Listen to What the Man Said (1975)

Performer: Paul McCartney & Wings                     Writers: Paul & Linda McCartney
Highest US Chart Position: #1                               Label: Capitol Records
Musicians: Paul & Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch and Tom Scott

I can remember watching an interview with Hall and Oats where Darryl Hall called his group the Beatles of the eighties, and that started me thinking about who the Beatles of the seventies would be. The obvious answer is The Bee Gees, but one of the actual Fab Four makes a good case for himself in terms of consistently producing hit records throughout the entire decade, and that’s Paul McCartney. “Listen to What the Man Said” was actually the first 45 I ever bought. Though it seems impossible now, at the time I didn’t even know you could buy the songs that were on the radio. When I was in the local department store and suddenly stumbled upon the record department I was stunned that I could take my favorite songs home and listen to them as many times as I wanted to. In the summer of 1975 I was between seventh and eighth grades, and at the time I wasn’t even really conscious of The Beatles. All I knew was that Paul McCartney had been one and was now on his own with his band called Wings.

The song entered the charts at the end of May and hit number one six weeks later in mid-July. It was McCartney’s eighth consecutive top ten hit which set the record for the most during the decade. That summer of seventy-five was one of my favorites in terms of music, only surpassed the following summer of America’s bicentennial year. What hooked me immediately about the song was the soprano saxophone of L.A. session man Tom Scott. McCartney had recorded some of the tracks for the album, Venus and Mars, in New Orleans and when Scott was called in to play the solo he was told to go for that kind of flavor. The saxophonist didn’t even go into the studio, and recorded his part right into the soundboard in the control booth. The song was something of a preview, since by the time the album was released the single had already entered the charts. It was also the first non-Apple release by McCartney, though all of the companies were related. Apple’s records were released by EMI in Britain and EMI in turn owned Capitol in the U.S. The B-side is the rather forgettable ballad “Love in Song.”

The song begins with a blast of sound and a bright guitar intro playing the melody that is what “the man” actually says, accompanied by Tom Scott’s soprano. The saxophone is a continuous and magical presence throughout the song, but the solo is phenomenal, with Scott launching into it as McCartney commands him to “take it away.” The lush harmonies on the chorus feature, as always, distinctive high parts by Linda McCartney. After a final repetition about “the wonder of it all” the song ends with a terrific finale, slowed to half speed and featuring strings in addition to the saxophone. As far as the lyrics go, this is another of McCartney odes to love, something that annoyed John Lennon but made his former partner a multi-millionaire. The reality is that while McCartney’s lyrics may be lacking in originality, his production values and the musical density of his records are almost unparalleled in pop music of that era, which is another reason fans clamored for his music despite critical complaints. To my mind Paul McCartney is the greatest musical act of the seventies, and “Listen to What the Man Said” is a powerful example of that greatness.