Paul McCartney has discussed the “schoolboy prank” of new single ‘Fuh You’ and its ambiguous title and lyrics.
The track appears on the Beatles legend’s new album ‘Egypt Station‘, which was released last week (September 7). In a four-star review, NME described it as “a record that’s going to delight McCartney’s fans and – importantly – Beatles fans who might sniff at some of his solo work” and said ‘Fuh You’ was “eyebrow-raisingly randy.”
Speaking to GQ, McCartney attempted to clear up confusion over the track’s name. “Not at all!” he said when asked if ‘Fuh You’ meant ‘Fuck You’. “I mean, if you’re lucky, when you’re creating you can have some fun.
“This song was coming to a close and we were just getting a bit hysterical in the studio, as you do when you’re locked away for long hours, and I said, ‘Well, I’ll just say, “I just wanna shag you.”‘ And we had a laugh. And I said, ‘No, I’ll tell you what we can do is, I can make it questionable as to what it is I’m singing.'”
He explained the official lyric sheet reads “I just want it fuh you“, but the line was a “schoolboy prank” that could also be interpreted as “I just want to fuck you“.
“We did a lot [of similar pranks] in the Beatles,” he said of the ambiguous, mischievous line. “And it brings some joy to your tawdry little life. If you listen to it, I don’t actually say ‘fuck,’ because I don’t particularly want to say ‘I just want to fuck you’ – I’ve got, like, eight grandchildren.”
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He continued: “So I just thought, I can fudge this easily. It was something to amuse ourselves. Hey, listen – when you make these things up, it’s not like writing a Shakespeare play. I mean, it’s intended as a popular song. So you don’t feel like you’ve got to adhere to any rules […] It’s kind of pathetic, but actually a great thing in its pathos because it’s something that makes you laugh. So what’s wrong with that?”
Speaking at his secret show at New York’s Grand Central Station on Friday, McCartney again denied the homophone had lewd roots. Revealing his team had been worried an influential but conservative US radio DJ wouldn’t play the song if she thought it was titled ‘Fuck You’, the star had said: “Tell her it means ‘for you’. And if not tell her ‘fuh you’!”
Meanwhile, McCartney discussed the occasions he and John Lennon masturbated together while in The Beatles, and how his songwriting partner had once tried to convince him to drill a hole in his skull.