Silly Love Songs - Wings (1976) 8/13/22

John Lennon was always a bit snarky, but after the acrimonious break up of the Beatles, his snark took on a much more personal edge--especially when talking about Paul McCartney.

At one point, John claimed, "The only songs Paul wrote for The Beatles were silly love songs."

Well, that one stung a bit and caused Paul to do some soul searching.

In the end, however, he came to a definite conclusion.

In his words:

"The fact is, deep down, people are very sentimental. If they watch a sentimental movie at home, they cry, but in public they won't. We don't like to show our emotions; we tend to sneer at that. And in the same way, people may not admit to liking love songs, but that's what they seem to crave."

Of course Paul was (is) sentimental--you could see it in the way he included his family in every step of his post-Beatles career.

He and Linda wrote songs together, sang together, recorded together, and toured together (with Wings and beyond). They also took their children with them on tours.

And yes, he and Linda created "Silly Love Songs," in general--and specifically. :-)

In 1976, they released the album "Wings at the Speed of Sound," and the song "Silly Love Songs."

Yes, it was silly. Yes, it was cute, with Paul and Linda repeatedly singing "I Love You" to each other. BUT...people LOVED it.

Even critics who had agreed with John Lennon called it "lightweight, but charming." Rolling Stone Magazine went so far as to call it "a clever retort and a point well taken."

"Silly Love Love Songs" spent 5 weeks at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100--and was named the #1 song of the year! It also went to #1 in Canada and Ireland.

So to sum it all up, and to slightly misquote the lyric:

"It wasn't silly at all." :-)