Pretty Little Head (song)

"Pretty Little Head" is a 1986 single by Paul McCartney.^[1] It was McCartney's thirty-eighth single, and his first which failed to chart, so, in an attempt to boost sales, he released his first ever cassette single.^[1] It still failed to reach the top 75.^[1]

Reviews of the song, and the album as a whole, were mixed. The song has been described as "wild, hi-tech experimentation",^[2] and as "computer-laiden, spacey-sounding, boomey-drumming, while Rolling Stone magazine described it as "dreamily abstract".^[3]

Versions and video

The single was released at a length of 3:50 on the 7" release, and as a 6:56 remix (mixed by John Potoker) on the 12" release on the same day, 27 October 1986, and an extra track, "Angry", was added to the 12".^[1] The cassette version was the same as the 12", and was released on 17 November 1986.^[1] Both of these lengths are different from the album version, which has a length of 5:14. (See Press to Play).

12" single tracks

1. "Pretty Little Head"
2. "Pretty Little Head" (remix by John Potoker)
3. "Angry" (remix by Larry Alexander)
4. "Write Away"

A music video, directed by Steve Barron, was recorded for the song,^[1] which features a girl running away from home after she witnesses her parents in an argument; she then finds herself in a big city. The girl is actress Gabrielle Anwar. McCartney appears only in a short cameo role, which he filmed in London on 18 October 1986.^[1] The beginning of the video contains an excerpt from "She's Leaving Home" a Beatles song written and performed in 1967, for the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

"Write Away", the single's B-side, is included only on the CD release of the album, resulting in the back of the single listing the A-side as "From the album" and the B-side as "From the compact disc".^[1]

Notes