Waterfalls (Paul McCartney song)

"Waterfalls"
Single by Paul McCartney
from the album McCartney II
B-side "Check My Machine"
Released 13 June 1980
Format 7"
Recorded July–August 1979
Genre Soft rock
Length 4:43 (Album Version)
3:20 (DJ Edit)
Label Parlophone/EMI (UK)
Columbia (US)
Writer(s) Paul McCartney
Producer(s) Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney singles chronology
"Coming Up"
(1980)
"Waterfalls"
(1980)
"Temporary Secretary"
(1980)
McCartney II track listing

"Waterfalls" is a Paul McCartney ballad from his first solo album after Wings, McCartney II. The song has a stripped-down sound, with McCartney only playing a Fender Rhodes electric piano and a synthesizer and singing, and a short solo most likely played on an acoustic guitar. It was released as a single with "Check My Machine" as its B-Side and reached chart position #9 in the UK.[1][2] In the US, however, it was his first single ever to miss the Billboard Hot 100 chart, only reaching number 106 despite being the follow-up to the number one hit "Coming Up".[3] In 2013, Rolling Stone Magazine rated it the #25 all-time Paul McCartney post-Beatles song, describing how it contrasted with Wings' prior single.[4]

When questioned on singles he wished were more successful, McCartney stated, "There's quite a few, actually. ... 'Waterfalls', I think is nice." He also commented that TLC's single "Waterfalls" carries elements of his song.[4][5]

Personnel

Other versions

Sloan recorded a more uptempo version of the song on the McCartney tribute album Listen To What The Man Said.[6]

Notes

  1. "Waterfalls". Retrieved 2009-03-28.
  2. "Official Charts: Paul McCartney". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 2011-10-13.
  3. Chip Madinger & Mark Easter, Eight Arms To Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium (Chesterfield, MO: 44.1 Productions, 2000), 250.
  4. 1 2 "Paul's 40 Greatest Solo Songs". Special Collector's Edition: Paul McCartney. Rolling Stone Magazine. 2013. p. 89.
  5. "Paul McCartney". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
  6. Patrick Berkery (Oct 10, 2001). "Various Artists (reviews)". Philadelphia Weekly. Retrieved 4 April 2010.


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