TL; DR:
- Garbage’s Shirley Manson discovered one of Paul Mccartney’s songs while drinking alcohol.
- Manson said the song reminded her of her teenage years but she didn’t know what it meant.
- Paul said the song was inspired by “alternative thinking”.
Some classic rock songs have hard-to-decipher lyrics. For example, Shirley Manson doesn’t understand the meaning of one of Paul McCartney’s songs. Paul said “alternative thinking” inspired the track.
Garbage’s Shirley Manson Says Paul McCartney Song Reminds Her of Drinking Alcohol as a Teen
During a 2022 interview with Stereogum, Manson discussed his favorite Paul song. “It was Scotland in the 80s and four of us schoolgirls were huddled around a record player, poring over one of our father’s record collections,” she recalls. “We were all short skirts and long legs tucked into tucker boots, smoking Winston cigarettes and drinking weird concoctions of sneakily appropriate alcohol from our parents’ drink cabinets.”
It was the night Manson first heard “Venus and Mars.” “I never really understood what the lyrics meant,” she said. “I don’t care. I just love the way the words sound together and the beautiful, soulful melody. Manson said she thinks of ‘teenage dreams’ every time she hears ‘Venus and Mars’ .
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Paul McCartney explained some of the lyrics to “Venus and Mars”
In his 2021 book The lyrics: from 1956 to the present day, Paul discussed the inspiration behind “Venus and Mars.” “It was written in 1974, and at that time — and to some extent now — a lot of people who were at the gigs were also into alternative thinking,” he said. “They would want to know what your sign was, and they would give some relevance to that.
“I was never like that. As far as I was concerned, Venus and Mars were just two random planets,” he said. “But when we released the record, I realized that it was also about characters, people and planets.” Paul said he doesn’t perform the song very often.
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How the song performed on the pop charts in the US and UK
“Venus and Mars” was released as a melody along with Wings’ “Rock Show”. “Venus and Mars/Rock Show” peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining on the chart for nine weeks. The parent album of the songs, Venus and Marstopped the Billboard 200 for one week, remaining on the chart for a total of 79 weeks.
According to The Official Charts Company, “Venus and Mars/Rock Show” was not charted in the UK. Meanwhile, the album Venus and Mars topped the UK chart for two weeks, remaining on the chart for a total of 29 weeks.
“Venus and Mars” was inspired by “alternative thought” – not that Manson cares.
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