Thinking of Linking

{{quote box|quote= I remember once sitting with Paul in the cinema on the corner of Rose Lane, not far from where he lived, near Penny Lane. They showed an ad for Link Furniture: "Are you thinking of Linking?" Paul said, "Oh, that would make a good song", and he wrote one that went, "Thinking of linking my life with you".{{sfn|The Beatles|2000|p=97}}|source=– George Harrison, The Beatles Anthology |width=25%|align=right|style=padding:8px;}}

Paul McCartney wrote "Thinking of Linking" at his childhood home, 20 Forthlin Road,{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=12}} likely between January and May 1958.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2013a|p=171}} Having written several songs, he began making a conscious effort to listen for interesting phrases that could be used in a new composition. While attending the cinema with his friend and bandmate George Harrison, a commercial advertising Link Furniture caught his attention with its concluding tagline, "Are {{em|you}} thinking of linking?"{{sfn|Lewisohn|2013a|p=171}} In a 1987 interview with author Mark Lewisohn,{{sfn|Lewisohn|2013a|p=820n37}} McCartney recalled: "I came out of there thinking 'That should be a song. Thinking of linking, people are gonna get married, gotta write that!{{'"}}{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=12}}

Lewisohn writes that the only lyrics to the song are: "Well I've been thinking of linking my life with you / Thinking of linking a love so true / Thinking of linking can only be done by two."{{sfn|Lewisohn|2013a|p=820n37}} In the 1987 interview, McCartney describes the song as "terrible" and the lyrics as "[p]retty corny stuff!"{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=12}} Lewisohn writes that, like most of the music John Lennon and McCartney were writing at that time, its style is heavily indebted to the sound of Buddy Holly and the Crickets.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2013a|pp=16, 820n37}} Musicologist Walter Everett and author Richie Unterberger each suggest the Buddy Holly song "Peggy Sue Got Married" influenced the song's composition.{{sfn|Unterberger|2006|p=357}}{{sfn|Everett|2001|p=372n30}}

Author Chris Ingham writes that the song, along with the other early compositions "Just Fun" and "That's My Woman", has become part of the "mythical 'lost Beatles canon{{'"}},{{sfn|Ingham|2009|p=7}} while music critic Tim Riley considers it one of the "embryos of the Lennon–McCartney catalogue", mixing "the derivative with the yet-to-come".{{sfn|Riley|2011|p=72}} Author Kenneth Womack calls it "corny, but truly lovable",{{cite web |last1=Womack |first1=Kenneth |author1-link=Kenneth Womack |title="McCartney 3, 2, 1" is Hulu's engaging series delving into the Beatles' songwriting magic |url=https://www.salon.com/2021/07/16/mccartney-321-review-hulu-beatles/ |website=Salon.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717201456/https://www.salon.com/2021/07/16/mccartney-321-review-hulu-beatles/ |archive-date=17 July 2021 |date=16 July 2021 |url-status=live}} while author Jonathan Gould opines that the song was "wisely consigned to the dustbin of musical history".{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=107}}

The group which eventually became the Beatles, the Quarrymen, occasionally performed "Thinking of Linking",{{harvnb|Lewisohn|2000|p=365}}; {{harvnb|MacDonald|2007|p=77n4}}. though no recording of them playing it is known to exist.{{sfn|Winn|2008|p=4}}{{refn|group=note|In his 1992 book The Complete Beatles Chronicle, Lewisohn writes the Quarrymen performed the song from 1957 through 1959,{{sfn|Lewisohn|2000|p=365}} but in his 2013 book Tune In, he writes the song was likely written sometime between January and May 1958.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2013a|p=171}}}} In the 1970s, rumours began circulating that there existed a 1962 tape of the Beatles rehearsing several early songs, including "Thinking of Linking", but these claims are unsupported.{{sfn|Everett|2001|p=371n25}} In a 2005 interview with Lewisohn, Cliff Roberts, a singer and contemporary of the Beatles, recalled a van ride in the summer of 1962 where McCartney began singing "Thinking of Linking" and offered him exclusive use of the song. He further recalled that McCartney wrote the lyrics and chords on a piece of paper, but that he lost it and never performed the song.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2013b|p=1586n9}}

The earliest recording of the song is of the Beatles during the January 1969 rehearsals for their planned Get Back project. Throughout the informal sessions, the band played several of their earliest compositions.{{sfn|Everett|2001|p=27}} On 3 January, while Lennon sang Irving Berlin's "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody", McCartney and Harrison began to sing "Thinking of Linking". The song stopped after one line because McCartney either forgot the words or lost interest.{{sfn|Sulpy|Schweighardt|2007|p=28}} The song was next played on 29 January; while Lennon sang "Peggy Sue Got Married", he forgot the lyrics and instead substituted those of "Thinking of Linking".{{sfn|Sulpy|Schweighardt|2007|p=253}}

