Album This song officially appears on the Chaos and Creation in the Backyard Official album.
Timeline This song was officially released in 2005
Timeline This song was written, or began to be written, in 2004, when Paul McCartney was 62 years old)
This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:
Chaos And Creation In The Backyard sessions #5
November 2004
July 2005 • From EMI
October 2005 • From Bass Player
“Promise To You Girl” is a track from Paul McCartney’s 2005 album “Chaos And Creation In The Backyard“. From an interview of Paul McCartney by Gary Crowley:
How did Promise to you Girl develop?
It started as a piano thing. You know, I just wanted to … It’s a little two part piano thing. The right hand is doing the melody a bit and then the bass has got a definite part instead of just vamping away so it was just like a little mathematical problem trying to work out how I could do this and I just started singing it, (sings) ‘Gave my promise to you, girl. I don’t wanna take it back.’ And then it kind of went like a Motown thing, for me, started to go like a, I could hear tambourines and Chooka, chooka, chooka, chooka, I could hear the Motown guys, the Funk Brothers putting a backing track to that. ‘You and me, side by side, we know how to save the world.’ Actually, originally, it wasn’t, that was slightly less positive. I can’t remember what it was, but it wasn’t, ‘we know how to save the world.’ Anyway, so it just developed, went through that little Motowny thing. (Sings) ‘That is why I gave my promise to you girl,’ second verse, diddly, diddly der. Then I had this other little bit that is on the front of it, (sings) ‘Looking through the backyard of my life, Time to sweep the fallen leaves away, Gave my promise to you girl.’ And that ends it as well. It’s really two little songs put together and then when we came to do it in the studio it was multi-layered because it was just me so I think I started off with the piano and then put a bass on it, put a bit of drums on it and then Nigel started encouraging me to play some guitar licks and things so that was quite complicated, all a lot of little bits, but I think it sounds like a band in the end, you know.
Paul McCartney – from 2005 UK promotional-only interview CD, recorded July 2005 at Air Studios in London
Looking through the backyard of my life
Time to sweep the fallen leaves away
Like the sun that rises every day
We can chase the dark clouds from the sky
I gave my promise to you girl
I don't want to take it back
You and me, side by side
We know how to change the world
That is why I gave my promise to you girl
Hey why wait another day
That won't get us anywhere
All the time that it takes
To repair this brave old world will be ours
I gave my promise to you girl
Everything single second of our lives
We can use to chase the clouds away
Well, there's no more barking up a tree
No more howling at the moon
They won't see, you and I
Diving for the deepest pearl
That is why I gave my promise to you girl
Looking through the backyard of my life
Time to sweep the fallen leaves away
Chaos And Creation In The Backyard (Special Edition)
Official album
3:10 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Crown upright piano, Epiphone casino electric guitar, Hofner bass, Ludwig drums, Moog, Shaker, Steinway grand piano, Tambourine, Triangle, Vocals Nigel Godrich : Producer Darrell Thorp : Engineer Dan Grech-Marguerat : Production assistant
Session Recording: November 2004 • Studio Ocean Way Recording Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • From the books "Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs" • Buy Volume 1 (1970-1989) and Volume 2 (1990-2012) on Amazon
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (Japanese edition)
Official album • Released in 2005
3:10 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Crown upright piano, Epiphone casino electric guitar, Hofner bass, Ludwig drums, Moog, Shaker, Steinway grand piano, Tambourine, Triangle, Vocals Nigel Godrich : Producer Darrell Thorp : Engineer Dan Grech-Marguerat : Production assistant
Session Recording: November 2004 • Studio Ocean Way Recording Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • From the books "Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs" • Buy Volume 1 (1970-1989) and Volume 2 (1990-2012) on Amazon
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
Official album • Released in 2005
3:10 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Crown upright piano, Epiphone casino electric guitar, Hofner bass, Ludwig drums, Moog, Shaker, Steinway grand piano, Tambourine, Triangle, Vocals Nigel Godrich : Producer Darrell Thorp : Engineer Dan Grech-Marguerat : Production assistant
Session Recording: November 2004 • Studio Ocean Way Recording Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • From the books "Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs" • Buy Volume 1 (1970-1989) and Volume 2 (1990-2012) on Amazon
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (Limited Edition - Gold LP)
Official album • Released in 2018
3:10 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Crown upright piano, Epiphone casino electric guitar, Hofner bass, Ludwig drums, Moog, Shaker, Steinway grand piano, Tambourine, Triangle, Vocals Nigel Godrich : Producer Darrell Thorp : Engineer Dan Grech-Marguerat : Production assistant
Session Recording: November 2004 • Studio Ocean Way Recording Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • From the books "Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs" • Buy Volume 1 (1970-1989) and Volume 2 (1990-2012) on Amazon
Chaos And Creation In The Backyard - Ultimate Archive Collection
Unofficial album • Released in 2015
3:10 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Crown upright piano, Epiphone casino electric guitar, Hofner bass, Ludwig drums, Moog, Shaker, Steinway grand piano, Tambourine, Triangle, Vocals Nigel Godrich : Producer Darrell Thorp : Engineer Dan Grech-Marguerat : Production assistant
Session Recording: November 2004 • Studio Ocean Way Recording Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • From the books "Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs" • Buy Volume 1 (1970-1989) and Volume 2 (1990-2012) on Amazon
Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.
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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Rocky Howard • 5 years ago
I wish he would play it live. It has a Lady Madonna vibe that would rock the house!
The PaulMcCartney Project • 5 years ago
I agree @Rocky - a shame he has never performed it live !
