Paul McCartney said his and Wing’ “Let Me Roll It” is mostly ‘Lennon-esque” because of what he calls the “bog echo.” John Lennon liked using the effect on his vocals.
Paul McCartney said ‘Let Me Roll It’ is ‘Lennon-esque’ 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. He called it “bog echo” because it’s like the echo in a toilet, which British people call a “bog.”
Apparently, it was a universal term in the studio. Paul would sometimes shout up to the control room and ask, “Can we have the bog echo, please?” 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 that on his and Wings’ “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 thinks the guitar riff in ‘Let Me Roll It’ is more important than the ‘bog echo’
For Paul, the “Lennon-esque” “bog echo” isn’t the most important element in “Let Me Roll It.” The essential part of the song is the “searing” guitar riff. Paul can talk about the lyrics of his songs until the cows come home, but a good riff is a “rare beauty.”
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Paul thinks the guitar riff in “Let Me Roll It” is so dramatic that people in the audience always gasp when they hear it. The riff stops abruptly, and it’s almost as if it stops time along with it. Everything freezes.
Paul disagrees with the fans who think a ‘London Town’ track sounds ‘Lennon-esque’
“Let Me Roll It” isn’t the only Wings song fans think sounds “Lennon-esque.” According to them, Paul sounds similar to his former bandmate on the song “I’m Carrying.” Paul disagrees.
He said he’d admit to it if “I’m Carrying” sounded like a John song. To him, the song sounds more McCartney-esque with just the little voice. “I couldn’t imagine John doing quite such a little voice,” Paul wrote. “But you know, if it’s seen as Lennon-esque, that’s no great problem. We did learn how to write songs together, after all.”
It’s easy to think Paul’s “little voice” sounds like John’s softer singing. However, Paul revealed that Fred Astaire inspired his “little voice.”
Whether or not you think Paul’s songs sound similar to John’s, there’s no denying that they were once the best songwriting partners in rock ‘n’ roll. During their songwriting sessions, if one had a song, the other would suggest something that made the whole tune. They knew how to complete each others’ lyrics and operated on the same wavelength.
So, it’s only natural that certain aspects of the other came out in their solo work. It was like they were paying homage to each other subconsciously.
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