Paul McCartney recently told the BBC he was “depressed” after the breakup of The Beatles, revealing he couldn’t see a bright future for himself in music. “How do you follow that?” he wondered about the Fab Four. Yet McCartney did follow it and wasted little time getting started either. The Beatles broke up in 1970. In 1971 McCartney released the stunning Ram album. If McCartney was depressed, he was battling it hard with the tools of his genius.
Ram, which McCartney made with his wife Linda before Wings got into full swing, included the wild, wonderful, howl-at-the-moon tune — “Monkberry Moon Delight” (video below). The song is unlike most of what came before or after from the master pop artist McCartney. Best listened to at least once without the visual images in the video component, “Monkberry Moon Delight” attests to McCartney’s unusual state of mind at the time — and how it had striking effects on his artistry. Do you think a young Tom Waits ever heard this song?
