"Eat at Home" is a 1971

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

and

Linda McCartney Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney ( Eastman; September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, animal rights activist, vegetarian cookbook author and advocate, and entrepreneur. She was the keyboardist in th ...

that also appeared on their album ''

Ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

'' from the same year. The song, a standard

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

number, features McCartney on lead vocals,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

and bass, and Linda McCartney performing backing vocals.

Lyrics and music

Paul McCartney described the lyrics of "Eat at Home" as "a plea for home cooking – it's obscene." Beatle biographer John Blaney described it as fitting within the theme of many of McCartney's songs of the period, "extolling the virtues of domestic bliss and ... the love of a good woman." Music professor Vincent Benitez also considers the theme to be a celebration of Paul's domestic bliss with Linda in the wake of the Beatles' breakup. "Eat at Home" is in the

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

A major A major (or the key of A) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The key of A major is the only k ...

. It is mostly a three- chord rock song, with predominant use of the tonic chord of A, the dominant chord of E and the

subdominant In music, the subdominant is the fourth tonal degree () of the diatonic scale. It is so called because it is the same distance ''below'' the tonic as the dominant is ''above'' the tonicin other words, the tonic is the dominant of the subdomina ...

chord of D. It also employs the

leading-tone In music theory, a leading-tone (also called a subsemitone, and a leading-note in the UK) is a note or pitch which resolves or "leads" to a note one semitone higher or lower, being a lower and upper leading-tone, respectively. Typically, ''the ...

chord of G in turnaround sections between the verses and the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

passages. Blaney described the music as being an "upbeat slice of retro-pop" that was influenced by McCartney's hero

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...

Reception

Music critic Stewart Mason of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

described it as McCartney's homage to

, and

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

, also of Allmusic, described it as "a rollicking, winking sex song." In a contemporary review for ''RAM'',

Jon Landau Jon Landau (born May 14, 1947) is an American music critic, manager, and record producer. He has worked with Bruce Springsteen in all three capacities. He is the head of the nominating committee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and recei ...

of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' described "Eat at Home" as one of two only good songs he enjoyed on the album, also comparing it to Buddy Holly. '' Goldmine'' contributor John Borack rated "Eat at Home" among his top 10 McCartney solo songs, praising its melody, its "slightly country-influence guitar pickin’" and

Denny Seiwell Denny Seiwell (born July 10, 1943) is an American drummer and a founding member of Wings. He also drummed for Billy Joel and Liza Minnelli and played in the scores for the films ''Waterworld'', '' Grease II'', and ''Vertical Limit''. His d ...

's "pounding" drums. Although

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

was highly critical of many of the songs on ''Ram'', feeling they were veiled attacks on him, he publicly admitted that he enjoyed this particular song quite a bit. Although not released as a single in the UK or the US, "Eat at Home" was released as a single in several European countries, South America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and reached #7 in the Netherlands and #6 in Norway. Even in the US it received considerable radio airplay without having been released as a single.

Cover versions

Little Joy Little Joy is a Brazilian/American rock supergroup formed in 2007 by Los Hermanos singer/guitarist Rodrigo Amarante, The Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti, and Binki Shapiro. They released their only album in 2008. History Formation and begi ...

often included a cover of the song in their setlist during the Little Joy tour.

Personnel

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

– lead vocals, bass guitar, electric guitar *

– backing vocals *

David Spinozza David Spinozza is an American guitarist and producer. He worked with former Beatles Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon during the 1970s, and had a long collaboration with singer-songwriter James Taylor, producing Taylor's album '' Walkin ...

– electric guitar *

– drums Source: The Paul McCartney Project

Notes

References

* * * {{authority control Paul McCartney songs Apple Records singles 1971 singles Songs written by Paul McCartney Songs written by Linda McCartney Song recordings produced by Paul McCartney Music published by MPL Music Publishing 1970 songs