Ram

Released in 1971, Ram was Paul McCartney's second album after leaving the Beatles. Not well received at the time (maybe because people were still angry that there would be no more Beatle records) it has gained respect over the years. I've always loved it--my dad bought it new back then, as he love the song "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey." So do I. It's a song I can't get tired of.

The album is credited to Paul and Linda McCartney, and she co-wrote many of the songs  The cover photograph shows McCartney with one of his sheep, as he became a gentleman farmer (I believe he still has his ranch in Scotland). In "Heart of the Country," he sings, "Want a horse, want a sheep. Want to get me a good night's sleep. Living in a home in the heart of the country."

The album starts out angrily, though, with "Too Many People," which could be both about overpopulation: "Too many hungry people, losing weight," but it's also a dig at John Lennon, who is referred to when McCartney sings, "Too many people preaching practices, don't let 'em tell you want to be." In the bridge, he sings, "That was your first mistake. You took your lucky break and broke it in two." Needless to say, Lennon wasn't fond of the idea that it was he who was lucky for meeting McCartney.

But after that jeremiad the album calms down, with the title song, not about sheep, but love: "Ram on, give your heart to somebody, soon, right away." One of my favorite tracks is the rollicking "Monkberry Moon Delight," which has McCartney banging on a piano and singing in his roughneck voice, "I sat in the attic, a piano up my nose, and the wind played a triple cantata." I still don't know what this song is about.

Even more obscure is "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey," which is a crazy quilt of song fragments. The beginning is an apology to said uncle, because "The kettle's on the boil, and we're so easily called away." Admiral Halsey refers to "Bull" Halsey, an American World War II hero: "Admiral Halsey notified me. He had to have a berth or he couldn't get to sea. I had another look and I had another cup of tea and butter pie." Huh?

But that song is so great because of the way it's produced, with the sound of a thunderstorm, birdsong, a wonderful trumpet riff, and a sense that if this song is about nothing, it is also about everything. "Hands across the water, heads across the sky."

The album ends with the epic "Back Seat of My Car," which uses the assignation spot of teenagers and turns into a manifesto. "We believe that we can't be wrong," sings the boy about nailing his girl in the back of his car. Only Paul McCartney could get away with this.

I put Ram second only to Band on the Run for his post-Beatle efforts (thought I must admit I gave up on him after Londontown; maybe, now that I have Amazon music, I should take a listen to his output through the last four decades. He's never stopped, why should I?