Macca and the Mystery Machine

Dear fellow bloggers,
I am posting something I discovered recently - I really dig this. I do not know whether it is lame to listen to McCartney but, frankly, I do not care and probably the album McCartney II (from 1980) is an exception anyway.

So here is the track "Check My Machine" from McCartney II. When I first heard it I found myself completely puzzled. This does not sound anything like The Beatles or Wings. The first thing it reminded me of was actually Ariel Pink. Probably because of the "white funk" falsetto-voice. And not the original white funk but namely the second hand, digested and drained version of it that we find in Pink. What also makes it Pinkish is probably the jokey-quality of this track. Of course Pink came later and this is from 1980 which is why it is odd.

The use of samples and the length of it makes it oh-so-contemporary. Goes well with the overall loop-loving lo-fi wave that we have atm. (Actually it was the Baltimore sample-wizard Jason Urick who said that I should listen to McCartney II and that the album has definitely had an impact on him).

I cannot understand what "machine" Macca is singing about. There is something porn-ish about this track, probably because it is rather long and laid-back; because of the bassline as well. So I came to the conclusion that Macca might be singing about something sexual. Classic funk: in 1971 James Brown asks us to "get up and stay on the scene like a sex machine". I do not know what that means but anyway; pseudo-funk: 9 yrs later asks Macca to check out his machine.

Googled the lyrics. And there we have it:
Check My Machine
Check Check Check Check Check My Machine

(Spoken) Sticks And Stones May Break My Bones
But Names Will Never Hurt Me

Check My Machine
Check Check Check Check Check My Machine

I Got A Woman A Long Time Ago
I Had Trouble
I Want You To See What You Can See
...

women, drive, machines - gonna stop here.

Maria

PS. A little ad for Jason Urick as well, I think he is great:
Jason Urick - Se Na Min (SPOTIFY link)