Released in 2001
From A Lover To A Friend
Written by Paul McCartney
Last updated on January 21, 2021
Released in 2001
Written by Paul McCartney
Last updated on January 21, 2021
Album This song officially appears on the Driving Rain Official album.
Timeline This song was officially released in 2001
This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:
Feb 20, 2001
Nov 01, 2001 • From The Sun
November 2001 • From paulmccartney.com
“From a Lover to a Friend” is a track from Paul McCartney’s 2001 album “Driving Rain“.
Recorded on 20th February 2001 onto 16-track analogue tape then loaded into Logic Audio for overdubs. Paul played piano then overdubbed Hofner bass and the vocal. Abe played drums. Rusty played 12-string electric guitar with a capo on the 1st fret. Gabe played piano.
From the liner notes of the album, and from paulmccartney.com
‘From A Lover To A Friend’ was a patchwork of a couple of bits I’d had, which I liked but I didn’t think I’d finished up the songs. That turned out to be a good thing because I got together with my man Eddie at my studio in England and we were going through these demos; I’d liked this bit and liked that bit and we just stitched together a couple of bits that weren’t meant to go together but they just felt like they would go together. Interestingly for me, just to make one or two cuts work for the edit and not chop into the vocal, I had to add a strange extra bar in, so the collage had some odd bars – instead of it all being 4:4, it was like 5:4 in places or 2:4, which was something I like. And when I played the demo to the guys everyone was all very keen on faithfully following all those little 5:4 bars, just to give it a different musical structure. The other thing about the demo was that part of it was a rather, shall we say tired late-night demo, a bit out-of-it demo, but it had a very intimate quality in the voice and so I tried to keep that and not clean up the record so much that I’d lose that lazy late-nightness.
Paul McCartney – From “The Driving Rain interview” published on paulmccartney.com, November 2001
Paul McCartney in "Conversations With McCartney", by Paul Du Noyer:
I had some words on this demo that didn’t make any sense. So I suddenly decided that they did, and just stuck to them. And it’s my favourite track. I began to realise, this is actually a cool idea. Who says words have to make sense? Certainly not poets. There is this thing called surrealism and many of us love it. […] I seriously have no idea what that’s about. Written very late at night, a rather drunken demo, that was. And there’s lyrics in it that aren’t lyrics: ‘Despite too easy ride to see’ is my favourite line.
From Wikipedia:
“From a Lover to a Friend” is a song by Paul McCartney, featured on his 2001 album Driving Rain. It was released as a single and spent two weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #45. It also reached #6 on the Canadian Singles Chart. In the U.S. it became the b-side to his single “Freedom” and peaked at #24 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
Critics saw the song as a ballad in which McCartney tries to come to terms with the death of his wife Linda, singing “let me love again“; McCartney, however, was less certain whom the song was about in an interview on Howard Stern’s radio show. The Guardian called it a “masterpiece… so delicate and honest that it sounds pretty much perfect.“
“From a Lover to a Friend” was recorded on 27 February 2001 with Paul playing bass and piano, Abe Laboriel, Jr. playing drums, Rusty Anderson on 12-string electric guitar, and Gabe Dixon on piano.
And when the time comes around
We will be duty bound
To tell the truth of what we've seen
And what we haven't found
Will not be going down
Despite too easy ride to see
From a lover to a friend
Take your own advice
Let me love again
Now that you turned out to be
Someone I can trust
Someone I believe
Ohh la la la
How can I walk when I can't find a way
I'm in a dilemma
All I want is to tell me
You're going to take it away
From a lover to a friend
Take your own advice
Let me love again
Now that you turned out to be
Someone I can trust
Someone I believe
And what we haven't found
Will not be going down
Despite too easy ride to see
From a lover to a friend
You turned out to be
Someone I believe
From a lover to a friend
Take your own advice
Let me love again
Ohh la la la
How can I walk when I can't find a way
I'm in a dilemma
All I want is to tell me
You're going to take it away
From a lover to a friend
From a lover to a friend
From a lover to a friend
Let me love again
CD Single • Released in 2001
3:49 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Bass, Executive producer, Piano, Vocals Rusty Anderson : 12-string electric guitar Abe Laboriel Jr. : Drums Gabe Dixon : Piano David Kahne : Mixing engineer, Producer Mark Dearnley : Mixing engineer, Recording engineer Jaime Sickora : Assistant engineer Kevin Mills : Second assistant engineer
Session Recording: Feb 20, 2001 • Studio Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles
CD Single • Released in 2001
3:44 • Studio version • B • David Kahne Remix 1
Paul McCartney : Bass, Executive producer, Piano, Vocals Rusty Anderson : 12-string electric guitar Abe Laboriel Jr. : Drums Gabe Dixon : Piano David Kahne : Producer
