Nod Your Head

‘Nod Your Head’ is the final song on Paul McCartney’s 14th solo album Memory Almost Full.

Well, that ‘End Of The End’ brought the party down, didn’t it? It was going to be the last track on the album, but we thought we couldn’t leave everyone going, ‘Oh God, I’m not going to listen to that again.’ So we had a little stompy rocker called ‘Nod Your Head’ and we thought we’d let them off the hook. I think it’s good to talk about difficult subjects and then to get off it and just rock out. So that was the feel of making the album. Get some personal thoughts out (‘Gratitude’, ‘The End Of The End’), talk about my childhood, talk about love, about beautiful memories. Try and get everything said, but with a feeling of optimism and enthusiasm. I thought if I could accomplish it all then that would be a good thing to do.

‘Nod Your Head’ was a solo McCartney recording, made at his Hog Hill Mill studio in March 2006.

Producer David Kahne captured the room ambience using a Violet Design Flamingo microphone. The results were heavily compressed on the final mix.

I just crushed it and kept moving it around until I was getting the air I wanted in a room mic while he was warming up. And that sound has a lot to do with the sound of the mic. Also, the take wasn’t coming together, and we redid it, and did it, and did it, and it wasn’t working. It got a little tense, and then the next take he got it. But he started goofing around, and he started yelling while he was playing, and that yelling is still a really cool part of the song.

‘Nod Your Head’ was released as a free download single on 28 August 2007 on Apple’s iTunes Music Store. It was packaged with the promotional video for the song.

A ‘Dance Tonight’ CD single was also announced for release, and would have featured ‘Nod Your Head’ (Sly David Short Mix), which included additional production by Sly Dunbar and vocals by Lady Saw, Sizzla, and Cherine. However, the CD was never given a full release.

A live recording of ‘Nod Your Head’ from Amoeba Music in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on 27 June 2007 appears on the 2019 album Amoeba Gig.

A previously-unreleased 7″ vinyl single of ‘Nod Your Head’, with ‘222’ on the b-side, was included in the 2022 box set The 7″ Singles Box.