Music Review: Let Me Roll It

Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with this guitar riff stuck in my head. It's from Let Me Roll It, Paul McCartney's rocking fine song that appears on his Band on the Run album. But back to the riff. It's infectious, repetitive, sparse and unnerving. And it kicks ass like few lead guitar efforts to do. It's like someone talking to you, saying the same thing over and over to make a point, drilling it into your head, jabbing a finger into your chest hard enough to leave a bruise. Hell, the seven note lick is like a rock and roll lecture. If that weren't enough, a slow base string and strong gospel keyboard flow around it, bringing the guitar into focus, saying, "Take this!" Here, McCartney really answers his critics that he can't make noise, and he does it in a voice effect that echos John Lennon. Supposedly, they were warring at the time, trading accusatory songs. True or not, if it was the impetus for the guitar work on this song then I'm happy.