Album This song officially appears on the Flowers In The Dirt Official album.
Timeline This song was officially released in 1989
Timeline This song was written, or began to be written, in 1987, when Paul McCartney was 45 years old)
This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:
August 1987
May 06, 1988
Orchestral overdubs for "Distractions"
Nov 01, 1988
Jan 19, 1989
2017 • From paulmccartney.com
Behind the Songs: Paul McCartney Shares Intimate Memories of Recording Flowers in the Dirt
Mar 24, 2017 • From People Music
“Distractions” is a song written by Paul McCartney, released on his 1989 album “Flowers In The Dirt“. After having recorded a demo of it in August 1987, he started recorded it in the studio in April 1988, later moving to California to add string overdubs.
Paul McCartney in “Club Sandwich 52, Summer 1989“:There’s a nice story about this… I heard an album a few years ago by someone off Prince’s label. Paisley Park, called the Family …And there were some string arrangements on it that were really interesting… I thought’ Wow, great. I wonder who this is?’… it said Clare Fischer…So I said to Linda, ‘These arrangements are incredible and it’s this Clare Fischer…some LA chick, I think’…and while she thought it was this kind of great, blonde LA lady she didn’t like them. We found out, actually, it’s this guy who’s about 50 years old, who’s got a grey beard and he’s a great fellow.. .So then Linda was saying ‘I love these arrangements, I love this guy’s work!’ That’s wives, you know!… he did an arrangement which I love, it’s very Hollywood and it’s very… like Doris Day movies, which is a very strange little area, you know, but it’s lovely.
From paulmccartney.com, March 10, 2017:
“I like a good love song, you know. And it’s always nice to be in the mood to write a ballad and that was the case when I sat down to write this. It just occurred to me that if you love someone, one of the problems is that you don’t always spend enough time with that person. Because you’ve got things to do, you’ve got work or you’ve got other obligations to other people or whatever. And so I thought, yeah you could call those distractions from the main event kind of thing. That was basically what this is:
What is this thing in life that persuades me to take time away from you?
… Distractions, like butterfliesI elaborated on that theme, it’s just someone wishing they could spend more time with their loved one. And you know for me at that time it was about Linda. But people often say to me, ‘Who did you write this about?’ and even though then I would have been writing specifically about Linda – because she was the object of my affection – I liked the idea that it could also be the sort of dream of romance. It could just be an ideal – we all love someone and wish we could spend more time with that someone. A romantic ideal! I know that a young couple won’t hear this about me and Linda, the guy will hear it about him and his girlfriend, the girl will hear that it’s about her and her boyfriend, and I like that. I like that about my songs, that people use them for their own purpose. And I think that’s a very romantic idea.”
Paul McCartney, in People Music, March 24, 2017:
“That’s one of my favorites. I got in touch with this guy called Clare Fischer, who I thought was a woman with the name Clare. I just knew of the person’s work off of a Prince album [1986’s Parade], where I heard a really nice arrangement. When I’d written this song I thought, ‘It would be really nice to have a really good arrangement, slightly jazz tinged but not too much.’ So I got in touch with Clare, and I was quite surprised to find out that he was a middle-aged man. [laughs] But he was great—a bit of a genius. He and I talked about it a lot and he got the idea. I really liked that arrangement.
Sometimes you hit a lyric that means something to you. For me, if you love someone, you really want to just hang out with them all the time and then just have the best time and the best life. But then you’ve got to go to work, you’ve got to do this, you’ve got to do that. So I just call all of those things distractions.”
At some point, “Distractions” was considered to be the 3rd single from “Flowers In The Dirt” (potentially with “Lindiana“, an unreleased song from 1984 sessions with David Foster, as B-Side); but was finally dropped in favor of “Figure Of Eight“.
As part of the “Put It There” documentary, a video containing studio clips was shot; with an alternate mix [A1] as soundtrack.
What is this thing in life that persuades me to spend
Time away from you?
If you can answer this you can have the moon
This is the place to be, anyway you can see
There's a lovely view
Why are there always so many other things to do?
Distractions, like butterflies are buzzing 'round my head,
When I'm alone I think of you
And the life we'd lead if we could only be free
From these distractions.
The postman's at the door
While the telephone rings on the kitchen wall,
Pretend we're not at home and they'll disappear.
I want to be with you, tell me what I can do,
Nothing is too small
Away from all this jazz we could do anything at all.
Distractions like butterflies are buzzing ‘round my head.
When I'm alone I think of you
And the things we'd do if we could only be through
With these distractions.
I'll find a peaceful place far away from the noise of a busy day
Where we can spend our nights counting shooting stars,
Distractions like butterflies are buzzing ‘round my head.
When I'm alone I think of you
And the things we'd do if only we could be through
With the distractions like butterflies they're
Buzzing round my head, when I'm alone I think of you
And the life we'd lead if we could only be free
From these distractions.
