Live and let die.

[Tobin S.]

I find this song by Paul McCartney to be fascinating. I know it's a theme song to a movie and maybe not a strict expression of McCartney's own views, but it seems so at odds with the work he did with the Beatles. The Beatles seemed to be a lot about love and peace and understanding for humankind being a big part of 60s popular culture. Here McCartney seems to be saying, "Fuck 'em. Just worry about yourself."

Do you think the lyrics in this song in any way portray MvcCartney's own beliefs at the time, or was it just a one off he did for the money working from a movie title? Or do you think my impression of the lyrics is wrong?

[Cartoonist]

1. Written on spec

It was a Bond movie, not a band movie.

[hlthe2b]

2. I don't... commercial production only and totally in keeping with Bond theme

[Glorfindel]

3. Good question, but I think it was just a "one off"

Doing the theme song for a James Bond movie was a really big deal (maybe still is?). I doubt that Sir Paul needed the money. I think the lyrics just go along with the absurd name of the novel and the movie, which came very close to being an outright parody of the James Bond movies - almost a comedy, really. I also think that "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" didn't actually advocate bludgeoning people to death. It's just a song, like "Live and Let Die."

[yallerdawg]

4. Even with the Beatles, McCartney wrote a number of meaningless, apathetic, frivolous songs.

The 'Bond theme' was a British accolade to a successful and revered tunesmith, and the song was very much story-driven.

Where Lennon publicly bemoaned the direction McCartney went, McCartney offered pointed answers in song, from "Let me roll it to you" to "Someone's knocking on my door."

"The Beatles" were more a cultural and lifestyle phenomenon than movement. Lennon did that most after the breakup.

[NightWatcher]

5. Then go enjoy this version by Guns and Roses, to remove Paul from the equation

Say what you will about GNR but they rocked.

[CrispyQ]

7. Great minds!

[NightWatcher]

8. Did I tell you about the time somebody slashed my tires?

[CrispyQ]

9. LOL!

I have a huge Slash sticker on my laptop. It starts more conversations than anything I've ever had before!

[CrispyQ]

6. GNR did the song as a cover & rocked it!

Back when Axl could still sing.

[hunter]

10. It's an anthem for anyone whose had their idealism abused.

Like when your partner sells a project you put your heart and soul into to the military, essentially throwing it into a black hole from which it never reemerges.

So you brush yourself off and walk away, rebuilding your broken idealism, or you decide the money is not so bad and become a mercenary.

It works for James Bond, who certainly got into the business for love of country, but now hides his doubts in martinis shaken not stirred, just as it works for a subset of intimate relationships gone horribly wrong.

I like to think I'm the sort of guy who is never going to abandon my youthful idealism, and that whenever things go wrong I may be feeling like live and let die for some time, but it's not a permanent condition.

[Tobin S.]

11. Great post, Hunter.

[lunamagica]

12. Just look at the way he has lived his life and you will get the answer to your question

At the time he wrote the song he and Linda had just recently converted to vegetarianism out their of love for animals.

If you know his history then you know that he spent the first year after the band's break-up in a deep depression, drinking a lot. Then he and Linda, along with other musicians -some of whom would later become members of Wings- got in a van and toured, giving small surprise performances in Universities across England. So he was re-starting his career from the ground up. Getting a Bond theme song was a big deal. He had to work around he movie's name. The song gave the band a big boost. It was even nominated for an Oscar.

The song was just a song. I tend to judge people on their lives and actions, not on their words, which sometimes when you compare them to their way they live, you see it's only lip service. JMO