Life tracks that had become well known to "freaks" and "connoisseurs".[8][19] He also recalled that Lee Eastman, Linda's father, had urged him to re-record it at a much slower tempo.[8] Some sources claim that McCartney recorded a new version of "Tomorrow" in 2011 with Diana Krall. As of 2013, neither the 1975 instrumental nor the rumoured duet with Krall had been officially released.[8] McCartney included the 1971 Wings recording on the 2001 box set Wingspan: Hits and History.[19]

Personnel

Personnel per Andrew Grant Jackson[20]

David Cassidy cover

"Tomorrow" became a hit for David Cassidy in 1976. It was released a single from his album Home Is Where the Heart Is. The song was produced by Bruce Johnston.

The song reached number 10 in South Africa.[21] McCartney remarked about Cassidy's cover of "Tomorrow" as taking the song to its ultimate potential.

Chart history
Chart (1976) Peak
position
South Africa (Springbok)[21] 10

References
  1. Rodriguez, Robert (2010). Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980. Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books. p. 372. ISBN 978-1-4165-9093-4.
  2. Perasi, Luca (2013). Paul McCartney: Recording Sessions (1969–2013). Milan: LILY Publishing. p. 27. ISBN 978-88-909122-1-4.
  3. Rodriguez 2010, p. 372.
  4. Benitez, Vincent P. (2010). The Words and Music of Paul McCartney: The Solo Years. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-313-34969-0.
  5. Benitez 2010, p. 40.
  6. Doyle, Tom (2013). Man on the Run: Paul McCartney in the 1970s. New York, NY: Ballantine Books. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-8041-7914-0.
  7. Perasi 2013, pp. 66, 72.
  8. Perasi 2013, p. 73.
  9. McGee, Garry (2003). Band on the Run: A History of Paul McCartney and Wings. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 22, 182. ISBN 978-0-87833-304-2.
  10. Rodriguez 2010, p. 44.
  11. Schaffner, Nicholas (1978). The Beatles Forever. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. p. 151. ISBN 0-07-055087-5.
  12. Norman, Philip (2016). Paul McCartney: The Biography. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 445. ISBN 978-0-297-87075-3.
  13. Perasi 2013, p. 74.
  14. McGee 2003, p. 182.
  15. Schaffner 1978, p. 151.
  16. Sounes, Howard (2010). Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney. London: HarperCollins. p. 290. ISBN 978-0-00-723705-0.
  17. Rodriguez 2010, pp. 369, 371–72.
  18. Madinger, Chip; Easter, Mark (2000). Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium. Chesterfield, MO: 44.1 Productions. p. 200. ISBN 0-615-11724-4.
  19. DeRiso, Nick (7 December 2016). "When Paul McCartney Introduced Wings with 'Wild Life'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  20. Jackson, Andrew (2012). Still the Greatest: The Essential Solo Beatles Songs. Scarecrow Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-8108-8222-5.
  21. "SA Charts 1965 – March 1989". Retrieved 2 September 2018.
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