I’m not ready to say goodbye to Paul’s terrible movie, in fact watching this makes me want to see the whole thing.  I might have seen the whole thing laid out on youtube, and if it is, expect the entire film posted on my website soon with humorous remarks dashed about.  Anyway, despite the movie being supposedly being godawful, this is a gorgeous piece of film and music making.  It’s Paul, Ringo, and George Martin hanging out in the studio as Paul beautifully weaves through Yesterday, Here There and Everywhere, and Wanderlust.  The first two songs are classics of Zeus-like stature, but Wanderlust isn’t as great.  It’s a very nice song and from one of my personal favorite solo McCartney albums, Tug of War.  The problem is that it doesn’t hold a candle to the two songs he sings previously.  Perhaps in Paul’s mind it does, but he does sing it beautifully.  Speaking of which, I’d like to state also that this is one video where you will probably never hear Paul sing more perfectly, so enjoy the sonic loveliness while you can.  Until tomorrow…

I’ve never seen Give My Regards to Broad Street, but from what I’ve read, its pretty awful.  Apparently, it was Paul McCartney’s ego run amok, thinking he could replicate the success of “A Hard Day’s Night” with another movie about a “day in the life” of…Paul McCartney.  The movie was a huge waste of money, and critics hated it, however its soundtrack, which contained many redone Beatle songs, and Ringo, was #1 in the UK.  Anyway, the musical clips are pretty interesting, and today I’m gonna post his in studio performance of Eleanor Rigby.  Originally from Revolver, Eleanor Rigby was one of Paul’s undisputed masterpieces.  I personally think its one of the greatest pop songs ever written in E minor.  The work though, doesn’t entirely belong to Paul.  George wrote the “all the lonely people, where do they all come from” part, and John claims to have come up with half the lyrics which Paul insists isn’t true.  Ringo wrote the line “writing the words of a sermon that no one will here,” and old John Lennon pal Pete Shotton had Paul change Father McCartney to Father McKenzie.  It’s a great Beatle song, and its great to see it performed in any format, so its presence in Paul’s stupid movie is still incredibly interesting and worth seeing. Give it a spin.

TLC ripped it off.  No doubt about it.  This song, “Waterfalls,” was a hit in England, but it was the first song of Paul’s unable to reach the top Billboard 100 despite the previous single, “Coming Up” reaching #1 in the US.  Hmm…”Coming Up” is one of my favorite songs ever, but I can’t embed it on my website!! Click that link above and watch it too, it’s the song that made John Lennon jealous and motivated his return to pop music, unbelievable.  Anyway, “Waterfalls,” from the same album, McCartney II, was released in the magical year 1980, and was Paul’s first post-Wings record.  It’s a slow thoughtful ballad recorded only with a Fender Rhodes electric piano and a synthesizer.  The lyrics are pretty good too, and so is the music video, but it all pales in comparison to Sloan’s driving and insanely catchy version of the tune, which I’ve thoughtfully included.  Sloan really brings out the genius of the song’s melody and lyrics.  They do it so much justice, that’s its clearly superior to Paul’s original.  Amazing.  So check out both versions of the song, and “Coming Up,” and seep in the elegant misty glory of “Waterfalls.”

The year was 1981.  Michael Jackson was staying over Paul and Linda McCartney’s house.  The pair of ultra stars were recording songs with Quincy Jones and George Martin for their respective albums.  For Thriller, MJ and Macca were laying down “The Girl is Mine,” a horrendous piece of saccharine pop.  For McCartney’s equally successful album ; ) Pipes of Peace, the pair laid down “Say Say Say,” a more superior pop song, but equally stupid in its generic lyrics and execution.  For Jackson, the pairing with a Beatle was both an artistic and commercial turning point for his career.  For Paul McCartney, it was the most costly business mistake he ever made.  When Michael was in the studio for “Say Say Say,” it was the first time he didn’t have Quincy supporting him, and he found he could hold his own with the very musical McCartney.  It was an experience that massively boosted his musical maturation and confidence.  Paul was a gracious host this whole time, even giving the young pop star an inside glimpse into how he was making billions, by purchasing music publishing catalogs.  MJ took the advice to heart.  In 1985, the long disputed “Northern Songs” catalog, which contained the entire Lennon/McCartney catalog was up for sale, and Michael Jackson outbid Paul for the controlling interest, dropping 40 million underneath Paul’s nose.  In years since the incident, Jackson has been painted as the villain that stole Paul’s songs.  The real story is more complicated.  Paul was actually offered the songs privately, but he wanted to share it with Yoko Ono out of fairness, but she wanted to hold out for a better deal.  If anything, Yoko is the biggest culprit in the Beatles not owning their own songs.  Anyway, the friendship between Michael and Paul fell apart not because Jackson bought “Hey Jude” and “I am the Walrus,”  but because Michael wouldn’t raise the royalty rate John and Paul agreed to all the way back in 1961.  Paul has felt that the Beatles had been cheated and underpaid for decades, and the fact that Michael wouldn’t give him a boost was unforgivable.  So, even though Michael and Jackson would never perform or record together again, at least they left a legacy of a massive abortion of  commercial pop for us musical archeologists to examine for the next 1000 years.  Thanks boys.

