Digital Booklet - Kisses on the Bottom

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The album offers some classic vintage songs and a few Paul McCartney originals. How did the general idea come about?

For years I’ve been wanting to do some of the old songs that my parents’ generation used to sing at New Year. What would happen is us kids would arrive at the ‘do’, the carpets would get rolled back, all the women would sit around with their little drinks of rum-and-black, gin-and-it, Babycham; someone would play the piano and it was normally my Dad. They would sing these old songs all night: When The Red Red Robin, Carolina Moon. And I took all of that in.

Eventually I just said “I really ought to do this, or I’ll go off the idea, and I’ll kick myself.” So I talked to a lady in our New York Office called Nancy Jeffries who knows all about all the publishing side of the business, and I said, “If I was gonna do it, who might I work with? Who might produce? What songs do you think I might do? I’ve got my own selection, what do you think?” And she said, “I think Tommy LiPuma would be great, you should meet him, and I’ll think of some songs to suggest.”

So I met with Tommy (LiPuma), and we just hung out, talking about the songs, the old sing-songs, and we found we had a lot in common. But we tried to work out a slightly different approach, and used a selection of songs that wouldn’t be the absolute obvious ones, like The Way You Look Tonight, songs that everyone tends to cover. We looked for songs that were a little more unusual, that sometimes people might never have heard. So that’s what happened. We found a bunch of things. It’s a good idea to go slightly off-piste. Even to the extent where I didn’t know some of them. And he suggested Diana Krall, who he knew very well. We ran through a couple of my selections, a couple of Tommy’s, a couple of Diana’s, and we just threw a lot of songs into a pool, and eventually I’d say, “I like that one, I’m not too keen on that one…” So we had a bunch of things and we were ready to record.

Your own songs apart, the selections are all American, I think?

The thing is, from that era, we just chose what we thought were good songs, so the nationality of the song didn’t matter. It just happened that there was a lot of good American music coming out of the States at that time, it was a very rich period. We didn’t choose on songwriters, we chose on whether we fancied the song or not, at that moment. So there wasn’t any great head-banging or heavy breathing went into the choices. It was more, “This feels right, let’s do this one.” So we just did it, a bit in the manner of the sing-song: “Let’s do this one! Yeah!”

Were songs like these among the first you ever learned to play?

No, I never learned how to play them. All I ever did was sing them, at the family sing-songs. They’re quite complicated, the chords and things. I’d have a bash, and I did eventually become the sort of family piano player, at New Year, as my Dad got a

bit older and I got a bit more capable. But I was always busking it; he knew the real chords, and I had to busk my way around. But it was good enough for the family sing-song. A lot of these songs, like Bye Bye Blackbird, were ones that I’d sung along with.

There’s a track called Home that I remember from my Dad’s era. It’s funny, when I suggested that one, Diana said, “Oh my gosh, I though I was the only person on earth who knew that song.” I actually used to do an instrumental version of it, before The Beatles. I liked the chords, so I used to play a little guitar instrumental when me and John were just getting it together. So I had nice memories of that one.

But some of the songs we’ve done on the album are songs that I didn’t know. Like, More I Cannot Wish You, is actually from the stage show Guys & Dolls; it didn’t make the film. But I thought it was such a poignant little song. And what totally did my head in is, it’s a guy, the grandfather, singing to a young girl. With me having a young daughter it’s very poignant. There’s one that’s quite famous, particularly in jazz circles, called My One And Only Love (bonus track), which I’d never heard, it had passed me by. But it’s beautifully crafted, one of my favourite songs now.

Tell us a little about the making of this album.

