Temporary Secretary

"Temporary Secretary"
Single by Paul McCartney
from the album McCartney II
B-side"Secret Friend"
Released19 September 1980[1]
Recorded1979
Genre
Length3:13
LabelParlophone/EMI
Songwriter(s)Paul McCartney
Producer(s)Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney singles chronology
"Waterfalls"
(1980) 		"Temporary Secretary"
(1980) 		"Ebony and Ivory"
(1982)
McCartney II track listing
11 tracks
Side one
  1. "Coming Up"
  2. "Temporary Secretary"
  3. "On the Way"
  4. "Waterfalls"
  5. "Nobody Knows"
Side two
  2. "Front Parlour"
  3. "Summer's Day Song"
  4. "Frozen Jap"
  5. "Bogey Music"
  6. "Darkroom"
  7. "One of These Days"
Back cover

"Temporary Secretary" is a song by Paul McCartney, released as the third single from his album McCartney II in September 1980. Dominated by a dissonant sequenced synthesiser line, NME later described the song as "wonky electropop that didn't sound so much ahead of its time as out of it altogether."[3] While initially met with highly negative critical reception, it has since become a cult classic and favorite among McCartney fans.

  1. ^ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 22.
  2. ^ Dalton, Stephen (14 June 2011). "Check His Machine: Paul McCartney Interviewed On McCartney II". The Quietus. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  3. ^ a b "The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time 200-101". NME.com. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  4. ^ Rolling Stone Staff (November 30, 2020). "Paul McCartney's 40 Greatest Solo Songs". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 14, 2023. ...Paul came up with this oddly catchy electro-pop nugget, about a slightly creepy-sounding guy looking to hire a temp.
  5. ^ Roberts, Randall (October 22, 2015). "Why Paul McCartney's obscure and dissed 'Temporary Secretary' is the secret weapon of DJs worldwide". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  6. ^ Rolling Stone Staff (November 11, 2020). "The 80 Greatest Albums of 1980". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 30, 2023. ...avant-garde expeditions ("Temporary Secretary")...
  7. ^ Petridis, Alexis (June 16, 2022). "Paul McCartney's greatest post-Beatles songs – ranked!". The Guardian. Retrieved August 3, 2024.