| "Beware My Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 German label | ||||
| Single byWings | ||||
| from the albumWings at the Speed of Sound | ||||
| A-side | "Let 'Em In" | |||
| Released | 23 July 1976 | |||
| Recorded | 23 January 1976 | |||
| Genre | Hard rock | |||
| Length | 6:28 5:52 (7" single edit) | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producer | Paul McCartney | |||
| Wings singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Beware My Love" is a rock song credited toPaul andLinda McCartney that was first released on theWings 1976 albumWings at the Speed of Sound. It was also used as the B-side of the single that included "Let 'Em In". A live version recorded on June 7, 1976, inDenver, Colorado, was included on the Wings' albumWings Over America and another live version from three days later inSeattle, Washington, was shown in the concert filmRockshow.[1] An excerpt from theRockshow performance was also included in the documentaryWings Over the World.[1]
Like a number of successful Paul McCartney songs, "Beware My Love" is made of several disparate elements.[1][2] The song begins with a briefharmonium melody followed by a repeatedacoustic guitar figure. (The song's album version has the previous song, "She's My Baby", fading out into the harmonium intro; "Beware"'ssingle version fades in as the harmonium part fades out into the acoustic guitar riff.)[3] This calm intro provides a contrast with the propulsiveness of main body of the song.[4] Linda McCartney sings the intro and outro movements, with her voicemulti-tracked, effectively singing on behalf of Paul McCartney—who sings the lead vocal in the main song.[3][5] Over the course of the song, Paul McCartney's singing, as well as the music, intensifies.[3] In the mainverses, the singer warns the woman he loves to beware because he does not believe that the other man she is seeing is right for her.[3] In thebridges, he tells the woman that although he must leave now, "I'll leave my message in my song."[2][3] (Author Robert Rodriguez finds this line ironic, since he believes the song apparently has no message.[2] Authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter assert that the verses andchorus don't seem to have much to do with each other.[1])
"Beware My Love" is a mid-tempo rock song that John Blaney compared to Wings' "Rock Show" and "Soily" and authorTim Riley compared tothe Beatles' "Helter Skelter."[5][6] It is in the key ofD minor, although the harmonium and acoustic guitar sections of the prelude are inC major andA major, respectively.[3] The melody of the bridges is based on a descendingtetrachord played on thebass guitar.[3] Rodriguez particularly praises Paul McCartney's bass guitar playing,Joe English's drumming and Linda McCartney's andDenny Laine's backing vocals.[2] The song was recorded in a manner that replicated a live recording set up, with all the players recorded together.[5] McCartney stated that he was looking to achieve "excitement in the backing vocal so it's human; you can hear we're all there."[5]
"Beware My Love" has been praised for being the only truerock song onWings at the Speed of Sound, an album containing mostly ballads anddisco-influenced songs. Blaney described the song as being meant to "dispel accusations that Wings were becoming a group of disco-loving softies."[5] In reviewing the album,Allmusic criticStephen Thomas Erlewine called "Beware My Love" "the best-written song here that effortlessly moves from sun-drenched harmonies to hard rock."[7] Rock music criticRobert Christgau claimed that on the album, McCartney is "at full strength only on the impassioned 'Beware My Love.'"[8]Billboard said it "is in the "Maybe I'm Amazed" vein and is probably his strongest rocker since that song."[9]Ultimate Classic Rock critic Nick DeRiso felt it was the best song on the album, praising its "remarkably layered complexity."[10] Doug Pringle ofThe Montreal Gazette called the song "the only unqualified success on the album," noting that "it builds from a gentle acoustic beginning to become the only truly electric song on the album."[11] Frank Rose ofThe Village Voice called this song and Denny Laine's contribution to the album, "Time to Hide" "great, the kind of production numbers McCartney likes to trot out when he knows he's got a real rocker."[12]Rolling Stone criticDave Marsh also praised "Beware My Love" and "Time to Hide" as well as "Let 'Em In" as successful examples of McCartney's rock style.[13][14] Jim Beviglia ofCulture Sonar said that while the lyrics don't mean much, "McCartney pushes them across with such screaming conviction that they hit home along with the plentiful instrumentalhooks."[4] Rodriguez considered "Beware My Love" to be the only song onWings at the Speed of Sound to be as good as the best songs from Wings' previous two albums,Band on the Run andVenus and Mars.[2]CD Review magazine described "Beware My Love" as "a fiery rocker."[15] Beatle authors Roy Carr and Tony Tyler used "Beware My Love" as an example ofWings at the Speed of Sound being strong melodically.[16]Ultimate Classic Rock critic Nick DeRiso rated it as the best song onWings at the Speed of Sound, praising the "remarkably layered complexity."[17] Madinger and Easter also described it as one "of the best songs on the LP."[1]
Rodriguez was even more effusive in his praise of the live version of the song onWings Over America, which is a minute and half shorter than the studio version, praisingJimmy McCulloch's guitar playing, Laine's piano playing and English'sdrum rolls.[2]Larry Rohter ofThe Washington Post described the performance onWings Over America as "rollicking" and "exciting."[18] Ben Fong-Torres described McCartney's live performance of the song as "reaching back for some of thatLittle Richard inspiration."[19] Jon Marlowe ofMiami News described the performance of "Beware My Love" inRockshow as "rollicking" and one of the two moments in the film that feels like being at a rock show.[20]
According to DeRiso, as good as theWings at the Speed of Sound version is, an unreleased version that McCartney recorded withLed Zeppelin drummerJohn Bonham was even better.[10] This version was eventually released in 2014 as part of theArchive Collection box.[21]
According to The Paul McCartney Project:[22]
