‘Yvonne’s The One’: The greatest song Paul McCartney gave away

Posted On January 13, 2025January 13, 2025

“I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird,” said Paul McCartney when discussing the importance of individualism within music, “I suddenly realised that anyone doing anything weird wasn’t weird at all and it was the people saying they were weird that were weird.”

Being an individual has always been an important aspect of Paul McCartney. As a naturally gifted songwriter, it has always been important for him to be able to shut out other voices and stick to his guns when writing. This mindset enabled him to write some of the greatest songs ever made. Of course, having such an individual mindset also came with some negatives.

A number of contributing factors led to The Beatles’ splitting up, but one of the most fundamental problems was growing creative differences. Paul McCartney liked writing pop music, as he always had rhythm and melody in mind. The other members of The Beatles were steadily moving away from this means of writing, which led to some friction in the band, which led to their eventual split.

“That’s another McCartney. Smells a mile away, doesn’t it?” said John Lennon when talking about their song ‘Hello, Goodbye’, “An attempt to write a single. It wasn’t a great piece; the best bit was the end, which we all ad-libbed in the studio, where I played the piano. Like one of my favourite bits on ‘Ticket To Ride’, where we just threw something in at the end.”

The friction in the band became too much and it led to The Beatles splitting up. While this was sad news for the public at large, it meant that the members of the band were free to go and pursue their own creative endeavours, which they did to full effect.

McCartney wrote a lot of music as a solo artist; however, as someone who enjoyed working with others, he was keen on collaborating with various artists. One of his most famous collaborations involved forming the band Wings, which became a huge part of his life. Another artist he worked with frequently was Eric Stewart from 10cc. The two had a knack for working with one another but still maintaining the important individuality that made them both special.

When McCartney was writing his Press To Play album in the ‘90s, he had started working with Stewart frequently. McCartney had written a track called ‘Yvonne’, which he intended to release on the record but couldn’t get right. He left it out and instead gifted the record to Stewart, who was able to make some tweaks and put in on the 10cc album Mirror, Mirror. McCartney still contributed to the recording, playing rhythm guitar on the song. 

“That was a song we took from a postcard I got from Nick Mason of Pink Floyd. It had the line ‘When I first saw Yvonne, volcanoes exploded’ on it, recalled Eric Stewart, “I showed it to Paul, and we wrote to that. Paul’s a perceptive guy. He wanted it in a laidback, ballad way, but I suggested to do it in a more reggae way. He did it in the smoother, ballad style, but I always wanted to do the reggae version, so I did it on my album.”

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