Deep Deep Feeling

‘Deep Deep Feeling’ is the sixth song on McCartney III, Paul McCartney’s 18th solo album.

Deep Deep Feeling was from a kind of jam that I had done, I’d wanted to get in a particular mood, a very sort of empty spacey mood, so I just made up stuff so it was just a combination of ideas that became an 8 minute song #TimsTwitterListeningParty #McCartneyIII

— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) December 21, 2020

With some of the songs that were more constructed, like ‘Deep Deep Feeling’, we’ll use Pro Tools like a canvas, almost. Throwing ideas at it, moving things around, changing tempos, keys, and seeing what gels together…

With ‘Deep Deep Feeling’ there were some parts where we did something like 12 or 18 tracks [of harmonies], I can’t remember without looking at the session, but it was a lot. Then we mixed those down to a stereo track that we could fly in at different points.

One of my favourite songs on the album is the midway point of ‘Deep Deep Feeling’, which is over eight minutes long. If people are expecting your lockdown album to feel like lockdown, that’s the track that feels the most claustrophobic to me, despite its being essentially about love.

That was one of the songs that I’d actually started last year. If I’m lucky, I’ll have a bit of time when I’ll go into the studio and just make something up, and so I try to just do something that I haven’t done before. This was one of those that I didn’t finish. To me, what it was about was, sometimes – I don’t how it happens of even what it is – when you’re feeling real love towards someone, sometimes it can manifest in a tingling over your whole body, and it’s a pretty funny feeling, and you almost don’t like it – ‘What the hell is this?!’ – like you’re about to be beamed up into a spaceship or something. On this song I was fascinated with the idea of that – that deep, deep feeling when you love someone so much it almost hurts. That was the start of that, but after I made it I thought, well, this isn’t for anything. It’s certainly not a three-minute single. What became nice about working in the studio was that in the evening Mary would be cooking, because she loves to cook, and we’d be sitting around before dinner, and she’d say, “Well, what did you do today then?” and I’d go, “Oh, ok, I’ll play it for you.” And I always wanted it to keep going. I just wanted it to go on forever. It’s a bit indulgent, and I was a little bit worried about that – I thought I really needed to cut it down, but just before I did that I just listened to it, and I thought, “Y’know what, I love this, I’m not going to touch it.”

I used my vintage Brenell Tape machine on this to create a guitar tape loop ‘orchestra’ – which consisted of two different chords each made up of five notes. #TimsTwitterListeningParty #McCartneyIII pic.twitter.com/CYieqNDBGW

— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) December 21, 2020

At over eight minutes, ‘Deep Deep Feeling’ is the longest track on McCartney III.

I was thinking of editing it down to a shorter more reasonable length but when I listened through to it I liked it so much (he said modestly…) that I kept it 8 minutes #TimsTwitterListeningParty #McCartneyIII

— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) December 21, 2020

The craziest song [on the album] is ‘Deep Deep Feeling’. It goes on and on and on! There are millions of little changes in it. At one point, I thought I needed to edit it because it’s about eight minutes long. I grabbed earphones, played it and got so engrossed in it that I decided to leave it as is. I thought it might be indulgent. Making an album like this is, to some degree, indulgent. But then, it’s also about having fun.

The thing about making an album like this is, to some degree, indulgent. But then it’s also about having fun #TimsTwitterListeningParty #McCartneyIII

— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) December 21, 2020