Celebrating Sir Paul: Coming Up

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Oh, is this one going to give you a headache to keep up with. Not the song, and definitely not the video, but the release name history. I highly recommend this video, whether you like the song or not. It’s one of my favorite videos ever by anyone! The video alone almost put this song in the top ten, but I came to my senses. Here’s today’s song to celebrate Paul McCartney’s upcoming birthday. Coming Up (Paul) Here’s what’s so hard to keep up with. The studio version of the song was released under the name “Paul McCartney.” The live version was released under the name Wings. That made it the final Wings song. The live version was a hit in the US, because the record label promoted it on the belief that people wanted to hear Paul sing, not the synthesized voices used in the studio version. None of that mattered in the long run. The song, whichever version you choose, was a smash hit. It was a top three hit in Australia, Norway, Italy, New Zealand, Canada, the UK, and the US. Now, for the video. You can tell that some of those people are Paul McCartney in disguise. Truth be told, ALL of the musicians are Paul. He has tributes to himself as a Beatle, Buddy Holly (where he’s mimicking playing guitar right-handed), Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham (who, sadly, died not too long after this video was released), and my personal favorite, a spot-on impersonation of Sparks keyboardist Ron Mael. The two people who aren’t Paul are Linda: she did both herself and the male back-up singer. That video is a hoot. The song’s not too bad, either! Coming Up Written by Paul McCartney Recorded by Paul McCartney From McCartney II (Paul), 1980 Live version by Wings Released as a single, 1980 You want a love to last forever: