Happy Birthday, Paul!

Sir Paul McCartney is 70 years ago today.

One of the greatest songwriters and singers in rock and roll, Sir Paul McCartney turns 70 today (June 18). With the Beatles and later as a solo performer and bandleader, McCartney created some of the best (and worst) music in rock and roll history. He isn’t as cool today as he was in the 1960s or in the early part of the 1970s, but even at the twilight of his career McCartney is still a formidable talent.

In 1965 McCartney wrote “Yesterday,” which the Guinness Book of World Records says is the most covered song ever. It has been covered more than 3,000 times and in the 20th century alone the song was performed more than 7 million times.

Here you have a handful of tunes to represent Sir Paul’s long and fruitful career. McCartney may be rather unfairly judged by his output over recent years, but most of this shit rocks. Happy birthday!

MP3: “Yesterday” by Frank Sinatra

MP3: “Goodbye” by Mary Hopkin

MP3: “Blackbird” by Billy Preston

MP3: “Hey Jude” by Wilson Pickett

MP3: “Maybe I’m Amazed” by The Faces

MP3: “Smile Away” by The Krayolas

MP3: “Let It Be” by Aretha Franklin

MP3: “Michelle” by Iggy Pop

MP3: “On The Wings Of A Nightingale” by the Everly Brothers

MP3: “All Together Now” by Jim White

MP3: “Come And Get It” by Badfinger

MP3: “Give Ireland Back To The Irish” (alternate version) by Wings

MP3: “Every Night” (live) by Wings

MP3: “Scrambled Eggs” by Jimmy Fallon (feat. Paul McCartney)

MP3: “I Saw Her Standing There (Take 9)” by The Beatles

MP3: “The Fool On The Hill (Take 4)” by The Beatles

MP3: “Yesterday” (live, 1965) by The Beatles

MP3: “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (live, 1989) by Paul McCartney

Concert for Bangladesh is now digital

George Harrison at the Concert for Bangladesh, 1971.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Concert for Bangladesh, George Harrison’s Grammy-winning album is now available at the iTunes Store, 40 years after the historic concert event on August 1, 1971. The concert featured Harrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, Bob Dylan and others to benefit the country, hit by a typhoon and ravaged by war.

In the altruistic spirit which gave birth to The Concert for Bangladesh, each download will benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF — helping to provide immediate emergency relief for children in famine and drought-stricken regions in the Horn of Africa.

Visit TheConcertForBangladesh.com to find out about The Concert and the George Harrison Fund For UNICEF.

The Concert for Bangladesh feature film will stream in its entirety in a 72-hour online event. The free video stream will be available worldwide from Saturday, July 30 through Monday, August 1 on iTunes as well as TheConcertForBangladesh.com and GeorgeHarrison.com.

A 5-minute video trailer for the album and a 49-minute radio program about The Concert for Bangladesh are also now available for free streaming on iTunes.com/TheBeatles.

MP3: “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” by Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Leon Russell and Ringo Starr

YouTube: “Jumpin’ Jack Flash/Youngblood” by Leon Russell (dig that outfit!)

YouTube: “Here Comes The Sun” by George Harrison w/Pete Ham of Badfinger

Your Sister’s (Record) Rack: Badfinger

Still riffling through those records I got from my sister’s cool boyfriend, who works at an FM rock radio station.  Today we have something of interest to Beatles fans … by a group that managed to get three of the Fab Four involved with them over different points in their existence.

That’s Badfinger of course, and today’s record is Magic Christian Music, released on the Beatles’ Apple Records imprint in 1970.  Badfinger performed some of the songs in a movie, The Magic Christian, but the album isn’t an official soundtrack because the song “Something In The Air” by Thunderclap Newman that appears in the movie isn’t on the Apple label.  The real soundtrack appeared on another label, but mainly in England – so Apple put out today’s record to at least get Badfinger exposed to American audiences.

Badfinger is, of course, the British group led by singers Pete Ham and Tom Evans, who were also the group’s main songwriters.  They were called the Iveys when they were “discovered” by Mal Evans, the Beatles’ roadie and the dude who did a lot of the heavy lifting for Apple Records.  Evans signed the Iveys to a recording contract in 1968 and released a few singles to lukewarm success.  Paul McCartney was asked to write a song for the soundtrack of The Magic Christian movie, and when he did he asked the Iveys to record it.  While they were recording McCartney’s song “Come and Get It” (the session was also produced by McCartney), the group changed its name to Badfinger.

The Magic Christian was a satirical movie written by Terry Southern, also known for penning the script for Easy Rider.  It was first a novel, then the screenplay was adapted by Southern along with the film’s star Peter Sellers and two young British comedians, Graham Chapman and John Cleese (later to become famous as part of Monty Python’s Flying Circus).  Sellers played Guy Grand, an eccentric billionaire who adopts a homeless man (Ringo Starr) and together they begin playing nasty practical jokes on people.  The movie’s satiric message is that people would do just about anything for money, and each prank progressively gets wilder than the one preceding it.