Posted on 10/04/2023 2:54:47 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Every musician Paul McCartney parodies in the 'Coming Up' video Tom Taylor WED 4TH OCT 2023 19.00 BST
“That’s maybe my number one career highlight!” Ron Mael of Sparks told Far Out when we caught up with him recently. “To have a former Beatle, who could’ve chosen any keyboard to imitate, so to imitate me was certainly a very flattering moment.” He is, of course, talking about Paul McCartney‘s impersonation in the video for his solo hit ‘Coming Up’.
The track comes from McCartney II which, like its predecessor, saw Macca play every instrument. As such, the album is a purified look at his artistry, it showcases the inspirations in his creative welter without any second-hand filtering. Moreover, it saw him attempt to enter the 1980s renewed, digging back through any lingering disillusionment and getting to the heart of the music that moved him.
Therefore, the characters that cropped up in the music video for ‘Coming Up’ were very notable. In some ways, they were like the animated version of the Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Cover – an assortment of influences brought together in a collage form to showcase McCartney’s inspirations. And it worked; the song went to number one in the US and settled at second in the UK behind ‘Geno’ by Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Returning to what he loved had worked.
So, what was it that he did love exactly? Well, aside from the idiosyncratic Ron Mael, there are a slew of other artists that McCartney imitates in some fashion in the video. These can also be detected in the smorgasbord of sounds he tries out in the instrumentation styles too. We’ve collated a run-down of the characters below.
Who does Paul McCartney imitate in the ‘Coming Up’ video? Hank Mavin – Commonly known as the hungriest man in rock, Marvin was the lead guitarist for the Shadows, who, along with The Beatles, dominated the British charts in the 1960s. With his straight-arm strumming style, heavy echo and vibrato, Marvin helped to invent the sound of the era thanks to his unique playing.
Ron Mael – The famed keyboardist from rock ‘n’ roll turned electro group the Sparks. As he told us of the imitation: “It was also British bands that meant something to us other than maybe The Beach Boys who sort of encapsulated the Southern California lifestyle, but other than that, it was British bands and then just to have Paul McCartney do that was wow! There is a show here, Saturday Night Live, and McCartney was making his appearance and presenting that for the first time, and it was just like, well, I had a swelled head for a couple of weeks.”
Beatlemania Macca: McCartney tackles a younger version of himself. Unlike many musicians who have moved on from their past, Paul is never shy of celebrating his former glory, and holds The Beatles dearly, as well as the influences that inspired him at the time.
John Bonham: Led Zeppelin’s thunder of drums. Often considered the greatest drummer of all time, McCartney admired his abilities but often felt that he wouldn’t have melded as well with many bands. However, they eventually got to play together on the Wings tack ‘Beware My Love’, and McCartney later reflected: “It was fantastic! He was always on my top 5 drummer list. A great friend and ballsy drummer!”
Andy Mackay: The English oboe and saxophone player best known for being a founder of the art rock extraordinaires Roxy Music. McCartney would eventually recruit Mackay to work on the Tug of War track, ‘What’s That You’re Doing’.
Frank Zappa: The iconoclastic rock star, guitarist and composer who was famously mixed when it came to The Beatles; he put ‘I Am the Walrus’ among his favourite singles of all time, and said Revolver was his favourite album from 1966, but also stated: “Everybody else thought they were God! I think that was not correct. They were just a good commercial group.” As for McCartney, he once cited ‘Freak Out!’ as the key inspiration behind Sgt. Pepper’s.
Buddy Holly: A firm hero to The Beatles. Speaking about the American rockabilly pioneer, McCartney once said that it was Buddy Holly who encouraged him and John Lennon to start writing their own original songs together.
(Every musician Paul McCartney parodies in the ‘Coming Up’ video)
I guess people may have had enough of silly 😜 love 🏩🥰❣️💘 songs......
I want my 3:54 back.
I’ll send you the paperwork. Just fill it out in triplicate, submit it, and you will get the time back in 3 to 5 weeks.
Okay, seems fair.
I kept waiting for the video to do something interesting. Alas, it was like a repeating 6-second-long GIF animation that just loops forever with the same thing. It said everything in the first two iterations.
Like the famous GIF of a buxom woman sneezing and her blouse popping open almost enough to see something, it's impossible to look away because the mind wants to think "surely the next time she'll spill out of that blouse". I kept thinking, surely in the next iteration of the "Coming Up" riff there will be something interesting. But no.
George Harrison was famously quoted as saying that "Paul kept coming to the rest of us (Beatles) with these fruity songs he wanted us to do."
George was too kind.
I patiently await my refund.
There were a few good ones, yes.
I have been a lifelong huge fan of Beatles music, I play guitar in a band that covers many Beatles songs, my life was forever changed on Feb 9, 1964, etc. And of course many of those songs were McCartney compositions. So I grant Paul that he was a hell of a great songwriter back in the day, and his bass playing has been an inspiration to me and countless others.
But after about 1968 his writing just got, in George's words, "fruity", and the stuff after that, while mostly technically competent, is just not interesting. sigh, sic transit.
I would have liked to see what John Lennon did in later life, after 1980. Minus the politics, of course. Musically he was really the better writer by far.
(Musically he was really the better writer by far.)
But his last choice of women.....
Instant Karma was amazing
Then it was “Days Like These” 😲🥺😮
Not a fan of pop music, eh?
Depends on the era. I grew up listening to 60's pop and loved it, and still do. I still buy CD re-releases of the LPs I can no longer play. Beatles, Byrds, Yardbirds, Kinks, Stones, all of that stuff.
But as a grew older I listened to a lot more styles, and unfortunately the "pop" of those succeeding years became formulaic dreck.
Coming Up is a uniquely annoying song. Wings had a couple of songs that could remade into something worthwhile, but they have also created an amazing portion of the worst pop songs ever. Which is odd because McCartney is SO good.
Not Paul’s best era, but I still love the Ram album.
I've heard it said that Lennon liked Reagan, the two had met a few years earlier by chance during a Monday Night Football game, and Reagan spent a few minutes discussion the rules of football with John.
No kidding. If he'd lived, I think he would have ditched Yoko eventually, put together a really great R&B/Blues band, and we'd have a whole library of great stuff to listen to. He still had a lot yet to do, and it would have been awesome.
And Yoko, instead of cashing in on John's memory, would have faded into the obscurity she so deserves.
But that's not what happened. As to his women, well, the less said the better, he wasn't as principled or smart in that area as he could have been. Then again, that can be said for many of us....
No kidding. If he’d lived, I think he would have ditched Yoko eventually, put together a really great R&B/Blues band
He could have resurrected The Dirty Mac
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeFwaWFTGYU
I've read that too. I suppose John's leftist stuff was more the influence of Yoko than internal conviction. I've read that he was very malleable in the hands of a woman, and Yoko was a controlling bitch, so John would have been pure putty for her aspirations.
I rather think John might have made a good (small-l) libertarian.
“I want my 3:54 back.”
Agree.
Abbey Road was the last of McCartney,Lennon and Starkey that interests me. Harrison...another story.
I’m a fan.
Saw Paul and Linda on a ferry between Port Angeles Washington and Victoria B.C. when I was 13.
Learned on a jr.high school band class Hofner bass ( right handed)
Had a 4001 by 9th grade.
Silly Love Song came out durring my first puppy love crush girlfreind and was our song.
Saw the first kingdome concert Wings over America tour.
Never heard a wings song I didn’t like.
Still a fan.
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