The Paul McCartney Lyric He Considered a “Collage”

Who says that a song necessarily has to make a ton of sense? Sometimes, lyrics can be just as effective if they’re a bit nonsensical, especially if they’re strung together with imagination and set to music that brings out all their punch and whimsy.

That seems to be the strategy that Paul McCartney adopted for the song “Getting Closer,” which turned into a Top-20 hit for his band Wings in 1979. Here’s how Macca used a “collage” approach to pull the whole thing together.

“Closer” to Wings’ End

The album title Back to the Egg was meant to represent something of a rebirth for Wings. This was a band whose lineup had been in a state of constant flux throughout most of its time together after assembling in 1971. After the 1978 album London Town was a bit on the softer side, Paul McCartney intended for Back to the Egg to get the band back to their rocking roots.

Many people tied McCartney’s hard-driving songwriting material to the new wave movement that was all the rage at the time. Indeed, “Getting Closer” sounds a bit like it could have been a Cheap Trick single from that era. But McCartney had actually written it about six years earlier, reviving it for Back to the Egg. He explained how he came about the unusual lyrical approach for the song in his book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present:

“A song like this might be thought of as a collage. I put things together that I’d seen or heard, and it had been around for a few years before we recorded it. I seem to remember there being a sign along the road somewhere: ‘Beware Cattle.’ And there might have been bullet holes in the signs, because guys sniped at them for target practice, so I thought, Cattle beware … Gluing my fingers together / Radio play me a song with a point. You know, not everything needs to have a point. A song is kind of a construction job, so I’ve done my usual thing of just sort of assembling it all and taking it somewhere.”

While “Getting Closer” did well on the charts and Back to the Egg was generally well received, the album didn’t turn out to be a rejuvenation for Wings. As a matter of fact, it would be their last hurrah. McCartney’s next album (McCartney II) would be a solo project, and after attempting to record again with the group, he thought against it and stuck with his solo career, ending Wings in the process.

Exploring the Lyrics to “Getting Closer”

You might not even notice it when you hear a Paul McCartney song, but one of the key reasons they tend to stick with you is his ability to choose lyrics that fit perfectly the meter. That’s why choosing to call the girl he’s wooing here My salamander is such a clever touch. It might sound odd on the page, but when you hear it sung, the lyric hits home in a big way.

On the surface, “Getting Closer” is about a guy who’s hustling back to the girl he loves before she moves on to someone else. But it’s really a chance for McCartney to note all the absurdities this guy sees on the road back to her, making unique connections between them to create memorable images.

Listen to the flow and vividness of these lyrics: Keeping ahead of the rain on the road / Watching my windshield wipers / Radio play me a danceable ode / Got to beware of snipers. John Lennon was often the Beatle who was cited for his use of nifty wordplay. But “Getting Closer” proves how adept McCartney was at it as well.

The final verse takes a similarly off-kilter approach. But McCartney, his commercial savvy always in play, makes sure to orient us all with a refrain that anyone can understand: I’m getting closer to your heart. “Getting Closer” proved to be one of the last blasts of pop goodness from Wings before their leader decided to get it done on his own.

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