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Released in 1997

Souvenir

Written by Paul McCartney

Last updated on September 25, 2020

Album This song officially appears on the Flaming Pie Official album.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1997

Timeline This song was written, or began to be written, in 1995, when Paul McCartney was 53 years old)

Master album

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

Other Flaming Pie songs written in Jamaica, January 1995

“Souvenir” is a song from 1997 album “Flaming Pie”. From the liner notes:

Written during a relaxing holiday in Jamaica in January 1995, the later studio recording of ‘Souvenir’ saw Paul anxious to replicate the easy atmosphere of his original demo, which carried the additional sounds of a ringing telephone and tropical downpour. So the demo was laid into the multi-track tape as a guide for the studio recording and each element of the original was carefully listened to and replicated. The 78-rpm-like coda was added after Jeff and Paul saw co-engineer Jon Jacobs carrying a key-fob with a built-in sound sampler. The end vocal effect was added using this as the medium.

I had a sort of Wilson Pickett, R&B number in mind wit this. I could imagine some soul guy really getting to grips with it. It’s a favourite of mine and I’m looking forward, hopefully to some R&B singer doing it.

Paul McCartney, from the liner notes of “Flaming Pie”

I like some songs because they can get covered by a black singer. ‘The Long And Winding Road’ was written with Ray Charles in mind. This one was like Wilson Pickett. I could imagine someone really getting to grips with that one. I cut a demo of the track when I was on holiday in Jamaica and I was anxious that I stayed close to the feel of the original take when I started work on the track in England with Jeff Lynne. I said to Jeff, ‘Let’s take this demo but instead of what we normally do, take all the information off and renew it, and wreck it. Let’s make sure that everything that’s going on is at least as good and has the flavour of the demo.’ That song’s a little favourite of mine. I’m looking forward, I hope, to an R&B singer doing it. I would have loved it as a single but I knew that no one on earth would ever have chosen it as a single.

Paul McCartney, from Badman, Keith. The Beatles: Off The Record 2 – The Dream is Over
Paul McCartney, in Club Sandwitch n°82, Summer 1997:

As I have said, I write quite a bit on holiday, when the pressure’s off, and one afternoon in Jamaica I sat down and started writing a song that turned out to be ‘Souvenir’. It was a real lazy holiday, very laid back, so there was no tension at all in the writing of this song. The phone went in the middle of my making the demo, and then a tropical downpour happened, but I kept on recording and love the demo for its atmosphere.

Mark Lewisohn, in Club Sandwich n°82, Summer 1997:

Pretty much everyone who’s anyone has covered a Paul McCartney song but the writer himself warms the most to soul recordings of his music. He will, occasionally, aim to spark this by imagining certain artists as he writes, thinking of Ray Charles with ‘The Long And Winding Road’ and Aretha Franklin with ‘Let It Be’. (Remarkably, both did indeed release their versions of these songs.) ‘Souvenir’ is cut of the same cloth, written by Paul during a particularly relaxing afternoon on holiday in Jamaica at the beginning of January 1995. A studio recording of Souvenir did not occur for another year, but Paul was nonetheless anxious to replicate the atmosphere of his original Jamaican demo, and to avoid, as Paul says, “introducing an uptight feeling to something relaxing”. The final touch – the scratchy 78rpm sound reminiscent of ‘Honey Pie’ – was added after Paul observed that his co-engineer Jon Jacobs carried with him a key-fob with a built-in sound sampler. The vocal effect was added to the end of the song using this as the medium.

“Souvenir” was remastered in 2016 for inclusion on the “Pure McCartney” compilation, and then in 2020 for the “Flaming Pie Archive Collection“, both times by engineer Alex Wharton. As explained on the Steve Hoffman forum:

It’s interesting that for both ‘Pure McCartney’ in 2016 and the new 2020 remaster the polarity is different. Which means something went wrong in the final mastering stage of the original 1997 issue. Because ‘Pure McCartney’ worked from a compressed and limited 1997 master, and this 2020 remaster from a tape without that compression and limiting.

by forum resident “mindgames”

Lyrics

When you're fed up shedding too many tears

And you're memories seem like just so many souvenirs

I will come to you to ease the pain

If you want me, tell me now

If I can be of any help, tell me how

Let me love you like a friend

Everything is gonna come right in the end

When you're crying like a poor little child

And you're feeling like you never could be reconciled

Don't forget a word of what I'm saying

If you want me, tell me now

If I can be of any help, tell me how

Let me love you like a friend

Everything is gonna come right in the end

Well, I can hold you too tight

I could never let you go

But that wouldn't be right

So, why don't you let me know (let me know)

What you want to do

Everybody's got a handful of fear

But tomorrow it may only be a souvenir

Of the way it was 'til it went away

If you want me, tell me now

If I can be of any help, tell me how

Let me love you like a friend

Every little thing is gonna come right in the end

Souvenir

No, not another souvenir

No, no, no, no, no, souvenir

Variations

  • A Album version
  • A2016 2016 Remaster
  • A2020 2020 remaster
  • B Home Recording

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

Videos

Album Flaming Pie - Archive Collection

Live performances

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.

Going further

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.

Read our exclusive interview with Luca Perasi

Buy on Amazon

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