Paul McCartney: Every Night (Drum Cover)

“Every Night” comes from Paul McCartney’s debut solo album titled McCartney from April 1970. On this album, Paul plays every instrument and vocal aside from a few backing vocals from his wife Linda. Like many McCartney songs from this time, “Every Night’ was briefly touched on during the January 1969 Let it Be/Get Back sessions. McCartney later finished the song while on holiday in Greece later in the summer.

While a bulk of McCartney was recorded at McCartney’s home studio in Cavendish with only a Studer four-track tape recorder and one microphone, the songs “Every Night”, “Man We Was Lonely” and “Maybe I’m Amazed” were recorded at the familiar EMI studios. In order to keep the album a secret, Paul booked the sessions under the name Billy Martin. The track was recorded on February 22, 1970 and featured Paul playing bass, acoustic guitar, vocals, and drums. Pictures from recording sessions show Paul playing a hybrid of Ringo's two old Ludwig Black Oyster kits with towels on the heads and the front bass drum head removed. "Every Night" was the first professional sounding song on McCartney after the improvisational "Valentine Day" which was recorded at McCartney's home.

Say what you want about Paul’s drumming, he certainly can lay down a mean groove. While he is no Ringo, Paul’s drumming on this song, as well as the entire album, is truly unique. Listening to isolated tracks, you can hear him play a lot of ghost notes on the snare throughout the snare. The song is played largely on the hi hat except during the song’s instrumental sections where he switches over to the ride cymbal. The fills in the song act as transitions between the song’s different sections. The song fades out on the ride cymbal.

Let me just say, the drum sound on this album is not easy to achieve, particular the snare drum. The snare sounds completely dead and almost detuned completely. To get the sound I have, I detuned the batter head basically until it started to ripple but still produce a strong attack. I also detuned the resonant head ever so slightly around the snares. I also threw on some towels to make the drums sound even deader and added a slight touch of reverb which I could hear in the song. While it may not be perfect, I think it is close enough.

This is my first solo McCartney song on the channel. More post-Beatle McCartney tunes are on the way, with and without Wings! Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoy!