It was bound to be impossible for anyone to attempt to wow George Martin circa 1970. He had already spent most of his time with one of the greatest bands to ever create music, and even if someone threw something new at him, it was only done in service to what The Beatles had done before.
But even when the band members were left to their own devices, Martin knew when he was dealing with a song that was on par with what they could do in their prime.
Throughout their prime, though, Martin was always the one known as the song coach behind their classics. They could have easily carried on writing some of the best pop tunes they knew how, and yet with Martin’s ear for production, everything became a lot more sophisticated, whether that be his suggestion of bringing an oboe into the equation or arranging lavish scores that made the entire track jump out of the mix in the right way.
Although everyone collectively needed some breathing room after the dust had settled on their breakup, Macca was always the one keeping up his relationship with Martin. He had always tried his best to remain one of his good friends, and compared to what he had done in the 1960s, Martin served as a musical older brother of sorts when he eventually began working on some of McCartney’s work in the 1980s.
By the time the 1990s rolled around, though, it was clear that Martin wasn’t looking to keep things up for too long. His hearing was beginning to fail him, and with the last arrangement he made for Elton John’s revamped version of ‘Candle in the Wind’, he was waiting to bow out with some semblance of grace. But in the midst of The Beatles Anthology, Martin worked his magic one more time when walking into the studio with McCartney and Jeff Lynne for Flaming Pie.
There are already plenty of ELO-style touches across the album, but the best parts of the record are where McCartney is left to his own devices. ‘Great Day’ is a fantastic swan song for Linda McCartney on her husband’s records, and ‘Calico Skies’ is a beautiful acoustic song that harkens back to ‘Blackbird’, but Martin felt most strongly about putting the finishing touches on the song ‘Somedays’.
The tune itself is a fairly standard ballad from McCartey, but whereas most of us saw a living legend putting his usual excellent music, Martin saw another masterstroke, saying, “When I heard ‘Somedays’, it immediately reminded me of the vintage Paul. It was nice to see that Paul was getting back to his roots, because I think ‘Somedays’ is a classic song. I think it’s one of those simple ones, deceivingly simple, but so difficult to write.”
And making something sound simply like that is something Martin experienced firsthand. Working with the arrangements of ‘Yesterday’ may have been more than McCartney was used to, but his idea of putting unconventional harmonies in the strings is half of what made Martin’s arrangement sound so classic.
So it really goes to show that not only does Macca’s ear guide him to the perfect notes, but it only manages to get better over time. Not everything is meant to be perfect in his catalogue or anything, but after years of making incredible melodies, sometimes the greatest tunes fall out of the sky without him knowing it.