Session Recording: Feb 20, 2001 • Studio Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles
CD Single • Released in 2001
5:27 • Studio version • C • David Kahne Remix 2
Paul McCartney : Bass, Executive producer, Piano, Vocals Rusty Anderson : 12-string electric guitar Abe Laboriel Jr. : Drums Gabe Dixon : Piano David Kahne : Producer
Session Recording: Feb 20, 2001 • Studio Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles
CD Single • Released in 2001
3:49 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Bass, Executive producer, Piano, Vocals Rusty Anderson : 12-string electric guitar Abe Laboriel Jr. : Drums Gabe Dixon : Piano David Kahne : Mixing engineer, Producer Mark Dearnley : Mixing engineer, Recording engineer Jaime Sickora : Assistant engineer Kevin Mills : Second assistant engineer
Session Recording: Feb 20, 2001 • Studio Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles
CD Single • Released in 2001
5:27 • Studio version • C • David Kahne remix 2
Paul McCartney : Bass, Executive producer, Piano, Vocals Rusty Anderson : 12-string electric guitar Abe Laboriel Jr. : Drums Gabe Dixon : Piano David Kahne : Producer
Session Recording: Feb 20, 2001 • Studio Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles
Official album • Released in 2001
3:49 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Bass, Executive producer, Piano, Vocals Rusty Anderson : 12-string electric guitar Abe Laboriel Jr. : Drums Gabe Dixon : Piano David Kahne : Mixing engineer, Producer Mark Dearnley : Mixing engineer, Recording engineer Jaime Sickora : Assistant engineer Kevin Mills : Second assistant engineer
Session Recording: Feb 20, 2001 • Studio Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles
7" Single • Released in 2022
3:49 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Bass, Executive producer, Piano, Vocals Rusty Anderson : 12-string electric guitar Abe Laboriel Jr. : Drums Gabe Dixon : Piano David Kahne : Mixing engineer, Producer Mark Dearnley : Mixing engineer, Recording engineer Jaime Sickora : Assistant engineer Kevin Mills : Second assistant engineer
Session Recording: Feb 20, 2001 • Studio Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles
Unofficial album • Released in 2014
4:53 • Alternate take • From a Lover to a Friend original backing track
Unofficial album
3:45 • Live
Concert From "The Concert For New York City" in New York, USA on Oct 20, 2001
Driving Rain... In The New Century
Unofficial album • Released in 2002
3:42 • Studio version • B • Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles, Paul on piano, Hofner bass and vocals, Abe Laboriel Jnr. on drums, Rusty Anderson on 12-string electric guitar with a capo on the 1st fret, Gabe Dixon on piano, Dave Kahne remixed the song twice for the "From A Lover To A Friend" CD single, released 01-10-29. This is Dave Kahne remix #1.
Paul McCartney : Bass, Executive producer, Piano, Vocals Rusty Anderson : 12-string electric guitar Abe Laboriel Jr. : Drums Gabe Dixon : Piano David Kahne : Producer
Session Recording: Feb 20, 2001 • Studio Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles
Driving Rain... In The New Century
Unofficial album • Released in 2002
5:24 • Studio version • C • Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles, Paul on piano, Hofner bass and vocals, Abe Laboriel Jnr. on drums, Rusty Anderson on 12-string electric guitar with a capo on the 1st fret, Gabe Dixon on piano, Dave Kahne remixed the song twice for the "From A Lover To A Friend" CD single, released 01-10-29. This is Dave Kahne remix #2.
Paul McCartney : Bass, Executive producer, Piano, Vocals Rusty Anderson : 12-string electric guitar Abe Laboriel Jr. : Drums Gabe Dixon : Piano David Kahne : Producer
Session Recording: Feb 20, 2001 • Studio Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles
Driving Rain... In The New Century
Unofficial album • Released in 2002
1:00 • Rehearsal • Excerpt snippet from www.paulmccartney.com. Rehearsal.
Recording : Sep 18, 2001
2001 • For Paul McCartney
“From A Lover To A Friend” has been played in 1 concerts.
Oct 20, 2001 • USA • New York • Madison Square Garden
Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 2) 1990-2012
This new book by Luca Perasi traces Paul McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1990 to 2012 in the form of 250 song entries, filled with details about the recordings, stories behind the sessions and musical analysis. His pop albums, his forays into classical and avant-garde music, his penchant for covering old standards: a complete book to discover how these languages cross-pollinate and influence each other.
The second volume in a series that has established itself as a unique guide to take the reader on a journey into the astonishing creativity of Paul McCartney.
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Amanda • 4 years ago
"The movement you need is on your shoulder" these lyrics are not. The words in this song would make a 6 year old blush.
crisstti • 4 years ago
Beautiful and sad song. Great info here.
The PaulMcCartney Project • 4 years ago
Thanks @crisstti !
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