Tag Archives: paul mccartney

#1442: Paul & Linda McCartney – Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey

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The last couple times I’ve written about songs from Paul & Linda McCartney’s Ram album, I’ve made note about why it’s my favourite out of McCartney’s solo efforts. There’s no point in getting into the whys again, I think you all get the idea. But seeing that ‘Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey’ was next up in this list, it got me thinking about when I listened to Ram for the first time. That’s something I don’t think I’ve talked about in any prior posts concerning the album. So I went to the Vista computer sitting in the corner of the living room, opened ‘Downloads’, went to the ‘Ram’ folder and selected ‘Properties’. “22nd June 2011”. 4pm on the dot. Even before the 2012 remaster came along. Some other things I found, if you find them interesting, were that it was the last Beatles solo-related album I downloaded after really getting into things like Imagine and Band on the Run and All Things Must Pass… all the good ones, a few months before. And it was the third full album I downloaded post finishing my GCSE exams, after There Is a Way by Dananananaykroyd and the brand-new work by Arctic Monkeys called Suck It and See. It was a good time to be alive.

‘Uncle Albert…’ has been in my bones for so long now, I can’t lie and come up with the scenario where I heard the track the first time and was blown away, thinking “Wow, this song’s amazing”. I honestly can’t remember. It probably took a listen on one unremarkable day where everything clicked. And sometimes that’s enough. It left a mark though, like a big chunk of Ram has. This song charted at the top of the American charts when it was released back in 1971. I listen to it now and think this is a weird song to chart at number one anywhere, especially the US. Then again it was a former Beatle. But ‘Uncle Albert…’ is a strange one. McCartney dips into that Abbey Road medley bag, combining parts of separate compositions to make a whole. Does that on ‘The Back Seat of My Car’ as well. But he also runs away with the possibilities he has at his disposal, changing his voice to take roles of different characters within the song, mimicking the ringing of a telephone, and of course showing off that wide vocal range of his. Linda McCartney’s right there alongside him, pulling off some great harmonies, probably the best parts to look out for in the entire track, and the brilliant ‘butter pie?’ retort that comes along.

I called ‘Uncle Albert’ strange, but I don’t mean to make that sound disparaging. This song is a lot of fun. Like, a lot. The first ‘Uncle Albert’ half of the song is supposedly an apology to the older generation, represented by the Uncle Albert character based off McCartney’s real relative. The ‘Admiral Halsey’ section is meant to depict a snubbing of an authoritarian figure. Just looking at what Wikipedia says McCartney said about it. Never thought about that part that way, it’s kind of interesting. But anyway, “Haaaaaands across the water (water) / Heeeeeeeads across the skyyyyyyy”. For God’s sake, how was this guy so good with melodies? There’s so many alone in this song that can get stuck in the brain, sung and delivered in a manner of ways. Words bouncing off each other to and fro. My favourite melody / harmony is the additional one that’s added under the ‘Hands across…’ melody after the whole butter pie bit. But the whole track is a little masterpiece. It all ends with a bit of riding into the sunset kind of feel, harmonizing McCartneys oohing all over the place. Someone starts going crazy on the piano. But even then, it doesn’t let up as stray guitar plucks and tom-tom strikes enter the frame, leading right into the following song on the album. The excitement keeps rolling on. He’s never sang it live, so a performance video below is AWOL. It would take some doing now. But you never know.

#1394: Paul & Linda McCartney – Too Many People

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It was 2010. A year on from the Beatles: Rock Band game release, interest about that and how great The Beatles were in general was still at what felt like an all-time high. At least, that’s if you were a member on the Harmonix / Rock Band forums back in the day, which I was. There was a really cool community around that place. A thing that got people together and all creative-like was mash-ups, influenced by the LOVE album made by George and Giles Martin for the Cirque du Soleil show. I go into a lot more depth regarding these in this post I did many years back. For one specific mash-up “album”, I thought it would be a good idea to blend the ‘diss tracks’ of George Harrison’s ‘Wah-Wah’, John Lennon’s ‘How Do You Sleep?’ and the Paul & Linda McCartney’s ‘Too Many People’. The result… well, hear it for yourself. I don’t think it’s too bad, actually. A little abrupt in the changes, maybe. It belongs in the 2010s.

