On my way home from the pastry shop.
Breakfast with the Beatles was on the local classic rock station (100.3) and they played a clip of an interview with Paul McCartney. He was explaining how, once he got married, the meaning of “home” changed for him.
He then went on to talk about a song he wrote called
(this is where it gets crazy, so buckle in)
“Waterfalls.”
The song starts playing, and these are the first four lines:
“Don’t go jumping waterfalls
Please keep to the lake
People who jump waterfalls
Sometimes can make mistakes”
o_O
I was like “whuuuuuuuuutttttt” and thought maybe this was all a fever dream and I was still asleep and in for one helluva hangover when I woke up.
Now, in typical post-Beatles Paul style, there’s also a reworking of his chorus two thirds of the way through the song where he says (and I promise I am not making this up):
“Don’t go chasing polar bears
In the great unknown
Some big friendly polar bear
Might want to take you home”
Lol fuckin’ okay, Paul.
We all know the TLC version, which goes like this:
“Don’t go chasing waterfalls
Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to
I know that you’re gonna have it your way or nothing at all,
But I think you’re moving too fast.”
In an interview with the Onion’s AV Club, McCartney brings this up and agrees that they ripped him off. I don’t know that I’d necessarily go THAT far, but, one of two things definitely happened:
· They totally did borrow from his song.
· They heard it at some point, forgot about it, and committed subconscious plagiarism.
Either way, there is no way that’s just a coincidence.
Paul fuckin’ McCartney wrote Waterfalls. Lol.
—emily duchaine
Flommist Emily Duchaine lives in the Pacific Northwest. She likes to drink mead, learn about sharks, and listen to the Talking Heads. She pretends to be a professional businesswoman most days. Copyright © 2020 Emily Duchaine. Pictured up top: John Frederick Kensett, A Woodland Waterfall (cropped), c. 1855–65, source.
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