‘Temporary Secretary’ : An accidental or intentional sequence of notes ?

www.PaulMcCartney.com

JUN

29

2016

You Gave Me The Answer – David from the USA asks...

TAGS: 

• You Gave Me The Answer

If you were lucky enough to catch Paul during the European leg of his ‘Out There’ tour last summer, you may recall watching him and the band perform a host of special songs they had added to the set list for the first time.

As well as including four tracks from his NEW album, one track in particular sent Twitter into meltdown: the unmistakably manic and cyclical electro-haze of ‘Temporary Secretary’. It boomed out for the first time into the packed O2 Arena in London - a real surprise for the fans!

‘Temporary Secretary’ has been met with critical acclaim from DJs on the circuit, who have praised Paul for the track’s futuristic and ahead-of-its-time synthy sound.

Our question this month comes from David in the USA who wants to know whether this was intentional…

David asks:

“How did you conceive of and create that great, rapid arpeggiated keyboard loop on ‘Temporary Secretary’? Were you intentionally trying to create a certain ‘mood / atmosphere’ for the song?”

We managed to grab Paul in between his hectic touring schedule to ask him. He replied:

“Thanks for your question, David. The truth is I was messing around with a device known as a sequencer, which - as its title implies - allows you to create a sequence of notes, which will then repeat. Whilst experimenting I came up with the notes which form the introduction of ‘Temporary Secretary’ and it seemed to me to be a good basis for the song.”

Whether it was an accidental or intentional sequence, we love it. And it’s a firm favourite with everyone here in the PaulMcCartney.com office!

Let us know if you’ll be watching Paul play live this year. And if you’re lucky enough to see Paul perform ‘Temporary Secretary’, pay special attention to the big screens – it’s quite the show!