“Temporary Secretary” by Paul McCartney

"Temporary Secretary" finds Paul McCartney alone with his machines: the third single from McCartney II, his third solo album, out on Parlophone in September 1980. He played everything himself, drums, bass, acoustic guitar, keyboards and synthesizer, sang it, and produced, recorded and mixed it, with Eddie Klein assisting on the mix.

The engine is a jittery, dissonant sequencer line that McCartney likened to a space typewriter; he used it to set the tempo and made the song up as he went, with a nod to Ian Dury. The joke is the premise: a fellow writing to an agency for a disposable secretary, and McCartney later admitted he'd had temps of his own. The critics hated it at first, and NME later filed it as wonky electropop that seemed less ahead of its time than outside it. Time has made it a cult favourite among his fans.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.