Paul McCartney Shares Animated Video for ‘When Winter Comes,’ the Song that Effectively Began ‘McCartney III’

McCartney III, the new studio album from Sir Paul McCartney that was written, recorded and produced entirely by the beloved Beatles legend, was released last Friday — the result of a creative burst during COVID-19 “rockdown,” so to speak.

Click here to pick up McCartney III on CD, on sale from our Rock Cellar Store
Click here to pick up McCartney III on LP, on sale from our Rock Cellar Store

The album is a revelation, an especially strong addition to Macca’s catalog of post-Beatles material, bookended by the acoustic guitar-led “Long Tailed Winter Bird” and the album-capping reprise, “Winter Bird/When Winter Comes.”

'It all started with this track really, as I was making a bit of music for a film project…' – Paul McCartney

When Winter Comes. The animated short film, directed by Geoff Dunbar. Out now on @YouTube: https://t.co/Kc9h3eGinz #McCartneyIII pic.twitter.com/5c6T9gZQGo

— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) December 22, 2020

On Tuesday, a new animated film/music video for “When Winter Comes” was premiered, with McCartney’s official site explaining that the clip for ‘When Winter Comes’ is where McCartney III began. More on that in a minute — for now, here’s the clip, directed by Geoff Dunbar:

And more about the story behind the song itself, which effectively shaped McCartney III:

The great thing for me about this album is that I didn’t know I was actually making an album and it all started with this track really. The music I was working on was for a short animation film about the song ‘When Winter Comes’. I made a record called ‘Calico Skies’ a while ago that George Martin recorded, and at the same time because I was in the studio, I just thought oh wait a minute there’s this other song I’ve just written, so I did ‘When Winter Comes’! This song is kind of an idealistic thing, a hippy existence on a farm, planting trees, mending fences and living the good life which is something I like. I love nature and I love that idea of getting down and getting your hands dirty.

There’s also an official music video for the song “Find My Way”:

Said Sir Paul in a statement about the album:

“I was living lockdown life on my farm with my family and I would go to my studio every day. I had to do a little bit of work on some film music and that turned into the opening track and then when it was done I thought what will I do next? I had some stuff I’d worked on over the years but sometimes time would run out and it would be left half-finished so I started thinking about what I had. Each day I’d start recording with the instrument I wrote the song on and then gradually layer it all up, it was a lot of fun.  It was about making music for yourself rather than making music that has to do a job. So, I just did stuff I fancied doing. I had no idea this would end up as an album.”

Just as Linda McCartney famously shot the photographs for McCartney and McCartney II, the principal photos for III were shot by Paul’s daughter Mary McCartney—with additional photography by Paul’s nephew Sonny McCartney as well as photos Paul took on his phone (it’s a family affair). The cover art and typography is by celebrated American artist Ed Ruscha.

Listen to McCartney III below, via Spotify.