Why is part of Michelle in French?
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Composition has always been an instinctive process for Paul McCartney, with inspiration coming from unlikely sources:
"Michelle" was a tune that I'd written in Chet Atkins' finger-picking style. There is a song he did called "Trambone" with a repetitive top line... I wanted to write something with a melody and a bass line in it ... an instrumental in C.[5]
He had to work harder to find the words that go together well. Especially in a language he did not speak.
For 'Michelle' the inspiration came from unlikely sources. These included a mistranslated Edith Piaf song and a party trick he had used in his teens to attract girls.
That still left him short of actual French words. These he borrowed from the wife of one of his oldest friends.
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