Слишком Много Людей: История Одной Песни Пола Маккартни

1971 song by Paul McCartney

"Too Many People" is a song by Paul McCartney and his wife Linda McCartney, from the 1971 album Ram. The song was issued as the B side of the "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" single, and was also included on The 7" Singles Box in 2022.

"Too Many People" was initially recorded on 10 November 1970 in Columbia Studios in New York City. Most of the overdubbing, including adding brass instruments to the beginning of the song, occurred in January 1971. Additional overdubbing took place in March and April 1971. In response, Lennon wrote "How Do You Sleep?" for his album Imagine, an attack at McCartney, which featured musical contributions from George Harrison. McCartney later wrote "Dear Friend", a truce offering to Lennon, and released it on the album Wild Life with his band, Wings.

Rolling Stone rated "Too Many People" to be McCartney's 3rd greatest post Beatles song, 2 slots ahead of its A side "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" and behind only "Band on the Run" and "Maybe I'm Amazed." Capital Journal critic Steve Gettinger called "Too Many People" a high point of Ram stating that it is "bright and bitter, carefully constructed" and "unmistakably Beatles." Boston Globe critic Ernie Santosuosso described it as "a loud meditation about society" with a "particularly violent guitar statement," praising the music more than the lyrics. Los Angeles Times critic Robert Hilburn described "Too Many People" as "a sort of musical extension of Thomas Malthus that includes some of the humorous irony of the vintage Beatles," with lines such as "Too many reaching for a piece of cake" and "Too many hungry people losing weight." Hilburn goes on to state that the song provides a lyrical surprise, which he likens to an O. Henry story, in which the lyrics turn to "a statement about the resolution of ones problems in a difficult self centered world." Hilburn suggests that this may be a reference to McCartney's experience with the Beatles' breakup. According to Ultimate Classic Rock critic Nick DeRiso, the song's "haughty sermonizing" towards Lennon is one of the weaknesses of the Ram album, though fellow Ultimate Classic Rock critic Gallucci rated the song as the 4th best Beatles' post breakup fight song. Of the instrumental version on Thrillington, Peel states that "rock 'n' roll is transformed into funky jazz with more than a hint of studio experimentation."