Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey

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"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"
"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" cover
Single by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney
from the album Ram
B-side(s) "Too Many People"
Released 1971
Format 7"
Recorded 1970
Genre Rock
Length 4:49
Label Parlophone
Writer(s) Paul McCartney
Producer(s) Paul McCartney
Chart positions
Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney singles chronology
"Eat at Home" (with Linda McCartney)
(1971)
"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" (with Linda McCartney)
(1971)
"Give Ireland Back to the Irish" (with Wings)
(1972)

"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" is a song by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney on the album Ram. It hit number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in September 1971. The song is probably the most ambitious and experimental track on Ram, and is less a song and more a collection of melodic fragments pieced together, in a similar way to the song-cycle on the second half of The Beatles' Abbey Road.

The melody and lyrics are upbeat and nonsensical (Albert was an uncle of McCartney's, while Admiral "Bull" Halsey was a World War II figure). The sophisticated arrangement, production, sound effects, and vocal treatments strongly recall The Beatles during their psychedelic phase. McCartney's detractors cite the whimsical, lightweight lyrics as indicative of the lack of substance inherent in his solo work.[citation needed]

Preceded by
"How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?" by Bee Gees
Billboard Hot 100 number one single
September 4, 1971
Succeeded by
"Go Away Little Girl" by Donny Osmond