Paul McCartney Gets Bitten by Brooklyn Songwriter

Despite this nipple-freezing, lip-cracking frigid weather, are you feeling love and holiday spirit in the air? If not, this gem is sure to bring a smile to your lovely face, especially those of us who grew up listening Paul McCartney and his band Wings. It certainly made me grin like an idiot, which is not uncommon. I immediately flashed back to Wings pumping lightly over the speakers at my dentist's office as the nitrous oxide kicked in. Those were tender moments. Not because I was sadistic (like Bill Murray's Arthur Denton in Little Shop of Horrors), but because for that one brief shining moment, we thought The Wings were, like, the best band in the world. And for that moment, they were. Anyway, Brooklyn songwriter Charles Gansa is the genius who penned "Love Take Me Down (To the Streets)," the awesomely Wings-like closer track for Role Models. After the jump, the exclusive mp3 via VF.com. Dig it, rip it and love it now, because it won't be commercially available until March.

As writer Jim Windolf points out, Gansa does not ape “Live and Let Die,” “Junior’s Farm,” or “With a Little Luck,” but rather makes a melodic tribute pulled from deep within his inner McCarthy. With vocals ably provided by a McCartney sound-alike from a Beatles tribute band, “Gansa’s song has all the major Wings elements: the melodic opening that has little to do with what comes next; the “Linda” vocal; a vague, optimistic lyric; a catchy melody that takes a few odd twists and turns; the slightly abrasive guitar work, which recalls Wings guitarist Denny Lane; a bridge that goes to an unexpected musical place; and an ending that (like the outros for “Jet” and “Listen to What the Man Said") seems to come out of nowhere.”

Says Gansa: “I was just taking my impression of being a kid and how it felt when ‘Band on the Run’ came on the radio,” says Gansa. “I was trying evoke some of the feelings that those songs did, so it wasn’t out of an academic or superfan interest.” “I was just taking my impression of being a kid and how it felt when ‘Band on the Run’ came on the radio,” says Gansa, 39. “I was trying evoke some of the feelings that those songs did, so it wasn’t out of an academic or superfan interest.”

Photo courtesy of Jorie B. Gracen.