His Heart Is Like a Wheel

Happy 67th birthday to genius singer, songwriter, bassist, billionaire, piano player, hemp enthusiast, ex-Beatle and all around good egg Paul McCartney.

Thinking about how to celebrate Macca's birthday, I remembered how a couple weeks ago, a friend and I were having a late-night conversation about our favorite post-Beatle McCartney tracks. After listening to and discussing the merits of"Maybe I'm Amazed" and "Another Day" I said that my favorite is probably "Let Me Roll It" - and I was incredibly jealous of my friend because he had never heard it. Of course, he loved it.

"Let Me Roll It" was one of the key tracks on 1973's Band on the Run, generally considered Paul's solo apex. It's an homage to the spare, raw sound of Plastic Ono Band, the brilliant first solo album by his ex-chum John Lennon.

As everyone knows, Macca has a sometimes annoying affinity for sugary pop gems, but when he decides to break it down to the nitty-gritty as he does on "Let Me Roll It," the results are thrilling.


It is also worth noting that after years of digs at each other via album covers and interviews, Macca was sweetly paying homage to the music of his soul mate. It was moves like this, just when you thought they hated each other, here they are sending out musical love notes, that caused fans to hold out hope for a Beatles reunion right up until Lennon's tragic death in 1980.

Here's Lennon doing "Well Well Well" from his 1972 Concert in New York City. Spotting the connection between this and "Let Me Roll It" is easier than Heather Mills.


To wrap things up, here's Paul doing "Let Me Roll It" at this year's Coachella festival. The singer and the song still sound younger than their years. HB and TCB, Paul.