The great thing about working with someone like Tommy, and it reminded me really of working with George Martin, is that he’s a knowledgeable guy. He’s a veteran, in the nicest possible way, of the recording business, so he has a great lineage. And, like George, he knows all the good players. I’d say, “It might be nice to have a little trombone solo,” and he’d say “OK” and he’d get in Ira Nepus. And for arrangements he would say, “Well, I think Johnny Mandel would be great.” I must admit, I wanted to work with Johnny, cos he’s one of the classics. But then, Tommy knew other arrangers, a guy like Alan Broadbent who’s brilliant. So he could bring that to it. Rather than just get any old trombone player, he’d say “I know a guy who knows the style and would be very good.” That was very helpful. We ended up at Capitol A Studio, in that very iconic building (Capitol Records Tower, Hollywood), where Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, even Gene Vincent recorded. I was thrown in the deep end, because I’m not a jazz player. I didn’t have a guitar or a piano to hide behind. I was just put on what the engineers told me was Nat King Cole’s mic, which was amazingly intimidating! In front of jazz musicians, which again was pretty intimidating. I just had to find my way through this. I tried this, I tried that, and I eventually found the kind of zone that I’d be comfortable with. And once I’d got over the intimidated feeling, it became a very pleasurable way to work.

There’s such a high level of musicianship on there. And the nice thing for me was, other than going in to do the vocals, I didn’t feel like I had to do much hard work. The players did all the hard work, and I was just in the booth, singing. There was one moment when we were having a puzzle over some slight problem, and Diana turned to me and said, “Paul, what are you going to do here?” I said, “I don’t mind.

I’m in LA. I’m British. I’m a tourist. I’m in Capitol A Studio, I’m singing on Nat King Cole’s microphone – I’m on holiday!” And she looked at me and smiled. She went, “A holiday.” So I think we all then went, “Great, OK, so let’s get that vibe.” And we did. Whenever we were worried about something I’d go, “I don’t mind, I’m on holiday.” So, coupled with the fact that we were not working from musical charts, and we were really making it up, it ended up much more free and open and organic. It was quite a voyage of discovery. There’s a very relaxed approach to it all.

One of the nice things that I realised afterwards, I thought, “You know what? That’s exactly how we used to work with The Beatles.” John and I would come in on Monday morning with a song, that George Martin hadn’t heard, George and Ringo hadn’t heard. We’d play them the song and we’d all kick it around until we had an arrangement that we were satisfied with. Then we’d record it, quite quickly, without too much fuss. That was very much the way we did this, which was a great pleasure for me.

What about the track, My Valentine? That’s one of your own, albeit in the same general style.

I was in Morocco with Nancy, who’s now my wife, and we were having a nice holiday but it was raining rather a lot. I said, “A pity it’s raining” and she said “It doesn’t matter, we can still have a good time.” And I’m like that, too, I don’t mind at all. So there was an old piano, slightly out of tune, in the foyer of the hotel. And there was this lovely Irish guy who knew so much old stuff, really deep stuff like Beautiful Dreamer, If You Were The Only Girl In The World... Again, stuff from my Dad’s era. I used to enjoy listening to him in the evenings and he put me in mind of that genre.

So one afternoon, when it was raining, I was in that foyer, and without anyone noticing except a couple of waiters who were clearing up, I sat at the piano and started knocking around with this little tune, kind of in the style that I knew he played in: “What if it rained? We didn’t care. She said that some day soon the sun was gonna shine…” And there was my Irish buddy sitting behind me, he’d been listening to me all the time: “Ah that’s great!” A nice little vote of confidence in the song. When I played it to Tommy, he said “Yeah, I love it, great.” So we did that one and eventually I had the pleasure of working with Eric (Clapton), who put a lovely acoustic guitar part on. And by the way, I forgot the important ingredient, the day I wrote it was Valentine’s Day, a fairly important fact! It was our first dance, very romantic.

The songs of that era were very often on the smoochy side.

Exactly, they’re pretty romantic. The way I figure it, a lot of it was post-War. My parents’ generation were just recovering, when I grew up, from World War II. In Liverpool they’d all been bombed. So they were now determined to have a good time, and they latched on to these very positive songs. They didn’t have expensive

entertainment centres. Basically, many of the houses in those days, and I understand it was the same in America, had a piano. No matter how poor you were, most people managed to get a piano. It’s funny, the one we had in our house, my Dad later told me he’d bought off Brian Epstein’s Dad, in NEMS. People wanted positive songs to lose the memory of the War. And I grew up with that. I think it really gave me a deep love of that kind of thing.

Did it shape you much? We think of The Beatles as springing up with rock’n’roll, but you personally had been around for some years before Elvis came along.

