| "The Back Seat of My Car" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single byPaul andLinda McCartney | ||||
| from the albumRam | ||||
| B-side | "Heart of the Country" | |||
| Released | 13 August 1971 (UK only) | |||
| Recorded | 22 October 1970 – 29 January 1971[1] | |||
| Studio | CBS andA & R, New York | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 4:29 | |||
| Label | Apple Records | |||
| Songwriter | Paul McCartney | |||
| Producers | Paul and Linda McCartney | |||
| Paul McCartney singles chronology | ||||
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"The Back Seat of My Car" is a song written byPaul McCartney, released as the closing track of his and his wifeLinda's 1971 album,Ram. Several months later, it was released as a single in the UK, peaking at number 39.[2][3] The song modulates stylistically between a sweepingpiano-and-orchestra ballad similar to McCartney's "The Long and Winding Road" and upbeat rock sections before ending in a raucous and passionate finale.
"The Back Seat of My Car" has its origins as an unfinished concept from a holiday McCartney took with then-girlfriend Maggie McGivern inSardinia in summer 1968.[4] It was one of several compositionsPaul McCartney presented tothe Beatles in January 1969 during theirGet Back rehearsals atTwickenham Film Studios in London.[5][6] Played on 14 January,[7] the song was still a work-in-progress, with the lyrics unfinished while the song's melody was well developed.[8]
According to McCartney, this song and other car-based songs in his late-Beatles and early solo career, such as "Two of Us" and "Helen Wheels," were inspired by the long road trips he and Linda used to take as the Beatles were breaking up.[9] Most of the song is apiano-basedballad,[9] but it is interspersed withorchestral sections and sections inspired by 50s-stylerock 'n' roll.[9]Allmusic critic Stewart Mason likens the main tune to those of McCartney's Beatle songs "Two of Us" and "You Never Give Me Your Money."[9] Mason compares the effect of the various song sections to the medley from the BeatlesAbbey Road and to some of theBeach Boys' post-Pet Sounds work.[9] McCartney said of the song:
"Back Seat of My Car" is the ultimate teenage song, and even though it was a long time since I was a teenager and had to go to a girl's dad and explain myself, it's that kind of meet-the-parents song. It's a good old driving song. [Sings] "We can make it toMexico City." I've never driven to Mexico City, but it's imagination. And obviously "back seat" is snogging, making love.[10]
McCartney further stated that "That's a really teenage song, with the stereotypical parent who doesn't agree, and the two lovers are going to take on the world: 'We believe that we can't be wrong.' I always like the underdog."[11]
Recording forRam began in October 1970 atCBS Recording Studios inNew York City.[12] The typical format for a recording session included McCartney, drummerDenny Seiwell and guitaristDavid Spinozza orHugh McCracken rehearsing a song in the morning and then recording the basic track in the afternoon and evening. Other guitar parts would beoverdubbed, along with bass by McCartney.[13] McCartney, Seiwell and McCracken recorded the instrumental backing and vocals for "The Back Seat of My Car" on 22 October 1970.[14]
After recording the album's basic tracks, the McCartneys went toPhil Ramone'sA & R Recording Studio in New York to record violin, cello and horn overdubs for several songs, including "The Back Seat of My Car".[15] BeatlesproducerGeorge Martin scored the song's orchestral overdubs,[16] and McCartney conducted members of theNew York Philharmonic in a mid-January 1971 session.[17][18]
In March and April 1971, the McCartneys and sometimes Seiwell mixed the album atSound City Studios in Los Angeles.[13] The single version and themono mix made for the LP differ slightly, with the latter's fade out described by authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter as "much smoother", though as the two fade outs remain the same, the difference could be due to the dynamic range compression used in mastering the single.[19]
Apple Records releasedRam in the US on 17 May 1971 and in the UK eleven days later, with "The Back Seat of My Car" sequenced as the closing track.[20] Apple released different singles from the album in the British, American and European markets,[21][22] with "The Back Seat of My Car" released in the UK on 13 August 1971,backed with "Heart of the Country".[23] While the US single "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" reached number one,[24] "The Back Seat of My Car" disappointed,[25] peaking at number 39 in the UK charts.[23][25]
Author Chris Ingham describes "The Back Seat of My Car" as an "earthily romantic paean to teenage sex".[25] PraisingRam for its lush orchestration and "playful verve", authorPeter Doggett opines that the album's culmination in the mini-suite "The Back Seat of My Car" is "a triumph of pop arrangement".[26] Music criticTim Riley describesRam as both frivolous and the most reminiscent ofSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band of all the Beatles' solo albums, but adds that "The Back Seat of My Car" is closer to "Two of Us" than "A Day in the Life". He counts it and the opening track "Too Many People", as the ones which "deserve" McCartney's bass playing.[27]
John Lennon felt that this song, among others on the album, was directed critically towards him; in particular, he perceived the protagonists who sing "We believe that we can't be wrong" to be himself andYoko Ono.[28]AllMusic critic Stewart Mason claims that in the context of the criticism McCartney was receiving in the aftermath of the Beatles breakup, this line sounds more like a "statement of personal intent" than the declaration of love it could be in the context of the song's lyrics themselves.[9]
In a contemporary review forRam,Jon Landau ofRolling Stone described "The Back Seat of My Car" as one of only two good songs he enjoyed on the album, the other being "Eat at Home".[29] Landau further described the song as "the album's production number".[29]
CriticStephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said the song demonstrated the "imaginative and gorgeous" arrangements onRam and called the song its "sad, soaring finale."[30] Mason considers it to be the "true highlight" ofRam.[9] According toUltimate Classic Rock critic Nick DeRiso, the song "is a little unfocused—too overstuffed with ideas, too reliant on multi-tracked McCartneys, not as rustic as his solo debut but somehow tossed-off sounding anyway—and simply too long" but is also "gutsy and unprecious at one point and then a testament to McCartney's enduring pop sensibilities at others."[31] DeRiso also states that "As McCartney bolts from '50s-era rock to cocktail-lounge crooning to swooning violins, and back again—all inside of this one final tune, mind you—there is a sense of limitless possibility.[31]
It was also included onThe 7" Singles Box in 2022.[32]
According to Chip Madinger and Mark Easter,[33] except where noted:
