"I Don't Know" is a song by English musician

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

, released by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

as a double A-side single alongside " Come On to Me", ahead of McCartney's 17th studio album, '' Egypt Station''. McCartney's website described "I Don't Know" as a "plaintive, soul-soothing ballad as only Paul can deliver." In the 'Casual Conversation with

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp (band), Pulp, he became a reluctant figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Cocker h ...

at LIPA' (25 July 2018), McCartney said that in his opinion

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

would like this song.

Background, composition, and recording

In the 'Words Between Tracks' about writing a song, McCartney said:

"I wrote this after going through a difficult period. Like people have nothing sort of madly serious or anything, but just one of those days when it’s like, "Oh my god, am I doing wrong here", you know. And sometimes that’s a good way to write a song, because you’re coming from your soul. And we often used to say that writing a song was like talking to a psychiatrist, a therapist or something. Because you’re saying it… You are saying it in a song rather than in a room to a specialist. Yeah, so it was me just thinking this problem out, and putting it into a song."

The track was recorded at Henson Studios in Los Angeles, with additional sessions recorded at Hog Hill Mill (Sussex) and Abbey Road Studios. "I Don't Know" was also engineered by Steve Orchard, Alex Pasco, Billy Bush, Julian Burg and Greg Kurstin.

Release

The song was officially issued on 20 June 2018. On 11 October 2018, the official Paul McCartney website announced that the exclusive version of the double A-side single would be released as part of Record Store Day. The hand-numbered vinyl was limited to 5,000 copies and was available at independent record stores around the world on 23 November 2018.

Reception

"I Don't Know" received favorable reviews from critics. In ''The Guardian'', Alexis Petridis wrote that "I Don't Know" is "impossibly sumptuous" and "shows cCartney'sextraordinary melodic facility is completely intact". ''Pitchfork'' described it as having a "bleakness ... almost unprecedented in McCartney's catalog". A review in ''The Times'' praised its "beautiful piano melody" and compared it to McCartney's early solo work—"equally breezy and sad".

Personnel

– lead and backing vocals, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, percussion, drums * Greg Kurstin – electric guitar, Mellotron, synthesizer, cello, clarinet, timpani * Rob Millett – cimbalom

Charts

References

2018 singles 2018 songs Paul McCartney songs Capitol Records singles Song recordings produced by Greg Kurstin Songs written by Paul McCartney 2010s ballads {{beatles-song-stub