For as long as I’ve been on the radio, and definitely for as long as I’ve been writing a blog, I will occasionally make a reference to a song being “One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded!” (GSER)
I would usually follow that by saying that I would eventually start a category for it, but then never get around to it.
Well, now I’m getting around to it!
It will pretty much follow the pattern of The Most Awesomest Song of the Day.
I’ll select a song to celebrate and then give my thoughts about it. Nothing really brand new here that hasn’t been done before. But since I have a website, I can collect them and lay out what my own greatest songs are.
My radio show, “Theme Attic,” is on Wednesdays 2PM-4PM ET.
Even though I always emphasize new music and artists, it’s always fun to take a short drive through the legendary artists, since they influenced those other artists!
But a song doesn’t have to be old or done by a legendary Theme Attic Hall of Fame member to be thus honored.
I can think of several songs that are only a few years old or less that I could identify as One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded.
This will be fun, and hopefully you will join me on my journey!
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In the early years following The Beatles breakup, FM radio was establishing itself as the best medium for songs and information for decades to follow.
AM radio was pretty much unlistenable except for a couple of songs, because everything of substance was still available on FM.
Albums ruled the music world, but Paul McCartney chose to release a series of disconnected singles.
In May 1972, McCartney–performing as Wings, released an innocuous single: “Mary Had a Little Lamb” b/w “Little Woman Love.”
Hopefully, I’ll write about “Lamb” some other day.
I bought the single within the first week of its release. My initial response was that I liked it and…I mean, come on! It was Paul McCartney!
Since The Beatles had taught us several years ago to always listen to the B side, I have to admit that I was stunned listening to “Little Woman Love” for the first time!
What a brilliant little gem!
It opens with a barrelhouse piano riff that’s sticks better than Super Glue!
That forms the foundation of the song.
Everything else is triggered off the piano groove, which undergoes subtle changes throughout “Little Woman Love.”
In my mind, I have an image of Paul being some kind of madcap chef making one of his signature dishes, but he seems to have lost his recipe. So he ends up adding flourishes of “spices” where he thinks he needs it: A splash of slap back bass over here! A pinch of conga drum over there!
McCartney has plenty of jazz “sous chefs” in the kitchen helping him out: nimble Dave Spinozza and studio musician Hugh McCracken on guitars, and Milt Hinton on the previously mentioned bass–who gets a nice solo in the process!
Future “Winger” Denny Seiwell does a nice job staying in the pocket on drums and percussion!
This group really knows how to cook, and the “Little Woman Love” gumbo is actually very tasty!
The music is so good that it masks, possibly the worst middle eight that McCartney ever wrote, complete with a couple of minor augmented chords:
“Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
Woah oh oh unh unh unh.” (Repeat)
However, the music is so good, you can’t help but sing along without giving it a thought!
It’s absolutely Beatle worthy to me!
One last thought:
I’ve read that the song was left off of Paul’s “Ram” album. When that album was released on CD years later, “Little Woman Love” was issued as a bonus track.
Ironically, when the most recent version of “Red Rose Speedway” was released, It also appeared on that one, too!
Another interesting aside is that because of the slap back solo, the song is often categorized as a “rockabilly” tune. Interesting because of the jazz musicians playing on it!
Regardless, it is two minutes plus of pure magic! Like most great songs, it’s over before you realize it!
It is a song that sounds like everyone was having a good time contributing and making music for music’s sake!
One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded is “Little Woman Love” by Wings!!!
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#Wings #LittleWomanLove #PaulMcCartney #PhilMaq #OneoftheGreatestSongsEverRecorded #GSER