In 1994, in anticipation of their upcoming project The Beatles Anthology, the three remaining ex-Beatles, McCartney, Harrison and Ringo Starr,{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=287}} planned to record a version of "Let It Be".{{sfn|Badman|2001|p=521}}{{refn|group=note|The three were sometimes dubbed either the "Threatles" or the "Threetles".{{harvnb|Everett|1999|p=287}}: the "Threetles"; {{harvnb|Badman|2001|p=521}}: the "Threatles".}} On 23 June, they assembled at Harrison's Friar Park home, playing in his home studio, FPSHOT (Friar Park Studio, Henley-On-Thames), while being recorded on video with a two camera setup. They abandoned the idea of recording "Let It Be" due to Lennon's absence, instead opting to play several rock and roll oldies, including "Ain't She Sweet", "Love Me Do" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky", among others.{{sfn|Badman|2001|p=521}} They recorded what they could remember of "Thinking of Linking", playing on two acoustic guitars and brushes.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=287}} The performance did not feature in the finished Anthology documentary series,{{sfn|Badman|2001|p=521}} but was included as a special-feature when Apple Corps released the series on DVD in 2003.{{sfn|Unterberger|2006|p=357}}{{sfn|The Beatles|2003|loc=9-1: Recollections – June 1994}} McCartney played the song on an acoustic guitar for American record producer Rick Rubin in the 2021 Hulu docuseries McCartney 3, 2, 1.

{{Notelist|group=note}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book| last=Badman| first=Keith| year=2001| title=The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After The Break-Up 1970–2001| publisher=Omnibus Press| location=London| isbn=0-7119-8307-0}}
• {{cite book |author1=The Beatles|author1-link=The Beatles |title=The Beatles Anthology |title-link=The Beatles Anthology (book) |date=2000 |publisher=Chronicle Books |location=San Francisco |isbn=0-8118-2684-8}}
• {{cite AV media |people=The Beatles |date=2003 |title=The Beatles Anthology |title-link=The Beatles Anthology (TV series) |medium=DVD |publisher=Apple Corps |id=C9 7243 4 92975 9 3 |oclc=58801594 |ref={{SfnRef|The Beatles|2003}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Everett |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Everett (musicologist)|year=1999 |title=The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver through the Anthology |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-512941-0}}
• {{cite book |last=Everett |first=Walter |year=2001 |title=The Beatles As Musicians: The Quarry Men through Rubber Soul |url=https://archive.org/details/beatlesasmusicia00ever |url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-514105-4}}
• {{cite book |last1=Gould |first1=Jonathan |title=Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America |title-link=Can't Buy Me Love (book) |date=2007 |publisher=Harmony Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-307-35337-5}}
• {{cite book |last1=Ingham |first1=Chris |title=The Rough Guide to the Beatles |date=2009 |publisher=Rough Guides |location=London |isbn=978-1-84836-525-4 |edition=3rd}}
• {{cite book |last1=Lewisohn |first1=Mark |author-link=Mark Lewisohn |title=The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions |title-link=The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions |date=1988 |publisher=Hamlyn |location=London |isbn=978-0-600-63561-1}}
• {{cite book |last1=Lewisohn |first1=Mark |title=The Complete Beatles Chronicle: The Only Definitive Guide to the Beatles' Entire Career |date=2000 |publisher=Hamlyn |location=London |isbn=0-600-60033-5}}
• {{cite book |last1=Lewisohn |first1=Mark |title=The Beatles – All These Years, Volume One: Tune In |title-link=The Beatles: All These Years |date=2013a |publisher=Three Rivers Press |location=New York |isbn=978-1-101-90329-2}}
• {{cite book|last=Lewisohn |first=Mark |title=The Beatles – All These Years, Volume One: Tune In |publisher=Crown Archetype |location=New York |year=2013b |edition=Extended Special |isbn=978-1-4087-0478-3}}
• {{cite book |last1=MacDonald |first1=Ian |author1-link=Ian MacDonald |title=Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties |title-link=Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties |date=2007 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |location=Chicago |isbn=978-1-55652-733-3 |edition=Third}}
• {{cite book |last1=Riley |first1=Tim |author1-link=Tim Riley (music critic) |title=Lennon: The Man, the Myth, the Music—The Definitive Life |date=2011 |publisher=Hyperion |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4013-2452-0}}
• {{cite book |last1=Sulpy |first1=Doug |last2=Schweighardt |first2=Ray |title=Drugs, Divorce and a Slipping Image: The Complete, Unauthorized Story of the Beatles' "Get Back" Sessions |date=2007 |publisher=The 910 |location=Albrightsville |isbn=978-0-9643869-8-3}}
• {{cite book |last1=Unterberger |first1=Richie |author1-link=Richie Unterberger |title=The Unreleased Beatles: Music & Film |date=2006 |publisher=Backbeat Books |location=San Francisco |isbn=978-0-87930-892-6}}
• {{cite book |last1=Winn |first1=John C. |title=Way Beyond Compare: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume One, 1957–1965 |date=2008 |publisher=Three Rivers Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-307-45157-6}}

{{refend}}

Category:The Beatles songs

Category:Songs written by Paul McCartney