When Paul McCartney quietly released “When Winter Comes” in 2020, it felt like an old letter finally reaching its destination. Though the song appeared as the closing track on his album McCartney III, it was originally recorded in 1992 during the Flaming Pie sessions — with George Martin himself producing. For nearly three decades, it lay unreleased, waiting for the right moment. When it finally emerged, it arrived like a whisper — a man alone with his guitar, reflecting on life, work, and the quiet beauty of care.
At first listen, “When Winter Comes” sounds almost too simple — just McCartney’s acoustic guitar and that unmistakable voice, softened by time but still aglow with warmth. Yet within its simplicity lies everything that defines him: melody, humility, and the poetry of everyday life. He sings of tending fences, feeding animals, planting seeds, and preparing for the cold. It’s not a song about fame or loss; it’s about continuity — the kind of love that exists in daily acts, in the rhythm of seasons, in the care that binds a life together.
💬 “When winter comes and food is scarce, we’ll warm the animals in their coats of love…”
Those words are pure McCartney — plainspoken, sincere, quietly profound. He has always believed that love isn’t only a feeling; it’s a practice. Here, that idea becomes pastoral and spiritual at once. The song reflects the countryside life he built with Linda McCartney in Scotland — a world of simplicity and connection, far from the roar of Beatlemania. You can hear her presence between the lines: in the tenderness of the lyric, in the steadiness of his tone. This isn’t just a man talking about winter — it’s a husband singing about partnership, about building something that endures.
Musically, the song recalls the earthy intimacy