Official album • Released in 1989
4:41 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Bass, Harmonies, Lead vocal, Percussion, Producer, Solo guitar Linda Eastman / McCartney : Harmonies Hamish Stuart : Acoustic guitar, Harmonies Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Neil Dorfsman : Mixing engineer Chris Witten : Drums, Percusson Clare Fischer : Orchestration Arne Frager : Recording engineer Matt Butler : Assistant engineer Noel Harris : Assistant mixing engineer Unknown musician(s) : Strings
Session Recording: May 06, 1988 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Session Orchestral overdubs: Nov 01, 1988 • Studio Mad Hatter Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Session Mixing: Jan 19, 1989 • Studio Olympic Sound Studios, London
Flowers In The Dirt - Special Package
Official album • Released in 1990
4:41 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Bass, Harmonies, Lead vocal, Percussion, Producer, Solo guitar Linda Eastman / McCartney : Harmonies Hamish Stuart : Acoustic guitar, Harmonies Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Neil Dorfsman : Mixing engineer Chris Witten : Drums, Percusson Clare Fischer : Orchestration Arne Frager : Recording engineer Matt Butler : Assistant engineer Noel Harris : Assistant mixing engineer Unknown musician(s) : Strings
Session Recording: May 06, 1988 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Session Orchestral overdubs: Nov 01, 1988 • Studio Mad Hatter Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Session Mixing: Jan 19, 1989 • Studio Olympic Sound Studios, London
Official album • Released in 1993
4:41 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Bass, Harmonies, Lead vocal, Percussion, Producer, Solo guitar Linda Eastman / McCartney : Harmonies Hamish Stuart : Acoustic guitar, Harmonies Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Neil Dorfsman : Mixing engineer Chris Witten : Drums, Percusson Clare Fischer : Orchestration Arne Frager : Recording engineer Matt Butler : Assistant engineer Noel Harris : Assistant mixing engineer Unknown musician(s) : Strings
Session Recording: May 06, 1988 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Session Orchestral overdubs: Nov 01, 1988 • Studio Mad Hatter Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Session Mixing: Jan 19, 1989 • Studio Olympic Sound Studios, London
Download • Released in 2017
4:57 • Demo • Recorded and mixed by Paul McCartney at Rude Studio, Campbeltown, Scotland 1987
Flowers In The Dirt - Archive Collection
Official album • Released in 2017
4:41 • Studio version • A2017 • 2017 remaster
Paul McCartney : Bass, Harmonies, Lead vocal, Percussion, Producer, Solo guitar Linda Eastman / McCartney : Harmonies Hamish Stuart : Acoustic guitar, Harmonies Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Neil Dorfsman : Mixing engineer Chris Witten : Drums, Percusson Clare Fischer : Orchestration Arne Frager : Recording engineer Matt Butler : Assistant engineer Noel Harris : Assistant mixing engineer Sam Okell : Remastering Alex Wharton : Remastering Unknown musician(s) : Strings
Session Recording: May 06, 1988 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Session Orchestral overdubs: Nov 01, 1988 • Studio Mad Hatter Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Session Mixing: Jan 19, 1989 • Studio Olympic Sound Studios, London
Flowers In The Dirt - Ultimate Archive Collection
Unofficial album • Released in 2015
4:40 • Remix • A1 • Video mix. Remix of the LP track, used for the lip-synched video found on the Put It There documentary. As it was incomplete on both ends, the intro and the outro are grafted on.
Paul McCartney : Bass, Harmonies, Lead vocal, Percussion, Producer, Solo guitar Linda Eastman / McCartney : Harmonies Hamish Stuart : Acoustic guitar, Harmonies Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Neil Dorfsman : Mixing engineer Chris Witten : Drums, Percusson Clare Fischer : Orchestration Arne Frager : Recording engineer Matt Butler : Assistant engineer
Session Recording: April - July 1988 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Session Overdubs: Nov 01, 1988 • Studio Mad Hatter Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Session Mixing: Jan 30th - Feb 4th 1989 ? • Studio Hog Hill Studio, or AIR Studios, or Metropolis Studios, UK ?
Unofficial album
4:18 • Remix • A1 • Alternate mix
Paul McCartney : Bass, Harmonies, Lead vocal, Percussion, Producer, Solo guitar Linda Eastman / McCartney : Harmonies Hamish Stuart : Acoustic guitar, Harmonies Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Neil Dorfsman : Mixing engineer Chris Witten : Drums, Percusson Clare Fischer : Orchestration Arne Frager : Recording engineer Matt Butler : Assistant engineer
Session Recording: April - July 1988 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Session Overdubs: Nov 01, 1988 • Studio Mad Hatter Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Session Mixing: Jan 30th - Feb 4th 1989 ? • Studio Hog Hill Studio, or AIR Studios, or Metropolis Studios, UK ?
Flowers In The Dirt - Ultimate Archive Collection
Unofficial album • Released in 2015
4:41 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Bass, Harmonies, Lead vocal, Percussion, Producer, Solo guitar Linda Eastman / McCartney : Harmonies Hamish Stuart : Acoustic guitar, Harmonies Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Neil Dorfsman : Mixing engineer Chris Witten : Drums, Percusson Clare Fischer : Orchestration Arne Frager : Recording engineer Matt Butler : Assistant engineer Noel Harris : Assistant mixing engineer Unknown musician(s) : Strings
Session Recording: May 06, 1988 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Session Orchestral overdubs: Nov 01, 1988 • Studio Mad Hatter Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Session Mixing: Jan 19, 1989 • Studio Olympic Sound Studios, London
1990 • For Paul McCartney • Directed by Geoff Wonfor
Album 2017 exclusive downloads
“Distractions” has been played in 2 concerts.
Jun 08, 1989 • Spain • Barcelona • TVE Studios • TV show
May 03, 1989 • United Kingdom • The Barn at the Mill • TV show
The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present
"Distractions" is one of the songs featured in the book "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present," published in 2021. The book explores Paul McCartney's early Liverpool days, his time with the Beatles, Wings, and his solo career. It pairs the lyrics of 154 of his songs with his first-person commentary on the circumstances of their creation, the inspirations behind them, and his current thoughts on them.
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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