Yes, we’d actually grown up with songs from that era. Two of John’s favourite songs, when I met him, were Close Your Eyes (by Bernice Petkere, 1933), which is very much of that era, and the other was Little White Lies (by Walter Donaldson, 1930). Those were the kind of songs that we’d been listening to and that attracted me to him. I’d say, Yeah, well I love that song and he’d say I love this one, or that one. And I do think they did have quite an influence on us melodically. A lot of these old songs had what they called a “verse”. Anyone else would call it an introduction. It’s always the bit that you never knew.

You include one here on Bye Bye Blackbird.

Yeah. Then it goes, “Pack up all my cares and woe” and you go, “Oh, I know this song!” You finally recognise it. John and I liked that. We used to talk about that as one of things it would be good to do. We gave a kind of nod to it on Here, There And Everywhere: “To lead a better life, I need my love to be here…” Whereas in the old days they would have extended that: “She was here, and I was there, and I think she’s everywhere…”

Another one might be Do You Want To Know A Secret? “You’ll never know how much I really love you,” and all that.

That’s right. That was where all that came from. It’s in a lot of the songs that we were trying to write, even though we were now living in the rock’n’roll era, and influenced by it. But when you say rock’n’roll, there’s Elvis Presley doing Love Me Tender, which is an old song, way older than Elvis. So these songs lived in the rock’n’roll era, as well as the more hard-rocking things, and I think it was good to have that mix.

It’s an era you’ve often revisited, isn’t it? Honey Pie, You Gave Me The Answer, Baby’s Request…

It’s a style that appeals to me. People will often say “What songs do you like? Who are your favourite composers?” And I say Cole Porter, the Gershwin brothers and people like that, because the songs are very skilled. Cheek To Cheek was always one of my favourite songs, I love the way it returns to its opening: “…carry me through,

to, Heaven, I’m in…” It’s a simple little trick, but as a writer I always loved that. And someone pointed out to me that I kind of did that in Here There And Everywhere. So all these influences have always been there. Unless you actually analyse the whole thing you wouldn’t know it, but they were definitely in a lot of what we did in The Beatles.

It’s good to hear Baby’s Request, a bonus track here, which you first did for the Back To The Egg album in 1979.

Yeah, that was nice. Before we started the album I played Tommy a couple of songs that were written in the style of the album that we were about to make. And he said “Oh, we should try that.” That was originally written, very much in this style, for The Mills Brothers. I was hoping they would do it. Something happened and they never did. I’m not sure if they ever heard that I’d offered it to them.

And romance is not just for Valentine’s Day, is it?

I hope it goes beyond that. It works all the year round. To me, I’ve found I enjoy this as an album to relax by. I can imagine you come home from work, kick your shoes off, and have your favourite drink, whether it’s hot cocoa or wine or a cup of tea, and you just sit back. It’s that kind of album. It’s a nice mood. Just let it flood over you.

Interview by Paul Du Noyer

01. I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter 02:36

(Lyrics by Joseph Young, Music by Fred Ahlert) Published by Rytvoc Inc./Pencil Mark Music/ Azure Pearl Music/Beeping Good Music Publishing/David Ahlert Music

Paul McCartney – Vocals Diana Krall – Piano, Rhythm Arrangement Karriem Riggins – Drums Robert Hurst – Bass John Pizzarelli – Guitar

Recorded at Avatar Studios, New York 02. Home (When Shadows Fall) 04:04

(Geoffrey Clarkson, Harry Clarkson, Peter Van Steeden) Published by Geoffrey Clarkson Music Co./ Songcastle Music

Paul McCartney – Vocals Diana Krall – Piano, Rhythm Arrangement Karriem Riggins – Drums Robert Hurst – Bass John Pizzarelli – Guitar Mike Mainieri – Vibraphone

London Symphony Orchestra Alan Broadbent – Orchestra Conductor Roman Simovic – Concertmaster Alan Broadbent – Orchestra Arrangement

Recorded at Avatar Studios, New York

London Symphony Orchestra recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London 03. It’s Only A Paper Moon 02:35

(Music by Harold Arlen, Lyrics by E.Y. “Yip” Harburg and Billy Rose) Published by Anne-Rachel Music Corp./ Glocca Morra Music Corp./S.A. Music Co.

