Every Night

Paul McCartney Cover

Upcoming Shows:

• Fri. 3/13/26 - HOB Tavern, Bordentown, NJ 8:00 - 11:00 (Mick/Ron Duo)

• Sat. 3/14/26 - Bent Iron Brewing Co., Hamilton, NJ 5:30 - 8:30 (Mick/Ron Duo)

• Sun. 3/15/26 - Laurita Winery Irish Celebration, New Egypt, NJ 2:00 - 6:00 (Mick/Ron Duo)

• Tue. 3/17/26 - Tirnanog, Hamilton, NJ 2:00 - 6:00 (Mick/Ron Duo)

Full Schedule Here

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Hey there and happy Friday.

This week I watched the new documentary called Man on the Run by the film-maker Morgan Neville. The documentary explores Paul McCartney’s post Beatles experiences in the 1970s—raising a family and making music as a solo musician and with his band Wings. The documentary starts with the Beatles break up and we are reminded that McCartney was only 27 years old at the time. Kind of amazing that those guys were so young and accomplished so much.

Paul moved to a remote farm in Scotland and started a family with his wife Linda. He struggled with depression, unsure what to do in a world in which the Beatles did not exist. Obviously what he eventually does is make more music. A lot of it. Not all good but some greatness in there in my opinion.

One of my favorite McCartney solo songs comes from the first album. It’s called “Every Night”. For this week’s Substack I’d like to share my version of this tune with you. I hope you enjoy it.

I know not everybody is a McCartney fan and this movie won’t win anyone over—he is often depicted negatively. Controlling. Self absorbed. But his raw talent can’t be denied. His relationship with Linda is beautiful, and though George and Ringo are hardly mentioned we hear a lot from Sean Ono Lennon (John Lennon’s son with Yoko Ono) learning that Paul and John were in touch and though they fought like brothers they truly loved each other. I feel like Paul really needed John’s partnership in songwriting. It was John who added “It can’t get much worse” to Paul’s “It’s getting better all the time”. They were a team for the ages. Paul’s musicianship, positivity, and flair for melody was the perfect complement to John’s surrealistic word-play, political awareness, and angst.

Anyway—definitely worth checking out.

Thanks for listening to my cover and have a wonderful weekend! - Mick

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P.S.

The first two McCartney albums, the self titled debut and Ram, are grandfathers to the lo-fi movement (bands like The Shins and Elliot Smith and many others). Recorded mostly at home on the farm, Paul plays all the instruments. The songs seem pure and simple and flow like a mountain stream. I’m not a huge fan of all the Wings albums. Some of them are just not good (he needed John!). The exception is the fantastic Band on the Run. The documentary does a nice job with this story. Paul decided to record in Africa at an EMI studio in Nigeria. His drummer and lead guitar player promptly quit upon this news. So Paul, along with Linda and Denny Laine (only member of Wings to stick around for the whole thing), record this one on their own with Paul playing most of the instruments. It’s pretty interesting. I also forgot that Paul was busted for bringing marijuana into Japan for a tour. He spent a week in jail before being released. Tour cancelled. The film ends with John’s death. Pretty sad.

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I am hosting an original music night at a local venue. More on this next week, but here’s the flyer.

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What I’m listening to:

• While doing some housework this week I listened to a Doc Watson album called Third Generation Blues—must have looped this 14 song album about 5 times. I love old-timey music. Doc Watson does folk, blues, and country all equally well.

What I’m reading:.

• Unsheltered, by Barbara Kingsolver. More than half way through this one, set in Vineland, NJ not far from where I live. Another ace from Kingsolver.

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Four more.