A new song on Paul McCartney’s new album, Electric Arguments, with “side project” band The Fireman, is definitely not about Heather Mills, as has been speculated, according to the ex-Beatle. “Nothing Too Much, Just Out of Sight” was thought by many to have been written about McCartney’s ex-wife whom he divorced this year.

Lyrics in the track include: “I remember you well/ Oh woman betrayed you/ I couldn’t resist you/ When I made you.”

However, Paul insists people are reading too much into the song, which is actually a sister track to his former band The Beatles’ popular song ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’.

He explained: “I didn’t have anyone in mind. There was an African guy called Jimmy Scott who I used to meet in nightclubs in London during the 60s.

“He was the guy who said to me, ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, life goes on’ and the other thing he used to say was, ‘Nothing too much man, just out of sight.’

“I always thought that it was a great thing to say, so it was really Jimmy. I just flew off that line and shouted out things around it.”

[From Female First]

I giggled just a little when I read that McCartney’s “side project” is called The Fireman, after recent news that Mills is scrambling to save her unsanctioned swimming pool by making it available to the firemen in the village. Isn’t it funny that Heather is hoping the firemen will save her perceived entitlements, while The Fireman are backing up her husband in a song thought to be villifying her? Irony is amusing.

While Paul McCartney’s music has had its ups and downs over the years, there aren’t many of people who would argue he isn’t a great lyricist. Not as existential as his former writing partner, John Lennon, but sometimes simplicity is what makes a song great. For that reason I also find it amusing that McCartney describes his songwriting process as flying off a line and just shouting things around it. They may be simple, but they’re always expertly crafted.

Sir Paul described the difference between himself and Lennon, saying, “John and I grew up together and I think we were both as experimental as each other but perception-wise he was the more experimental one. I’d been doing it as a hobby but with John it was the ‘main event’. That was John’s courage. The whole point of The Fireman is that’s it’s a very free approach.”

Here’s the song. This is not an official music video:

Paul McCartney is shown on 11/24/08 turning on the Christmas Lights at Stella McCartney’s shop in London with Peter Kay. Credit: WENN