Paul McCartney – Vocals Diana Krall – Piano, Rhythm Arrangement Karriem Riggins – Drums Robert Hurst – Bass John Pizzarelli – Guitar Bucky Pizzarelli – Guitar Andy Stein – Violin

Recorded at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles 04. More I Cannot Wish You 03:04

(Frank Loesser) Published by Frank Music Corp.

Paul McCartney – Vocals Diana Krall – Piano, Rhythm Arrangement Karriem Riggins – Drums Robert Hurst – Bass John Pizzarelli – Guitar Mike Mainieri – Vibraphone Eddie Karam – Orchestra Conductor Assa Drori – Concertmaster Johnny Mandel – Orchestra Arrangement

Recorded at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles

09. Always 03:49

(Irving Berlin) Published by Irving Berlin Music Corp.

Paul McCartney – Vocals Diana Krall – Piano, Rhythm Arrangement Karriem Riggins – Drums Robert Hurst – Bass John Pizzarelli – Guitar

London Symphony Orchestra Alan Broadbent – Orchestra Conductor Roman Simovic – Concertmaster Alan Broadbent – Orchestra Arrangement

Recorded at Avatar Studios, New York

London Symphony Orchestra recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London 10. My Very Good Friend The Milkman 03:04

(Lyrics by Johnny Burke, Music by Harold Spina) Published by Anne-Rachel Music Corp./ My Dad’s Songs/Reganesque Music/ Marke Music Publishing/Limerick Music

Paul McCartney – Vocals Diana Krall – Piano, Rhythm Arrangement John Clayton – Bass Jeff Hamilton – Drums Anthony Wilson – Guitar Ira Nepus – Trombone

Recorded at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles 11. Bye Bye Blackbird 04:26

(Lyrics by Mort Dixon, Music by Ray Henderson) Published by Olde Clover Leaf Music/ Ray Henderson Music Co Inc.

Paul McCartney – Vocals Diana Krall – Piano, Rhythm Arrangement Karriem Riggins – Drums Robert Hurst – Bass John Pizzarelli – Guitar

London Symphony Orchestra Alan Broadbent – Orchestra Conductor Roman Simovic – Concertmaster Alan Broadbent – Orchestra Arrangement

Recorded at Avatar Studios, New York

London Symphony Orchestra recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London 12. Get Yourself Another Fool 04:42

(Frank A. Haywood, Ernest Monroe Tucker) Published by EMI Unart Catalog Inc.

Paul McCartney – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar Eric Clapton – Guitar Diana Krall – Piano, Rhythm Arrangement Karriem Riggins – Drums Christian McBride – Bass Anthony Wilson – Rhythm Guitar

London Symphony Orchestra Alan Broadbent – Orchestra Conductor Roman Simovic – Concertmaster Alan Broadbent – Orchestra Arrangement

Recorded at Avatar Studios, New York

London Symphony Orchestra recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London

05. The Glory Of Love 03:46

(Billy Hill) Published by Shapiro Bernstein & Co. Inc.

Paul McCartney – Vocals Diana Krall – Piano, Rhythm Arrangement John Clayton – Bass Jeff Hamilton – Drums Anthony Wilson – Guitar Mike Mainieri – Vibraphone

Recorded at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles 06. We Three (My Echo, My Shadow And Me) 03:22

(Dick Robertson, Nelson Cogane, Sammy Mysels) Published by Edwin H. Morris & Company, A Division of MPL Music Publishing Inc./ Penn Music Co.

Paul McCartney – Vocals Diana Krall – Piano, Rhythm Arrangement Karriem Riggins – Drums Robert Hurst – Bass John Pizzarelli – Guitar Bucky Pizzarelli – Guitar Mike Mainieri – Vibraphone Eddie Karam – Orchestra Conductor Assa Drori – Concertmaster Johnny Mandel – Orchestra Arrangement

Recorded at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles 07. Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive 02:32

(Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer) Published by Harwin Music Co.

Paul McCartney – Vocals Diana Krall – Piano, Rhythm Arrangement Karriem Riggins – Drums Robert Hurst – Bass John Pizzarelli – Guitar

Recorded at Avatar Studios, New York 08. My Valentine 03:14

(Paul McCartney) Published by MPL Communications Ltd./Inc.

