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

Your Sister’s (Record) Rack: Singles, Part 4

Can’t stop spinnin’ those singles!  Today we listen to a handful from the other side of the Big Pond, from our friends in the United Kingdom.  They will take us on a little tour of the isles across the ocean.

Let’s begin in the northern Isles … in Scotland, where Al Stewart comes from.  Stewart, best known for the 1976 hit album Year Of The Cat (and its title track, a hit single), has also worked with a number of big names including Alan Parsons, Jimmy Page and Rick Wakeman.  Stewart followed up the platinum Year Of The Cat with 1978’s Time Passages, which spawned another hit with its title track and “Song On The Radio,” which barely managed to climb into the American Top 30.

MP3: “Song On The Radio” by Al Stewart

Now we catch the train south to Wales for Andy Fairweather Low, a Welshman, who made his name by performing with the group Amen Corner – they had a top single “Half As Nice” in 1969.  But Fairweather Low (or is it just Low?) is perhaps best known for playing with superstars like the Who, Roger Waters, Eric Clapton and many more.  “Spider Jiving” is the title track and single from Fairweather Low’s first solo album in 1974.

MP3: “Spider Jiving” by Andy Fairweather Low

Let’s hop over to London to find Tim Curry, an acclaimed stage and screen actor.  Of course you knew he could sing – he absolutely wailed as Dr. Frank N. Furter in the play and movie Rocky Horror Picture Show.  In the late 1970s Curry attempted to be a recording artist and his 1979 LP Fearless was fairly successful.  Curry co-wrote most of the songs on the album including the tongue-in-cheek single “I Do The Rock,” which dented the Top 100 for about two seconds.

MP3: “I Do The Rock” by Tim Curry

Christmas Song of the Day: “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” is far from his best effort, however, it is one of his best known solo songs. For me, the keyboard part is like a needle in the eye, but what do I know? Since its release in 1979, it has unfortunately become a holiday favorite on radio and wherever else you hear Christmas songs. 

If you’re hot to find it this holiday season, it’s a bonus track on the Wings LP, Back to the Egg.

Paul McCartney Official Website

Bad Career Moves, Part 2

In the years following the Beatles’ breakup, the only member of the Fab Four to start a real group of his own was Paul McCartney.  Wings, which included former Moody Blues member Denny Laine and Paul’s wife Linda, had its moments but more often the music was distressingly bad – especially for someone who just a few years before wrote and sang some of rock’s greatest songs.

Wild Life, the 1971 album that introduced Wings, was the worst.  To be fair, McCartney was still struggling to get a handle on his post-Beatles career, and Wild Life did have a few decent songs.   McCartney admired Bob Dylan’s organic, simple recording style and tried to emulate that but he forgot one thing – the songs.  “Mumbo” and “Bip Bop” sound unfinished – the former was made up on the spot – and the synthesized cover of Mickey and Sylvia’s “Love Is Strange” was kind of, well, strange.

Of course, McCartney and Wings would rebound spectacularly in 1973 with the title song from the James Bond movie Live And Let Die, and later that year, Band On The Run.  McCartney would again flirt with total suck-osity in the 1980s (Give My Regard To Broad Street, a movie and a record with remakes of Beatles songs) and the 1990s (Off The Ground), but by that time nobody cared any more.

Sir Paul is now something of a beloved entertainer, made even more so by his announcement last year that he’s retiring from live performances (after this tour) and the fact that his old Beatles fans are getting older.  McCartney is that rare entertainer who has given us so much to love, and so much to hate.

MP3: “Bip Bop”

MP3: “Mumbo”

Paul McCartney official website

Tomorrow: It was all downhill after Woodstock …