This was just a jam, really. Steve whacked out these blues riffs, I got on the drums and we just went for it – a duet, sung on one mike. We did the vocal in one take.
Paul McCartney, from the liner notes of “Flaming Pie”
I like blues but don’t do a lot of it, so when Steve Miller said that he wanted to get me singing “Texas blues” it sounded like a good offer. I got on drums, he got on guitar, all live, and we had fun. Then Steve came up with some words, suggesting we use old blues lines like “I used to be bad but I don’t have to be bad no more”. I put bass on it, Steve did some solos, and we decided to sing alternate lines, singing at the same microphone. It was a jam, based on Steve’s riff and made up in the studio, and the vocal came in one take. Steve and I are donating our royalties on the track to LIPA.
Paul McCartney – From interview in Club Sandwich N°82, Summer 1997
Mark Lewisohn, in Club Sandwich n°82, Summer 1997:
Having enjoyed cutting ‘Young Boy’ with Paul, Steve Miller was keen to extend the collaboration, insisting that he wanted to get Paul singing some blues. As a consequence, Miller arrived at their second set of sessions with dozens of blues guitar riffs. This prompted Paul to climb behind the drum kit and the pair played away for some time, kicking around ideas, and later Miller began adding words to the jam. Once the live piece had gelled as ‘Used To Be Bad’ Paul overdubbed bass guitar and Steve added some solos before the crucial decision was made to alternate the lead vocal lines. This was not the only blues duet recorded by the pair this day; another may be released on Steve Miller’s next album. Additionally, the previous day, Paul and Steve cut ‘Broomstick‘, released in Britain on the second ‘Young Boy’ CD single.
https://www.the-paulmccartney-project.com/song/used-to-be-bad/
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