Paul McCartney – Vocals Eric Clapton – Guitar Diana Krall – Piano, Rhythm Arrangement Karriem Riggins – Drums Robert Hurst – Bass John Pizzarelli – Guitar

London Symphony Orchestra Alan Broadbent – Orchestra Conductor Roman Simovic – Concertmaster Alan Broadbent – Orchestra Arrangement

Recorded at Avatar Studios, New York

London Symphony Orchestra recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London

13. The Inch Worm 03:43

(Frank Loesser) Published by Frank Music Corp.

Paul McCartney – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar Diana Krall – Piano, Rhythm Arrangement Karriem Riggins – Drums Robert Hurst – Bass John Pizzarelli – Acoustic Guitar Eddie Karam – Orchestra Conductor Assa Drori – Concertmaster Johnny Mandel – Orchestra Arrangement Chloe Arzy, Evyn Johnson Makiah, Johnson, Michael Johnson, Delany Meyer, Ilsey Moon, Sabrina Walden, Sasha Walden – Children’s Choir Scottie Haskell – Children’s Choir Conductor

Recorded at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles 14. Only Our Hearts 04:21

(Paul McCartney) Published by MPL Communications Ltd./Inc.

Paul McCartney – Vocals Stevie Wonder – Harmonica Vinnie Colaiuta – Drums Chuck Berghoffer – Bass John Chiodini – Guitar Tamir Hendelman – Piano Johnny Mandel – Orchestra Conductor Assa Drori – Concertmaster Johnny Mandel – Rhythm and Orchestra Arrangement

Recorded at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles 15. Baby’s Request 03:30

(Paul McCartney) Published by MPL Communications Ltd./Inc.

Paul McCartney – Vocals Diana Krall – Piano, Rhythm Arrangement Robert Hurst – Bass Bucky Pizzarelli – Guitar Ira Nepus – Trombone

Recorded at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles 16. My One And Only Love 03:50

(Lyrics by Robert Mellin, Music by Guy B. Wood) Published by Warock Corp/Colgems-EMI Music Inc.

Paul McCartney – Vocals Diana Krall – Piano, Rhythm Arrangement Karriem Riggins – Drums Robert Hurst – Bass Bucky Pizzarelli – Guitar

London Symphony Orchestra Alan Broadbent – Orchestra Conductor Roman Simovic – Concertmaster Alan Broadbent – Orchestra Arrangement

Recorded at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles London Symphony Orchestra recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London

Produced by Tommy LiPuma Recorded at Avatar Studios, New York and Capitol Studios, Los Angeles Additional recording performed at Abbey Road Studios, London; Hog Hill Mill, East Sussex; Westlake Studios, Hollywood

Recorded and mixed by Al Schmitt Additional engineering by Elliot Scheiner, Brian Montgomery and Steve Genewick Pro Tools engineering and editing by Brian Montgomery and Steve Genewick

Assistant Engineers: Fernando Lodeiro at Avatar Studios, New York; Marcus Johnson at Westlake Studios, Los Angeles; Sam Okell, Kris Burton, Gordon Davidson, Paul Pritchard at Abbey Road, London; Eddie Klein, Keith Smith, Jamie Kirkham at Hog Hill Mill, East Sussex

Mastered by Doug Sax and Sangwook ‘Sunny’ Nam at The Mastering Lab, Ojai, California Musician contracting and project co-ordination by Shari Sutcliffe

Cover Photography: Mary McCartney Additional images: MJ Kim and stills from footage by John Hammel Art Concept: Jonathan Schofield Design: Matthew Cooper at Debut Art

A&R: Nancy Jeffries Project Manager: Scott Rodger MPL Production Team: Lisa Power, Ruth Birch, Claudia Schmid, Rebecca Church, Billie Temple, Toby McColl, Kat Holder, Richard Miller, Jess Whiteley

With thanks to: Mary McCartney, Stella McCartney, Alasdhair Willis, Tommy LiPuma, John Hammel, Lee Eastman, Hanalei Perez-Lopez, Louise Morris, Stephane Jasper, Stuart Bell, Roger Huggett, Steve Martin