By The Carrot Patch

Paul McCartney “Winter Bird/When Winter Comes”

“When Winter Comes” is a song that’s been sitting in Paul McCartney’s vaults for 23 years, an outtake from his sessions with George Martin for Flaming Pie. I’m not sure why he didn’t just use it for that record back then, but I’m grateful that he included it in McCartney III rather than relegate it to some bonus track purgatory. It’s an incredibly lovely piece of music – very McCartney in its melodic sensibilities, but somewhat novel in its extreme simplicity. It’s just McCartney doing a little acoustic folk song about tending to a farm, an ode to his rural domesticity and a meditation on the simple pleasures of little routines of being a responsible adult. Even as he sings about chores and tasks there’s a calm, peaceful feeling in this song. He’s escaping all the trappings of being ex-Beatle Paul McCartney to just enjoy being a part of a natural ecosystem and living a humble little life.

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