“It came in a vision – a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them, ‘from this day on you are Beatles with an A.’ ”
And with those words, John Lennon gave Paul McCartney the title to one of his best solo albums!
Time To Sizzle With “Flaming Pie!”
“Flaming Pie” was McCartney’s tenth solo album, released in 1997. It is full of classic Macca tunes, and a ton of great celebrity musicians joining him, including Ringo!
The Spelling Of “The Beatles” Leads To Flaming Pie!
The title of Paul’s solo album is a reference to a story John Lennon told in Mersey Beat magazine in 1961. He was explaining the origin of the Beatles’ name:
“It came in a vision – a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them, ‘from this day on you are Beatles with an A.’ “
Thanks, John! Now, let’s get right to the incredible music on “Flaming Pie”! Here is Paul performing the title track live at Glastonbury in 2004:
“Flaming Pie” is a terrific song, perhaps because Paul had taken some time off to work on the “Beatles Anthology” – in fact, this was McCartney’s first studio album in four years!
The album featured McCartney’s son James, along with a lot of other Musicians. In the album’s liner notes, McCartney said the music was helped by his recent work on the Beatles Anthology project:
“It reminded me of The Beatles’ standards and the standards that we reached with the songs. So in a way it was a refresher course that set the framework for this album.”
Here is a look at the “Flaming Pie” track list:
The album has no filler whatsoever – there are catchy songs, great musicianship, and an energy behind it…”Flaming Pie” stands tall alongside the best music of his career…
At the time of the album’s release, Macca released a video for “The World Tonight”…here is the great music video:
Steve Miller Joins Macca!
McCartney wrote another terrific song, “Young Boy” while his wife Linda was making lunch for a New York Times writer in 1994. A few months later, Steve Miller joined McCartney at his home studio to record the song, which is one of his best – it evokes the “Rubber Soul” era, in my opinion.
Here is the music video for “Young Boy”:
I am a big fan of Steve Miller, and have written about his music. If you want to read more, check out his brilliant 70’s music here:
Another great musical Artist – and Paul’s closest friend – is on the album as well, in spirit:
“The Song We Were Singing!”
Paul wrote “The Song We Were Singing” about the time when he and John Lennon lived at 20 Forthlin Road, in the early days of the band.
Since the song was about Paul’s friendship with John, a fan put together a great tribute video – check it out!
The songs on “Flaming Pie” like “Song We Were Singing” are nostalgic, but also energetic and upbeat as well – a collection of great songs with poignant lyrics and catchy hooks…and Ringo too!
Ringo And Macca Reunite!
Yes, Ringo also participated in the “Flaming Pie” sessions! Ringo and McCartney recorded a track that McCartney had started working on a decade before, the gorgeous “Beautiful Night”.
Here is the great music video, with Ringo on drums. The song begins with a beautiful melody, and crescendos with a great celebratory ending!
What a terrific song, which ends the album on an upbeat note! Well, the album has a coda, which we will discuss in a moment…first, one more special guest to introduce!
ELO’s Jeff Lynne Flames On!
The day after Paul and Ringo recorded “Beautiful Night”, ELO’s Jeff Lynne showed up at the studio!
Lynne was, of course, one of The Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison, and a huge Beatles fan. Ringo, Paul and Lynn jammed for awhile in the studio, which became the song “Really Love You”, the first track credited to “McCartney–Starkey”!
“Flaming Pie” was a huge success for McCartney, peaking at number two in both the UK and US and selling over 1.5 million copies!
Linda’s Last Album!
As I mentioned, there is a coda to “Flaming Pie” – it was the last album that Paul and Linda sang together on…in the final short song that evokes “The Lovely Linda” from Paul’s first solo album…
“When you’re wide awake say it for goodness sake
It’s gonna be a great day
While you’re standing there get up and grab a chair
It’s gonna be a great day”
“Great Day” features backing vocals from Linda McCartney – interestingly, the song was actually recorded in 1992. It’s a touching end to the album. Linda died from breast cancer in 1998.
It’s a beautiful coda to one of McCartney’s greatest albums…
The Paul And Linda Mccartney Album!
“Flaming Pie” was McCartney’s tenth solo album, and the last one with participation from Linda. There is only one album from Macca that was credited entirely to “Paul and Linda McCartney” – the brilliant “RAM.”
You can read all about this classic album by clicking here:
As mentioned, Jeff Lynne worked on “Flaming Pie”, and he also recorded with George Harrison as well!
Some of their best work was as part of this “supergroup” – here is the look at the terrific “The Traveling Wilburys”:
Of course, Jeff Lynne has released a new ELO album, which is great news for all music fans:
If you are a fan, click here to see the first music video:
And let me know your favorite McCartney songs from “Flaming Pie”!
Categories: 70's Music, Art, Awards, Books / Media, British Cinema, Classic Rock, documentary films, London, Memoirs, Music, Obscure Music, Talent/Celebrities, The Beatles, TV Show, Uncategorized
johnrieber 
A fabulous post, John. I love Paul McCartney and I like some of the Beatles music too.
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Thanks for reading it Robbie, and for the comment!
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Reblogged this on johnrieber and commented:
Listening to some classic Macca today…
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It was such a great album I was 14 at the time that this album came out and I was so shocked by how good the album was and it had some great songs to listen to and for the most part it was a feel good album too and it was also a bittersweet album too because it was Linda’s last album before she tragically passed away from Breast Cancer in April of 1998.
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Thanks for your comment – yes, a GREAT collection of music at a time of such tragedy in his life…
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A Beautiful Night is my favorite. It moves me to tears when I watch the video of George Martin prancing around ghe studio with sheet music and Paul conducting the orchestra. Two geniuses at work.
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Agree. A brilliant song with a joyous ending!
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I also love and appreciate “Flaming Pie” and rate as his 3rd best post Beatles album. (Behind “Band on the Run” and “Tug of War”). My favorites on the album are “Somedays”, “Calico Skies”, and “Beautiful Night”. As you indicated the album is full of wonderful songs. I had thought that Jeff Lynne co-produced the whole album?
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Favorite song if I had to pick just one it would be Little Willow, closely followed by Calico Sky’s. Lovely little ballads.
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Yes, beautiful ballads that are among his best…and the feisty “Flaming Pie” song I love as well…thanks for your comment!
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