Slapped on the backside of Paul McCartney’s “Waterfalls” single was a peculiar piece of music called “Check My Machine” that initially dumbfounded both fans and critics. Not only was the cut far removed from anything the Liverpool legend had previously created, but it was also wildly different than anything any artist of any genre had ever attempted.
“Check My Machine” starts off with a snippet of a monologue from the “Tweety and Sylvester” cartoon show before sliding into a repetitive groove located somewhere between reggae and slow-burning funk. The lyric, “check my machine” is repeated over and over again to the unrecognizable tone of McCartney’s voice that almost sounds like a munchkin from The Wizard of Oz speaking in a soulful falsetto.
Measuring nearly six minutes in length, “Check My Machine” ambles on and on and on to a mesmerizing rhythm assisted by robotic beeping noises, icy synthesizers and strummy banjos.
Predating the flowering of hip hop, as well as the birth of electronica and techno, “Check My Machine” was in hindsight, years ahead of its time and captured Paul McCartney at his experimental best.
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