Coming Up (song)
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| “Coming Up” | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Single by Paul McCartney from the album McCartney II |
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| B-side | "Coming Up" (Live at Glasgow) "Lunchbox/Odd Sox" (both with Wings) |
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| Released | 11 April 1980 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Format | 7" | |||||||||||||||||||
| Genre | Funk rock | |||||||||||||||||||
| Label | Parlophone/EMI (UK) Columbia (US) |
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| Writer(s) | Paul McCartney | |||||||||||||||||||
| Producer | Paul McCartney | |||||||||||||||||||
| Paul McCartney singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||||||
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"Coming Up" was the opening track from Paul McCartney's McCartney II album, written by McCartney and released in 1980. Like the rest of the album, the song had a minimalist synthesized feel to it. It featured humorously-processed lead vocals from McCartney, who played all the instruments and shared harmonies with wife Linda.
Despite his ambivalent feelings about McCartney's solo success, John Lennon was complimentary of this song, and it partially inspired Lennon's own 1980 comeback.[1]
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[edit] Live Wings version
A live version of the song was recorded by Wings in concert December 17, 1979, in Glasgow, Scotland. This version had a much fuller sound and was included as one of the two songs on the B-side of the single; the other B-side was also a Wings song, "Lunchbox/Odd Sox", that dated back to the Venus and Mars sessions. Both B-sides were credited to Paul McCartney & Wings (see the alternate cover), the first time this credit had been used for a Wings record since "Junior's Farm."
In the US, radio stations bypassed the McCartney solo A-side and played the live Wings B-side.[2] To help sales of McCartney II, a special single-sided 45rpm promotional white-label copy of the Wings version was included with the album in North America.
The live Wings version has since appeared on various McCartney best-of compilations. For example, on the McCartney and Wings greatest hits album Wingspan, the live Wings version is included on the US/Canada releases, while the McCartney solo studio version is included on the UK release.
A different live Wings recording of "Coming Up" appears on the album version of the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, with an additional verse that was edited out of the Glasgow release.
[edit] Video
"Coming Up" is also well known for its video. It is an early example of electronic trickery, with Paul McCartney playing ten roles and Linda McCartney playing two. The "band" features Paul and Linda's imitations of several famous rock musicians; some are more easily recognizable than others. According to one source, the characters include Buddy Holly (guitar), Ginger Baker (drums), Ron Mael of Sparks (keyboards), a 'Beatlemania-Era' version of Beatle Paul (bass and backing vocals), Andy MacKay (sax), Frank Zappa (sax), as well as a long-haired guitarist (strongly resembling Neil Young), two sax players and a male backing singer (performed by Linda) that have yet to be identified with any certainty.[2]
McCartney himself, though, said that the glasses-wearing guitarist is Hank Marvin (not Holly) and that the out-of-step sax player is just a "hippie guy."[3] In audio commentary on a 2007 video collection, McCartney claims that only three of his characters in the video were impersonations of a single person: Hank Marvin, Ron Mael and "the bass player from The Beatles."[4]
[edit] Charts
The B-side, the live Wings version of "Coming Up", became a #1 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 hit in June 1980. The A-side, the McCartney solo version, reached #2 in the UK.
"Coming Up" is the only Paul McCartney song to hit the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart that was officially credited by Billboard to McCartney as a solo artist, despite the fact that the "Live At Glasgow" version of "Coming Up" that actually topped the U.S. chart was performed by (and credited to) McCartney & Wings. All other Billboard number-one singles involving McCartney after The Beatles are officially credited to either Paul & Linda McCartney ("Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"), Paul McCartney & Wings ("My Love," "Band On The Run"), Wings ("Listen To What The Man Said", "Silly Love Songs," "With A Little Luck"), Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder ("Ebony & Ivory") and Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson ("Say, Say, Say"). That oddity makes McCartney the ex-Beatle to top the charts both the most (in conjunction with Wings and others) and the least (by himself) after the band's breakup. Ringo Starr and John Lennon each registered two U.S. pop number-one hits, while George Harrison had three, all of which were credited to them alone.
| Chart (1980) | Peak position |
Version |
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| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 | Wings |
| U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40 | 1 | Wings |
| UK Singles Chart | 2 | solo |
[edit] Notes
- ^ Rosen, Robert. Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon. 2001, p. 135. ISBN 978-0932551511.
- ^ a b Bronson, Fred. The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, Billboard Books, 2003, p. 526.
- ^ Saturday Night Live transcript, May 17, 1980 interview by "Father Guido Sarducci" with Paul & Linda McCartney. Retrieved April 9, 2008.
- ^ Paul McCartney audio commentary, The McCartney Years, 2007.
[edit] Video
| Preceded by "Funkytown" by Lipps Inc |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single June 28, 1980 |
Succeeded by "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" by Billy Joel |
| Preceded by "Funkytown" by Lipps Inc |
ARC Weekly Top 40 number one single (first run) June 14, 1980 - June 24, 1980 |
Succeeded by "The Rose" by Bette Midler |
| Preceded by "The Rose" by Bette Midler |
ARC Weekly Top 40 number one single (second run) July 5, 1980 - July 12, 1980 |
Succeeded by "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" by Billy Joel |
