I’ve always liked B-Sides… Let’s listen to some Liverpudlian Country Music.
I cannot hear this song without thinking of my grandmother. Her name was Sally and yes her last name started with G. She lived to the ripe old age of 96. I have posted about the A-side of this single Juniors Farm but never about this B-side that I like. I heard this song when I was 7 because my sister had this single and it’s been in my head ever since.
When I saw him in 2010 and 2014 I thought both times…hmmm he is in Nashville so Sally G surely will be played. Nope… Paul didn’t utter Sally’s name.
The song actually got played on the country stations in Nashville which looking back I can’t believe happened at that time. Nashville wasn’t exactly in love with rock performers.
Sally G was written and recorded in Nashville. In 1974 Paul McCartney came to Nashville. They rented a 133-acre farm just outside of Lebanon TN from songwriter Curly Putman (“Green, Green Grass of Home”) for $2,000 a week. They had requested a farm within 50 miles of Nashville that had horses and swimming facilities.
The band stayed at the farm for 6 weeks while the Putman family vacationed in Hawaii. When Putman and his wife returned to their farm, McCartney saw them walking up the driveway. McCartney and the band greeted them by playing “Green, Green Grass of Home.”
I have a cousin that lives in Lebanon around 5 miles from where he stayed…not a great picture but here it is today.
Lloyd Green, Bob Willis, and Johnny Gimble Willis contributed steel guitar, dobro, and fiddle respectively while adding legitimacy to McCartney’s country venture.
Paul playing guitar on “Junior’s Farm” in 1974
Sally G. and it peaked at #17 in the Billboard 100, #51 on the country charts, #11 in the Canadian Country charts, and #61 in Canada. Paul composed the song after visiting the nightlife in Printer’s Alley.
As his time in Tennessee came to a close, McCartney told a group of local reporters that he hoped to mount a U.S. tour the following year and that if it happened, Music City would definitely be on the itinerary.
McCartney didn’t come back until 36 years later in 2010 and I finally got to see him. Paul…you lied but all was forgiven when he took the stage.
I hardly ever point out a bridge in a song but in this one…it’s kept me listening for decades. It’s not the lyrics but the melody, backups, and harmonizing on the final “move along.”
Me and Sally took up,
things began to look up,
Me and her were going strong.
Then she started lyin’,
I could see our love was dyin’.
I heard a voice say,
“Move along, move along”.
Paul McCartney: “Buddy Killen [studio owner and music publisher] took us out to Printer’s Alley, a little club district,” “I didn’t see anyone named ‘Sally G’ in Printer’s Alley, nor did I see anyone who ran her eyes over me when she was singing ‘A Troubled Mind.’ That was my imagination, adding to the reality of it.”
Musician gets to stay on the farm for 3 weeks.
Home movies of Wings in the studio in Nashville 1974
Sally G
Somewhere to the south of New York City
Lies the friendly state of Tennessee,
Down in Nashville town I met a pretty
Who made a pretty big fool out of me.
And they call her Sally,
Sally G, why d’you wanna do the things you do to me?
You’re my Sally, Sally G
took the part that was the heart of me, Sally G.
The night life took me down to Printers Alley,
where Sally sang a song behind a bar.
I ran my eyes across her as she sang a tangled mime,
I used to love to hear her sweet guitar.
And they call her Sally,
Sally G, why d’you wanna do the things you do to me?
You’re my Sally, Sally G
took the part that was the heart of me, Sally G.
Me and Sally took up,
things began to look up,
Me and her were going strong.
Then she started lyin’,
I could see our love was dyin’.
I heard a voice say,
“Move along, move along”.
Well now. I’m on my own again,
I wonder if she ever really understood.
I never thought to ask her what the letter “G” stood for,
But I know for sure it wasn’t good.
And they call her Sally,
Sally G, why d’you wanna do the things you do to me?
You’re my Sally, Sally G
took the part that was the heart of me, Sally G.
Sally G.
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Your lyrics say, “So where” and I clearly heard “Somewhere”. This is a really nice song, one that I never paid attention to before.
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I’ve been having some problems with right lyrics in different sources…it’s fixed.
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wow, cool! I didn’t think I knew it, but I do remember it and liking it. I in all likelihood had the Junior’s Farm 45 and like you, flipped it over to see what was on the b-side. Never knew he ever hit the country music charts though. So do you think that Putnam place was the farm he was singing about , or inspired by, on the a-side?
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Oh yes…Claude Putman Jr. is his name…I’m positive that was it.
Also he did see a singer in Printers Alley….but he didn’t use her name because she was afraid she would sue…I should have put that but it muddies up the story.
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you should see if they offer tours of the farm… would be cool to see, I bet
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It would be…I’m going to see my cousin Mark soon…I should see if they do.
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I can see why this song would be special to you for several reasons, your Grandma being the #1 reason. I remember your post talking about Paul & Linda’s visit to Junior’s Farm. So strange he didn’t sing this when he came back to Nashville! Was it just a stunt? In any case, both of these songs are good ones. The music and lyrics in Sally G are excellent, it just seems to take a bit of adjustment for me to hear Paul’s voice singing it.
It reminds me of when Mick Jagger sang, “Evening Gown” on his Wandering Spirit album. It is now one of my favorite songs on that album.
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Yep, its a surprisingly good album, and I say that as as Stones/Jagger fan.
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So happy you’ve heard it and like it and don’t have a bias against it because it is Mick without The Stones. I’ve played that one many times.
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It makes no sense him not playing this of all songs.
That sounds really good Lisa…but yea it wasn’t his usual thing.
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I can’t believe I haven’t heard this before. I’m not a big post Beatles McCartney fan, but this is really good. Thanks for sharing the story about your Sally G grandmother. What a beautiful connection to a song!
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Thanks for reading Matt…glad you liked it.
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It was awesome. I shared the song and your story with others. Thank you Sir!
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Thanks Matt
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This has all the Country twangy trademarks of Nashville; it evokes everything but some hard-done-by Ten Gallon hat wearing, six shots down teary-eyed smoke-wreathed Marlboro man whose woman’s done gone and left him wondering how he’s done her wrong. Paul even did that smart lyric Country bit. And Macca done it all straight-faced and straight-up too.
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Obbverse…that is poetry…I wish that was in the post!
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Aww shucks, Max ‘twern’t but nothin’…
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I have a niece called Sally so we might be related.
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Well yes! That is a sure thing! You are my long lost cousin!
Bruce when I wrote this post I thought of you for some reason. I don’t think you like country so I have no clue why that happened lol….it’s because you are kin…that is the reason!
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Well well! And how’s Auntie Margery?
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She is fine…but poor uncle Bert has the lumbago
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Uncle Bert should be shot.
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That’s the cure
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Wow, I guess Macca passed the country audition with this tune. I had never heard it before. The pedal steel fill-ins sound pretty cool.
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It is a pretty cool song…he adapted rather well…I’m not sure how country it is but with the steel and dobro…it’s good.
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I’ve never heard this before, but it’s pretty good. Was your grandmother long and tall as well?
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No….around 5 foot nothing…. I grew up with it because of single. It did fit in with other country music at the time…except Pauls voice didn’t have that twang.
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I fondly remember this song, as it got airplay on San Francisco pop radio stations back in the day when I lived in the Bay Area. I think it’s great McCartney recorded a country song.
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I would have never guessed that Jeff.
Compared to some of today’s country…it’s great.
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