"Vanilla Sky" is a song written and recorded by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

for the 2001 film of the same name.

Composition and recording

McCartney was in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

working on his album '' Driving Rain'' when director

Cameron Crowe Cameron Bruce Crowe (born July 13, 1957) is an American filmmaker and journalist. He has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Grammy Award as well as a nomination for a Tony Award. Crowe started his career a ...

came by to ask if he would write a song for his new movie.

He showed us about a half-hour of and they look very intriguing with Tom ruiseacting his heart out. I said "What's the title?". He said "Vanilla Sky". I said "Oh, that's the nice title" and immediately you start thinking or rhymes with sky- fly… You know, it starts to kick off into something 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 An ''amuse-bouche'' (; ) or ''amuse-gueule'' (, ; ) is a single, bite-sized'' hors d'œuvre''. Amuse-bouches are different from appetizers in that they are not ordered from a menu by patrons but are served free and according to the chef's selec ...
". I said "What is he talking about? Music bushi?". My limited knowledge of French I kind of worked out that he meant like a sort of palate pleaser or something. So that became the first line of the song- "The chef prepares a special menu". It's gonna be "The chef prepares amuse-bouche", but I never even pronounce that well I 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".

Release

The song was nominated for a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...

for Best Original Song, for an

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the Film industry, motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who h ...

, for a

Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media The Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media (including its previous names) is the Grammy Awards awarded to songs written for films, television, video games or other visual media. Alan Menken has won five awards (out of nine nominati ...

, and for a

Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song The Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. The award notably recognizes not only songwriters but also performers as recipient ...

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

References

{{2000s-rock-song-stub Paul McCartney songs 2001 singles 2001 songs Songs written by Paul McCartney Capitol Records singles