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Released in 1989

Motor Of Love

Written by Paul McCartney

Last updated on April 29, 2021

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 1988, when Paul McCartney was 46 years old)

Master album

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

Related interview

“Motor Of Love” is a track from 1989 album “Flowers In The Dirt“.

We made a version I wasn’t too happy with, but I liked the song. It was gonna get dumped off the album…so I said why don’t we give it to some independent people…get some objectivity? I think it’s a good song and it might get back as a contender. I’d liked Chris Hughes and Ross Cullum’s work with Tears For Fears…and they worked up a more modern, hi-tech version…’Heavenly Father’ is like an old trick for me, it’s like ‘Mother Mary’. I have a father who’s no longer with us…but I realised the moment you say ‘Heavenly Father’ or ‘Mother Mary’ there’s also that connotation. I like a bit of God though, nothing wrong with that.

Paul McCartney – From Club Sandwich 52, Summer 1989

From “In Their Own Words: The Producers discuss McCartney’s Flowers in the Dirt“, by Super Deluxe Edition blog:

[Paul McCartney] sent over the tapes of Motor of Love, and back in the day it was two-inch tapes. It was basically “have a little listen to this, and see what you think”. I went to a studio in Fulham, I listened to the track, and I instantly thought, well it’s unfinished as a piece of writing. There’s no middle eight. It was somewhere between a demo and a master. But I made a copy of the tape and basically cut it at a certain point and put 12 bars of just time, just a little drum box in time, and glued it back together.

He came over to the studio, and this is the amazing thing… I said, “forgive me, but I think there is a middle eight missing here, it just feels incomplete. I’ve put a landing strip of 12 bars blank in the track, and wondered if you just wanted to try something out.” This was astounding. We plugged in a little electric keyboard, and he said, “ok, run it down”. We ran down the track, and literally, as it got to the blank bit, he started playing, and humming, and played it and finished it and rounded it off into the track. It was astounding, it was one take. Literally the second take, the second pass, he’d written it with the tune, and ten minutes, quarter of an hour later, he said, these could be the words. Honestly, it was astounding watching him create from absolute scratch and putting it in the track. That was for me, amazing. Anyway, he quite liked the fact it had gone well. Then we went down to his place, the Windmill, and started recording for real. […]

Motor of Love, even in its demo version, was alluding to being quite lush. It was slow and it was this slushy, lush ballad-y thing he was trying to get. We did layers and layers of Linda and samples and God knows what, as one did at that time. I listened to it the other day and I thought, fucking hell it’s so much of its time. That little place where there were string pads and synths and Fairlights and snare drums that went on for days, and snare drums being too loud. I think he was quite enjoying the nature of it sounding a little less like him and sounding a bit like some records that sound like that. The two or three things that are typical of him are the chord progressions [which] are Macca-y and his bass playing, as you’d expect. […]

Producer Chris Hughes

Lyrics

I can't get over your love

No matter how hard life seems,

There's a light in my dreams

Thanks to you.

My friends keep asking me why

There's such a smile on my face,

There's a home at my place,

Thanks to you.

I don't want anything from you,

Turn on your motor of love.

Motor of love, motor of love.

Heavenly father look down from above,

I can't get over your powerful

Motor of love.

I can't get over your love

No matter how lost I feel,

I know my love is real,

Thanks to you.

You simply reached out your hand

And touched me deep in my soul,

I came in out of the cold,

Thanks to you.

I won't steal anything from you,

You give me more than enough.

Motor of love, motor of love,

Heavenly father look down from above,

I can't get over your powerful

Motor of love.

There was a time

When I was down and counted out,

Well I remember I felt so bad

I nearly threw away,

Nearly threw away the keys.

Motor of love, motor of love

Heavenly father look down from above,

Motor of love, motor of love,

Heavenly father look down from above,

I can't get over your powerful

Motor of love.

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

Talk more talk, chat more chat

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Darren • 7 years ago

Phil Keaggy covered 'Motor Of Love' on his 2000 album Inseparable. Phil is also a fan of The Beatles (he's performed a few covers in concert) and met Paul McCartney in person. See story below.

http://www.classicchristianrockzine.com/2015/08/phil-keaggy-and-paul-mccartney-1991.html

The PaulMcCartney Project • 7 years ago

Thanks Darren. I didn't know this story ! 1991 is around when I really digged into Paul McCartney - with the release of Unplugged. Still like to see pictures of this era - those are news to me ! Thanks again.

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