Paul McCartney thinks his and Wings’ song “Let Me Roll It” is a “long, drawn-out” stammering love song. That doesn’t mean it’s bad. The music and the lyrics reflect a timid lover.
Paul McCartney said ‘Let Me Roll It’ is ‘Lennon-esque’ because of the ‘bog echo’
The “Yesterday” singer disagrees with the fans who think “I’m Carrying” is “Lennon-esque.” Meaning that it sounds like something Paul’s former bandmate, John Lennon, would’ve recorded. However, Paul does think that “Let Me Roll It” is “Lennon-esque,” but only because of the “bog echo.”
In his book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul wrote that he often used an echo effect in the recording studio called “bog echo.” It sounds like the echo in a toilet, which British people call a “bog.”
It was a universal term in the studio. Paul would shout up to the control room and ask for it. Whoever was there would ask, “Do you want it at 7.5 inches per second or 15 inches per second?” Paul would say, “We don’t know. Play them both.”
The echo was on tape back then. “Short bog echo, long bog echo. It was very Gene Vincent. Very Elvis,” Paul wrote. According to Paul, John loved this tape echo and used it more than the rest of The Beatles. Later, it became a signature sound in his solo career.
Paul acknowledges John’s love for the sound effect on “Let Me Roll It.” “I remember first singing ‘Let Me Roll It’ and thinking, ‘Yeah, this is very like a John song,’” Paul explained. “It’s in John’s area of vocalization, needless to say, but the most Lennon-esque thing is the echo.”
Paul calls “Let Me Roll It” a ‘long, drawn-out’ stammering love song
“Let Me Roll It” is one of Paul’s songs with a couple of meanings. Paul thinks it’s fair to say that “roll it” involves rolling a joint. However, Paul made “Let Me Roll It” a love song at its heart. Paul did something similar on The Beatles’ “Got to Get You into My Life.” Reading the lyrics, it seems Paul is talking about getting with a girl, but he’s really talking about his love for marijuana and trying to acquire some.
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There’s also an erotic aspect in “Let Me Roll It” related to the sense of rolling that is always a part of rock ‘n’ roll. Anyone can connect with the lyrics, “My heart is like a wheel/ Let me roll it to you.” Those lines embody the struggle some people have expressing their love.
“Anyone can understand how exposed you feel when you offer your heart to, or reveal your affections for, another person. It’s very difficult,” Paul wrote.
Paul thinks this is further expressed in the guitar riff. “The hesitation we feel in that situation – of wanting to reach out but being reluctant to be completely open – is made physical in the abrupt starting and stopping of the riff,” he wrote.
“The constant cutting short of the momentum of the song mimes the subject matter. We all relate to that situation.”
Paul thinks “Let Me Roll It” is like a “long, drawn-out” nervous stammer.
The Wings song is more special than a stammering love song
Paul is right about the deeper meaning of “Let Me Roll It.” However, it’s so much more than a stammering love song. Every aspect of the tune, the incredible guitar riff, the lyrics, and the romantic bog echo make it an unusual love song. “Let Me Roll It” gives one chills because of the feeling behind every aspect.
The tune is a stammering love song, but that’s not to say it’s terrible. There’s more feeling in “Let Me Roll It” than in ordinary love songs. It has a certain amount of vulnerability and emotion. It’s one of Paul’s best love songs.
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