Queenie Eye by Paul McCartney

Album: New (2013)

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This song was produced by Paul Epworth, who has worked with such Pop stars as Adele and Rihanna. The track was one of three that Epworth produced for New.

The producer's approach echoed the three experimental, improvised Fireman albums McCartney has made with former Killing Joke member, Martin "Youth" Glover. The former Beatle told The Sun: "Yes, Paul knew I'd done Fireman and he said, 'OK, I'd really like to work like that.' That was his favorite way. So Queenie Eye, Save Us and Road are the three tracks made from the ground up with lots of improvisation and are the closest to Fireman."
The song is based on a children's playground game. "Now this song, 'Queenie Eye,' is based on a game we used to play when I was kids," McCartney explained. "You got to remember that's a long time ago and basically in kind of a poor area I was from. What you did you entertain yourself was go out in the street and play street games. There wasn't that much traffic, so you were pretty safe. And one of the games was called 'Queenie Eye.'"

"What used to happen is one person would turn away from us and throw a ball over his head which one of us would catch," he continued. "And then we would say, 'Queenie Eye, Queenie Eye, who's got the ball? I haven't got it. It isn't in my pocket. O-U-T spells out.' And when we said, 'Out,' he could turn around ... or she could turn around and look at us and try to work out which one of us had caught the ball, which, of course, we all pretended to have behind our backs. Anyway, so that was ... I just liked the rhythm. 'Queenie Eye, Queenie Eye.' I ended up in the studio and we made into this next song. Here ya go."
The song's music video was filmed at Abbey Road Studios and sees McCartney recording the track in what he thinks is an empty studio (Studio 2). As the clip progresses, various celebrities make cameo appearances including Johnny Depp and Kate Moss, who are former lovers. Also featuring are Jude Law, Sean Penn, Jeremy Irons, Chris Pine, Tom Ford, Alice Eve, James Corden, Gary Barlow, Tracey Ullman and yep that's, Meryl Streep dancing.
McCartney performed this song at the Grammy Awards in 2014, backed by Ringo Starr on drums. Earlier in the evening, McCartney won a Grammy for Best Rock Song for his work on "Cut Me Some Slack."

Comments: 3

Ken from Louisville, KyPaul said the line "I was nervous, but I did it...." is about the recording of Love Me Do. John was supposed to sing lead, but George Martin wanted John to play harmonica. So Paul had to sing lead, something he wasn't prepared to do on the Beatles' first single.
Ken from Louisville, KyPaul has had an interesting relationship with Meryl Streep. He first met her when she introduced him on a 1990 TV special. In her intro, she said she was one of the tens of thousands of teenage girls screaming at the Beatles' 1966 concert at Shea Stadium (she was born and raised in New Jersey). Paul kidded her by saying "Oh yeah, I remember you!". Then when film research was being done for the Anthology, the producers found a news report from that 1966 show where a teenage girl was being interviewed. Standing next to the girl being interviewed was Meryl (then Mary) Streep! When Paul saw that in the editing room he insisted it be put in the documentary.
Ken from Louisville, KyMy view is that Paul was commenting on life: whether you're an international pop star (like Paul) or just and ordinary person, it's the same. It's a game, with no rules and no one to help. Everybody's on their own. I think that's why the refrain is that of a Liverpool children's game.

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