Vanilla Sky (song)

"Vanilla Sky"
Single by Paul McCartney
from the album Music from Vanilla Sky
Released	4 December 2001
Studio	Henson, Hollywood
Genre	Folk rock [1]
Length	2:46
Label	Capitol
Songwriter	Paul McCartney
Producer	David Kahne
Paul McCartney singles chronology
"Freedom" (2001) "Vanilla Sky" (2001) "Tropic Island Hum" (2004)

"Vanilla Sky" is a song written and recorded by Paul McCartney for the 2001 film of the same name. ^[2]

Composition and recording

McCartney was in Los Angeles working on his album Driving Rain when director Cameron Crowe came by to ask if he would write a song for his new movie.

He showed us about a half-hour of it, and it looked very intriguing, with Tom [Cruise] acting his heart out. I said "What's the title?" He said "Vanilla Sky." I said "Oh, that's a nice title," and immediately you start thinking of rhymes with sky, fly… You know, it starts to kick off into something [that] doesn't look too difficult.

- Paul McCartney

McCartney says he got inspiration from a waiter in a restaurant:

Before the first course, he brought something we hadn't ordered. He said "Here's amuse-bouche". I said, "What is he talking about? Moozy booshy?" My limited knowledge of French, I kind of worked out that he meant like a sort of palate pleaser, or amuse your mouth, or something. So that became the first line of the song, "The chef prepares a special menu." It was gonna be "The chef prepares amuse-bouche," but I could never even pronounce [that], let alone [have it] work in the song.

It only took McCartney about a week to finish the track:

I just recorded it, and had Cameron over, and said "What do you think of this?" He said "I love it." ^[3]

Release

The song was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, ^[2] for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, for a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media, and for a Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song, winning the latter.

A live version of the song is featured on the 2002 live album Back in the U.S. .

References

1. Ruhlmann, William. Various Artists - Music from Vanilla Sky (2001) Review at AllMusic. Retrieved January 15, 2025.
2. "McCartney pens original song for film 'Vanilla Sky'". 14 December 2001. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
3. "Paul McCartney on 'Vanilla Sky'". YouTube . 16 April 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2019.