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Released in 1982

Get It

Written by Paul McCartney

Last updated on July 6, 2024

Album This song officially appears on the Tug Of War Official album.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1982

Timeline This song was written, or began to be written, in 1981, when Paul McCartney was 39 years old)

Master album

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

Related song

Related interviews

“Get It” is a song from 1982 album “Tug Of War“, featuring Carl Perkins, one of McCartney & The Beatles’ idols, on guitar. From an interview with Guitar Player Magazine:

You played with Carl Perkins on “Get It” [from the album Tug of War]. How did you two get together?

Paul McCartney: I rang him up, and he was in the States playing clubs. We met him in the very early days with the Beatles, and he was a good old friend, such a down-home boy. I love Carl — he’s so great. I’ll tell you a story about Carl; I don’t think he’ll mind me telling this. We were recording at Montserrat, and a musician friend was sailing around the world on a yacht — a bit of a tax dodge, I think [laughs] — and he sailed into Montserrat, and came to see us. He invited us to his boat. There was this British naval crew piping us aboard this spotless yacht. Carl was really impressed with the buffet and the champagne, and the way it was all laid out. He came over to me and said, “Paul, where I come from they call this shittin’ in high cotton.” It’s one of my favorite expressions. After that, we recorded “Get It.” At the end of the song, you can hear both of us laughing — and that’s the joke we’re laughing at. We had to cut the joke out, though, because we’d have never gotten it played on the radio.

Did you both play guitar on that song?

Paul McCartney: Yeah, I just played a little bit, and Carl played a rhythm part. The fun tended to come when we had a free moment. He and I sat on the floor of the studio, and we were talking, and there was a mic on. I was just telling him about some of his old songs that we loved, like “Lend me Your Comb” and “Your True Love.” I told him we were big fans of his and we used to do “Your True Love.” Then we’d sing together. Then we’d stop, and he’d say, “Well, you know, Paul, I used to do this,” and he’d show me some fingerpicking thing he used to do.

Carl (Perkins) and I had a joke at the end of ‘Get It’ and he started laughing. It was a nice way to end the track. It was genuine laughing but I wanted the laughing to go on into something more mystical

Paul McCartney talking about “Be What You See (link)“, from Badman, Keith. The Beatles: The Dream Is Over – Off The Record 2 (p. 303).

We were in the studio and [Carl Perkins] came down and said, ‘My, it’s real pretty round here, Paul.’ He went to bed, got up the next morning and he obviously hadn’t seen the island. So he came back later that day and said, ‘Paul, believe me. This morning, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven when I woke up. It’s so pretty here and so beautiful.’ So while he was there, I wrote the track ‘Get It’. We had a bit of fun recording it. I can always see Laurel & Hardy dancing to this track.

Paul McCartney, from Badman, Keith. The Beatles: The Dream Is Over – Off The Record 2 (p. 303).
Paul’s handwritten lyrics for Get It – From the “Tug Of War Archive Collection” @ 2015 MPL Communications Inc

Lyrics

You've got to get it mm mm

You've got to get it don't forget

It doesn't come around again

You've got to get it mm mm

You've got to get it and you've got to get it good

Once I had a little Spanish guitar

The neighbours told me I could go pretty far

Well I came and I went

And my guitar got bent

But I discovered that the people who love

Are what we need if we're to get up above it all

And that's that

Unless the world is flat

I wanna get it mm mm

I wanna get it just in case

It doesn't come around again

I wanna get it mm mm

I wanna get it and I wanna get it good

Pardon me if I've been misunderstood

I wanna get it while the going is good

The telephone rang

About a song I sang

The life of Cadillac and ultra for sure

Is automatic for the Lady Demure

She came and she went

Without a single dent

Come on, let's get it mm mm

You've got to get it don't forget

It doesn't come around again

You've got to get it mm mm

You've got to get it and you've got to get it good

Come on, let's get it mm mm

You've got to get it don't forget

It doesn't come around again.

You've got to get it mm mm

You've got to get it and you've got to get it good

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

See all bootlegs containing “Get It”

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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