The Beatles were more than a rock band. They were a cultural phenomenon. As their music evolved, each individual Beatle began contributing material, and musical differences became inevitable. During the sessions for the White Album, drummer Ringo Starr left the band for two weeks. Shortly thereafter, during the “Get Back” rehearsals, guitarist George Harrison quit the group for five days before he was lured back into the fold. The following year, the band argued about who should handle their business affairs. Paul McCartney urged his bandmates to hire entertainment lawyers Lee and John Eastman, but was outvoted in favor of Allen Klein, who had also represented Sam Cooke and The Rolling Stones.
After recording Abbey Road, John Lennon informed the rest of the group he was leaving The Beatles, but it was unclear if it was permanent. He had already released two albums with Yoko Ono. On April 9, 1970, McCartney put out a press release to announce his first solo album. He stated he was no longer working with the group, and the media jumped on the story with headlines of “Paul Breaks Up The Beatles.” Lawsuits followed, but McCartney had already turned his attention to his solo career. Let’s take a look at the story behind “Maybe I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartney.
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Maybe I’m amazed at the way you love me all the time
Maybe I’m afraid of the way I love you
Maybe I’m amazed at the way you pulled me out of time
You hung me on a line
Maybe I’m amazed at the way I really need you
Linda McCartney
McCartney credits his wife Linda with inspiring him during the difficult time of The Beatles’ demise. In his 2023 book The Lyrics – 1956 to the Present, he wrote, “In much the way that Linda wanted to flee from New York society—the constrictions of Park Avenue and Scarsdale—I wanted to flee from what The Beatles had become. I was hoping to escape. She was hoping to escape. So we had this feeling that we had each pulled the other ‘out of time.’ Though the song was written immediately after The Beatles’ breakup, it was somehow included under the Lennon-McCartney rubric, where it doesn’t belong. It was one of my first solo songs, but because of the deal, it got caught in the publishing net. That was very annoying.”
Maybe I’m a man. Maybe I’m a lonely man
Who’s in the middle of something
That he doesn’t really understand
Contradictions
McCartney has written both autobiographical lyrics as well as complete fiction. A song’s inspiration can come from anywhere. He continued, “While it’s true that Linda is the person I’m addressing, it’s also true that I’m dealing in fiction. Starting with myself, the characters who appear in my songs are imagined. I can’t state that often enough. I know that in some quarters, it’s felt you can’t write about gay people unless you’re gay, or about Asian Americans unless you’re an Asian American.
“I think that’s silly. That’s like saying that because James Joyce wasn’t Jewish, he shouldn’t have written about Leopold Bloom. The whole point about being a writer is that you should be free to write about anything. In fact, it’s part of your job to go to the places where others might not feel comfortable. In any event, this song isn’t the conventional way of presenting a relationship or of some of the contradictions that can arise from being in love.”
Maybe I’m a man, and maybe you’re the only woman
Who could ever help me
Baby, won’t you help me to understand? Ooh
Abbey Road
In February 1970, McCartney walked into EMI Studios at Abbey Road and recorded in the same room where so many Beatles hits had been laid down. This time, it was only McCartney, as he played piano, bass, drums, organ, and multiple guitars. He and his wife Linda added vocals. It became the second-to-last song on his debut album McCartney. It was not released as a single but got plenty of airplay worldwide. McCartney told BBC presenter Paul Gambaccini, “Sometimes we’re a bit daft here. We have a bit of a funky organisation, you know, which isn’t that clued into picking tracks off albums. At the time we thought ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ was a good track and maybe we should do that as a single, which it probably should have been. But we never did.”
Maybe I’m a man. Maybe I’m a lonely man
Who’s in the middle of something
That he doesn’t really understand
Remains a Favorite
David Puttnam directed a promotional film featuring still photographs by Linda that was used to promote the album. It debuted in the UK on April 19, 1970, and was later shown on The Ed Sullivan Show in America. McCartney was quoted in the 2002 Wingspan liner notes, “I wrote ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ in my early days with Linda. I was sitting in London, playing my piano, and the song kind of wrote itself—reflecting my feelings towards her. It’s remained a favourite of mine.”
Maybe I’m a man, and maybe you’re the only woman
Who could ever help me
Baby, won’t you help me to understand? Ooh-ooh-ooh, ah
Wings Over America
In 1977, McCartney and his band Wings released a live album, Wings Over America. The lead single, “Maybe I’m Amazed,” reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Other versions were recorded by The Faces, Petula Clark, Elkie Brooks, Black Oak Arkansas, Jem, Joe Cocker, and Gov’t Mule. It was the first song with the word “amazed” in the title to reach the Billboard Hot 100.
Maybe I’m amazed at the way you’re with me all the time
Maybe I’m afraid of the way I leave you
Maybe I’m amazed at the way you help me sing my song
Right me when I’m wrong
Maybe I’m amazed at the way I really need you
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