One Track Mind: Paul McCartney and Wings, "Live and Let Die" (1973)

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Let’s look beyond the goofy flutes and whatnot — and the oddly aggressive nature of the song, because it’s just so out of character for the nice man. Paul McCartney screwed up “Live And Let Die” in a huge way in my book because of a horrible grammar mistake.

It’s no wonder the song’s so angry, he’s mad he wrote such a half-baked line. You know the line, I know you do: “But in this ever-changing world in which we live in.” Come on, Macca, you’re better than this! That’s redundant. “World in which we live in?” It even works just fine, perfectly fine, to just sing “And in this ever-changing world which we live in.” I can hear it — just stretch the “world” out a little more. OK, no, it’s not technically correct, but at least it doesn’t double up on the “in”; it’s gotta either be “in which we live” or “which we live in,” but it can’t be both.

And if he was insistent on covering this song, Axl Rose should have at least taken a moment to correct the damned thing. Guns N’ Roses could have at least been the smart bad boys of rock and we all would have respected and looked up to them for it. But without correcting that mistake? Just a footnote.

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Tom Johnson