“Find My Way” was one of the most upbeat songs on Paul McCartney’s recent McCartney III album. Now, Beck has put his spin on the tune for the upcoming record McCartney III Imagined, due out April 16th.
The danceable new version features electronic flutters, funky drumming, and a beefed-up vocal on which Beck and the Beatle sing in unison. It starts taking some unexpected musical detours with keyboard splashes and robot backup vocals, and then it all drops out to the bare minimum. This makes the rest of the song’s lyrics all the more prominent. When McCartney sings, “You never used to be afraid of days like these, but now you’re overwhelmed by your anxieties/let me help you out, let me be your guide, I can help you reach the love you feel inside” halfway through, it sounds more like a Sugarhill Gang track than the original song.
“I remember hanging out with Paul and his wife Nancy several years ago, and Nancy mentioned that she wanted to go out dancing before calling it a night,” Beck said in a statement. “We ended up at some club in West Hollywood and I remember noticing that Paul and Nancy were tearing it up — really enjoying themselves more than anyone else on the dance floor.
“Last year, when he asked me to remix this track,” he continued, “I remembered that night and wanted to try to recapture that amazing spirit I felt while watching him on the dance floor … sort of my little tribute to Paul ‘in his groove.’ When I then heard the falsetto vocal in Paul’s original track I wanted to lean further into something really loose and funky. I pulled out my Hofner (because, of course) and put down a few bass lines … and everything came to life from there. The best part of the entire experience, though, came a week after I’d turned in the remix when Paul called to tell me he’d been dancing in his kitchen to the track all week.”
McCartney III Imagined contains remixes and new versions of McCartney III songs by St. Vincent, Blood Orange, Phoebe Bridgers, Idris Elba, and many others. He announced the record with a new version of “The Kiss of Venus” by Dominic Fike.
From Rolling Stone US
