Paul McCartney: Dreams, Dickens… and Oobleys

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

Bobi NYC

Science, Society & Culture, Comedy

4.8 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

To celebrate Sir Paul’s 83rd birthday June 18th we are reprising a wonderful conversation recorded five years ago. Alan and Paul exchange their experiences writing and performing; and McCartney demonstrates how some of the Beatles’ greatest hits began with what he calls “oobley” chords on the piano.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Alan Alder, and this is clear and vivid conversations about connecting and communicating.
0:15.0	Tomorrow, June 18th, is the 83rd birthday of Paul McCartney.
0:20.0	And we're celebrating his birthday with an hour-long special,
0:23.2	recorded in February 2020,
0:25.3	in a Manhattan studio that, by luck, had a piano in it.
0:30.6	Do you noodle on the piano or the guitar or what?
0:34.8	Yes.
0:35.7	So if it's a guitar thing and I feel like a sort of ballady thing,
0:39.2	then I'll play some ubley chords.
0:41.7	What are ubley chords?
0:42.6	You know, sweet, juicy.
0:46.2	Where does that word come from?
0:47.6	I don't know.
0:48.4	Okay, there's a piano here.
0:49.7	Yeah.
0:50.2	So, yeah, we're talking about ubley.
0:53.0	You know, it might be like a... Oh, good.
0:54.3	Now, this is an obli.
0:55.2	Ubley-ish.
0:56.3	It's like a...
0:57.0	Or this kind of thing.
1:07.6	That, of course, is the great Paul McCartney.
	...

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