So I heard ‘Too Many People’ way before I got round to listening to Ram from front to back. I think it was a couple years that I did. It’s the first song on there, and what a way to start the album off. “Piss off, caa-haay-hay-hayy-hay-haayy-haaake” and then a bunch of cutesy vocalizations. Interesting. The ascending guitar lick adds a bit of mystery. And then after a few chord strums, the song properly gets underway. Over a groovy bassline, Paul McCartney provides some social commentary. He sees these activities people are doing, too many of these people, and he doesn’t get it. Among these activities are: losing weight, going underground, waiting for that lucky break. Etcetera, etcetera. A great vocal performance – “too many HUNGRY PEOPLE.. LOSING WEEEIGHT” – one of my favourite parts. A lot of grit mixed with a fantastic melody. Linda McCartney adds some gusto with those “Piece of cake / Lucky break” harmonies. It’s a bit of a list song, and at the end he more or less states he’s had enough of what he’s seeing. Thinks it’s all a bit silly. And everything’s capped off with a minute long instrumental for the outro to shake out the jams.

Got to address the elephant in the room, though. That being how the track was a shot at his old bandmate and songwriting partner, John Lennon. Particularly the “You took your lucky break and broke it in two” and “Too many people preaching practices” lines. Lennon took great umbrage to that, writing ‘How Do You Sleep?’ in response. A nasty track, that one. Not too much fun to listen to, which I think is its point. Me, I prefer ‘Too Many People’ ’cause it’s the exact opposite. And with all that beef aside, the song feels like a statement of intent for what’s to follow on Ram. You know, the preceding McCartney album is okay, but apart from ‘Every Night’ and ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’… maybe ‘Junk’ too, it felt more like a collection of ideas rather than full-fleshed songs. But Ram is the real deal. So many strong songs with variety, a lot of surprises, and McCartney exploring ranges and tones in his vocals that he’d rarely go to again in further releases. It all begins with ‘Too Many People’.

#1224: Paul & Linda McCartney – Smile Away

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Well, I’ve got no qualm in saying that I think Ram is my favourite out of all the Paul McCartney solo albums he’s ever done. Quite funny too because it’s technically not even a solo album, being credited to him and wife-at-the-time Linda and everything. The LP was burned at the stake back when it was released, mainly by critics who hadn’t got over the Beatles breakup and blamed McCartney for it. As the years rolled on, more and more people recognized its quality. I’ve come to think of it as a response to anyone who may have thought his first album was underbaked and lacking of substance. People wanted a bigger-sounding record, so this is what they got, with fuller band arrangements and wilder vocal performances.

‘Smile Away’ is a number on Ram, one which I don’t think people take much notice of. I would guess that’s because of the somewhat inconsequential subject matter. McCartney reminisces about a time when he was walking down the street and a friend of his came up to him and said ‘I could smell your breath/feet/teeth a mile away’. The song’s title is sung in response. And that’s pretty much the whole song. Now, you could take it at face value. But I read an interpretation that said it was about the times when McCartney would just be out in public and people would make fun of him or take slights at him ’cause of the whole Beatles breakup thing and, being the clean-cut, PR man he is, McCartney would just grin and bear it instead of taking things to a physical level. I don’t know if that’s true. But I’ve always thought about the song in a different way since.

Though the song seems silly, the McCartneys and the backing musicians ham things up to make the track one of the most enjoyable to listen to from the album. Paul McCartney puts on his American soul voice, hollering and whooping and laying things on thick throughout right up to the song’s ending where he’s straight up hooting like a monkey. Linda McCartney’s supporting vocals change from “Don’t know how to do that” to “Learning how to do that”, which I think is pretty cool. I initially thought she was just singing wordless phrases. The fuzz on the bass guitar is immense, cutting through the mix and coming in with a vengeance particularly around two minutes and 50 seconds in. The whole affair’s delivered to be this big one-night-only showtime kind of song, which is hilarious considering what the McCartneys are singing about, but it works somehow.

