Celebrating Sir Paul Top Ten: Let Me Roll It (#2)

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You already know what #1 is. That hasn’t changed, and it won’t. Thanks, Paul, for putting a French horn in a song so I’d be tethered to it forever. (I played French horn in junior high school band.) Meanwhile, here’s the song that tops Paul’s post-Beatles career for me. #2: Let Me Roll It (Paul & Wings) Let’s talk about another James for a moment: James Coburn. That’s Coburn (1928-2002) at the top center of the escaping convicts on the cover of Band on the Run. (That’s fellow actor Christopher Lee just to Coburn’s left.) I’ve been chided for not including “Live and Let Die,” so here’s six degrees of Bond. Coburn was in a delightful parody of Bond movies, Our Man Flint. If you need a good laugh or 200, do watch it if you haven’t seen it…especially if you’re a Bond fan. It’s a good send-up of them without being too cheesy; plus, it stands on its own. So there’s James Coburn in the middle of the prisoners breaking out! And Christopher Lee. And what did Paul say about it? “Wow, here I am on the cover of an album with Christopher Lee!” (Yeah, like they weren’t thinking, “Wow, here I am on the cover of an album with a Beatle!” ) A lot of people have said this is a “peace pipe” (not the Pipes of Peace album ) extended to John Lennon after those snarky back-and-forth slaps they took at each other in songs (previously mentioned in the discussion for “Too Many People”). Paul said it wasn’t really intentional to sound a little like Lennon in this song; however, after he’d finished it, he did realize that it did. Lennon thought this song, and this album, were great musical output from his former songwriting partner. I can’t help but agree in every regard. Let Me Roll It Written by Paul & Linda McCartney From Band on the Run (Paul & Wings), 1973 You gave me something: