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Released in 1987

Back On My Feet

Written by Paul McCartney • Declan MacManus / Elvis Costello

Last updated on March 29, 2017

Album This song officially appears on the Once Upon A Long Ago / Back On My Feet 7" Single.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1987

Timeline This song was written, or began to be written, in 1987, when Paul McCartney was 45 years old)

Related session

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

Other songs produced by Phil Ramone

“Back On My Feet” was the first released song from the songwriting collaboration between Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello ; it was issued as the B-Side of the “Once Upon A Long Ago” single, in 1987.

In an interview with MOJO in 2011, Elvis Costello gives some details how their partnership began, and about the first two songs recorded – “Back On My Feet” and “Veronica“:

The Attractions played the last ever Wings show, at the Kampuchea benefit in 1979. I think that might have been the first time I met Paul. A couple of years later, I was making Imperial Bedroom at AIR [in London’s Oxford Street, while he was making Pipes Of Peace. [Beatle engineer] Geoff Emerick was working on both and flitting between the two studios. I saw Paul occasionally, as you do in those multiple studio things, enough to get over the fact that he was Paul from the Beatles. It was friendly. It was just a guy going to work, doing his job.

It was his manager of the time who suggested we write together. I took a train down to his studio near Rye and we just went to work. We brought bits and pieces of songs we had been working on that weren’t quite complete. He had one called Back On My Feet. That was pretty much written. I just sort of made a couple of suggestions, if that’s not too absurd an idea! Truthfully, Veronica [1989 single] was the same. It was pretty much written, but there were a couple of key things that he suggested that made it better.

From Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello:

We then worked on a beautiful melody that Paul had brought in to our first writing session. “Back on My Feet” developed into a song about a holy fool or hapless vagabond whom people either pity or pass by. I added just a few details to the lyrics, mostly cinematic directions to change the point of view, and a countermelody, in which the words of an unsympathetic chorus of onlookers could be heard:

Well there you go, though we tried hard to know him
It’s there on his face
He’s a case where there’s clearly no hope

It was the first of our cowritten songs to make it onto a record, and even though it was just the B-side of Paul’s “Once Upon a Long Ago” single, I remember getting a copy in the mail and staring at the writing credit on the label with something like disbelief.

Lyrics

How many days will the wet weather last?

I want know will the clouds

When they roll back

Reveal a man in an old mac

Living on a park bench

Sitting on his own?

Cut the rain as it runs down the glass

Eventually through the lightning and thunder

We see a man going under

This is how it happens

This is what he said

I don't need love

Though temptation is sweet

Give me your hand

'Til I'm back on me feet

You're always telling me about my misery

I've seen things you will never see

Don't pity me

Focus in on the breath of a man

Who takes a brown paper bag

From his knapsack

Between his whispers and wise cracks

He's looking for permission

Screaming at the sky

I don't need love

Though temptation is sweet

Give me your hand

'Til I'm back on me feet

You're always telling me about my misery

I've seen things you will never see

Don't pity me

I'll be right again

Be upright without you

I'll stand up again

Kick up a fuss again too

Cut back again to a girl walking by

Until the feet that are all shoes and no socks

Climb an invisible soap box

Laughing at the traffic

Shouting at the world

I don't need love

Though temptation is sweet

Give me your hand

'Til I'm back on me feet

You're always telling me about my misery

I've seen things you will never see

Don't pity me

I'll stand up again

Kick up a fuss again too

I'll be right again

Be upright without you

We see a life through the eyes of a man

As he live and he dies

By a simple tattoo

I'll be back again

When I land on my feet

I'll stand up again

Kick up a fuss again, wouldn't you

Well there you go, though we tried hard to know him

It's there on his face

He's a case where there's clearly no hope

Give me your hand again

'Til I land again

His face starts to fade

As we pull down the shade

And the picture we made

Is in glorious cinemascope

I'll be back...

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

Live performances

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.

Going further

Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989

With 25 albums of pop music, 5 of classical – a total of around 500 songs – released over the course of more than half a century, Paul McCartney's career, on his own and with Wings, boasts an incredible catalogue that's always striving to free itself from the shadow of The Beatles. The stories behind the songs, demos and studio recordings, unreleased tracks, recording dates, musicians, live performances and tours, covers, events: Music Is Ideas Volume 1 traces McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1970 to 1989 in the form of 346 song sheets, filled with details of the recordings and stories behind the sessions. Accompanied by photos, and drawing on interviews and contemporary reviews, this reference book draws the portrait of a musical craftsman who has elevated popular song to an art-form.

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Paul McCartney writing

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