#1159: Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson – Say Say Say

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Where to start with this one? I don’t think I have a very deep story to tell with this one, as to how I came across it for the first time. I want to say I have a memory of hearing it on the radio a long, long time ago when I was a child. But even then I’m not so sure. Though if I’m going with this story, I wouldn’t have known who was singing, nor would I have even been aware that there were two different singers on there. I’m sure the kid me thought it was really good. To be very honest, I think I actually became aware of ‘Say Say Say’ through a sample of it that was used in this house track from 2006. It’s very generic. But then through becoming a fan of The Beatles and probably seeing its music video on TV too, it was an instance of “Oh, that’s what that song was sampling.” And it sounded much better in comparison.

Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson decided to get together during the spring of 1981. Story goes Jackson called McCartney up, the latter thought it was a prank. When it was clear it wasn’t, the two came to an agreement to “make some hits” and Jackson stayed round Paul and Linda McCartney’s place during the recording sessions. It may have also been during this time that McCartney advised Jackson to get into song publishing, but that’s another story altogether. The sessions with Jackson and McCartney went swimmingly, with a couple tracks making it out alive as a result. One being ‘The Man’, and ‘Say Say Say’. Between the two, it’s clear which one was always going to be that hit that the two envisioned.

Completed in 1981, it wouldn’t be until a couple years later that the track would see the light of day, when it was released as the first single from McCartney’s Pipes of Peace album. And it got the works. Thriller was probably still in the charts somewhere when ‘Say Say Say”s release came around, and with Jackson being the biggest star on the planet and McCartney still being a former Beatle and all, the song had to also get the big music video (above) to highlight the camaraderie between the two. Also nice to see Linda McCartney in there too. As for the song, well, it’s about a man (whose perspective is sung by the two artists) left hung out to dry by a woman of his affection. He just wants to know if she feels the same way. She’s got to say, say, say, is what it comes down to. McCartney and Jackson are brilliant on the vocals, trading off, harmonising, makes for an engaging listen. Possesses a very tight groove. It’s a dang classic to me.

#923: Wings – Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five

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After a year of ploughing through YouTube for videos, reading Wikipedia articles and downloading Beatles albums, the time came that it only made sense to listen to each member’s solo material. 2010 was the year. Not knowing where to start, I chose what I presumed to be the most popular solo albums – leaving me the options of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Imagine, Band on the Run and All Things Must Pass. Not too bad to start off with. My own experience with Band on the Run has varied with time. Twelve years ago, I thought it was great from front to back. Now I don’t revisit it too much. The songs are still enjoyable, but it does sound really 70s. Which does make sense seeing as it was recorded then. But you know when you hear something and it sounds like it could only have been released during that time.

So I haven’t really listened to a track from that album for some time, except ‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five’ which, in my eyes, beats all of the others on there hands down. It’s the album’s big finale. It’s a bop. It brings the album’s themes of love and escape into focus here, overloading it with a dramatic production of busy minor-chord pianos, harmonious backing vocals, organs, the whole lot. I don’t know if anyone’s put it down to a tee of what the track is about. McCartney stated that he had the song’s first line in his head for months before eventually carrying on with it. But what I gather from it is a ‘love will conquer all’ kind of message. While everyone’s thinking about themselves and their own worries, Paul and Linda (who I assume he’s probably singing about) don’t have so much of a burden because they have each other. Although, it could just be a case where the lyrics came to McCartney and sounded good with the music with not much thought put into them. It’s all speculation.

Really, the highlight of the entire track is its ending, which really begins with two minutes left of its running time. While Paul McCartney’s adlibbing in the background, grunting, yelling, wooping, making all kinds of noises, the instrumental builds and builds. McCartney’s going wild on the guitar performing these bends and licks. A droning synthesizer is introduced followed by blaring horns. What I think is a clarinet comes in and pulls of this crazy run of notes. The music gets louder and louder before crescendo-ing into its explosive final chord, which then segues into a reprise of the album’s opening track. I get goosebumps every time. A big fan of songs with great endings over here, and this one is up there with the best of them.