Welcome to part 89 of my legendary youtube countdown.  Countdown to what?  I have no idea, but lets hope the world finds peace along the way.  One way to help this planet on that quest are the musical stylings of Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder singing “Ebony and Ivory” from Paul’s 1982 LP Tug of War.  By the way, pick up Tug of War if you see it sitting dusty in a record store.  It’s one of Paul’s better 80s albums produced by the legendary Beatles George Martin no less.  That record also features Paul’s tribute song to John Lennon, “Here Today,” a track I might cover in the future.  Anyway, Paul wrote this mega hit “Ebony and Ivory” after hearing an old Spike Milligan phrase, “black notes, white notes, and you need to play the two, to make harmony folks!”  Well, the phrase is right, and the song is true.  Paul and Stevie performed the song live in studio, which is always a cool yet difficult feat.  Ironically, due to scheduling conflicts, they had to film their parts in the music video separately.  It’s an amazing feat, considering they are sitting next to each other, but its just camera trickery folks.  What IS true is that they both traveled to Bolivia to dance on the world’s largest piano. ; )

In part 28 of my youtube countdown, I present a 40 something Paul McCartney playing his Beatle classic, For No One, from the Revolver album.  There are so many things I love about this performance.  First of all, he’s playing one of his most gorgeous piano ballads on acoustic guitar, and its brilliant.  I love how he musically clears his throat in the first 5 seconds when he starts singing.  There is something very real and charming about that.  I love how he starts his French Horn solo, announces it midway through, and jibbers his way through it.  And lastly, I love every other second of this.  He sings the song absolutely beautifully, providing wonderful little melodic twists not found in the original, and he sings the song with total soul.  This is just one his greatest breakup songs.  A universal anthem for guys who find themselves in the moment when they realize their girlfriends don’t love them anymore.  I’m sure the song has other layered meanings for girls, but for me, I take it quite literally. Ladies, feel free to let me know how you interpret this song. Enjoy.

In part 20 of my youtube favorites countdown, we delve a bit into the sadder side of Beatle history with a clip of Paul McCartney reflecting on the life of his then recently deceased pal John Lennon.  Now, when most people think of Paul’s reaction to John’s death, they either think of this clip where he says rather horribly, that “Its a drag,” and nothing more.

But that’s totally unfair, as Paul was probably so stunned, that he was just rambling answers to the press in hopes to just get the fuck away from them.  For a fairer look at Paul’s feelings on the subject, we have this priceless clip.

In it, we see Paul first talk about the old days at the Cavern Club, going on about “Searchin’,” an old Coasters song.  I love his imitation of teenage John’s singing, its borderline mocking, but you could tell he really loved him.  Then the clip skips to Paul playing John’s “Beautiful Boy,” from John’s last record Double Fantasy.  Paul immediately wells up  and starts singing along.  It’s a touching moment.  I’ve read quotes about how around this era, Paul was desperate to write with John again, and it shows here.  It’s a magic bond thing Paul tried to recreate with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello, and Michael Jackson, but never came close to finding.  However, I have read a lot about how the ice between the two was beginning to crack around this time, and that a reunion was inevitable.  It’s not well known, but a reunion was in the works for over a decade, as they all agreed to create the “Anthology” project long before it had a name.  They were very cognizant of managing their legacy and Beatle empire in the coming years, and John was to play a big role in it.  Why?  Because what was becoming evident was, since they broke up, the Beatles popularity and myth continued to explode, and they were consistently among, if not the top sellers in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, in all commercial music.  In fact, people don’t really understand that the reason Paul, George, and Ringo united to do the “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love” singles was because they knew, had John lived, a reunion of some form or another was likely in the late 80s or early 90s.  Well, anyway, you can read more about that stuff on wikipedia’s history of the Beatles Anthology by clicking these words, but for now, enjoy this great clip, and genuine moment.