Paul McCartney: The Great Collaborator

Tuneful Tuesday is back!

After an obscure but heartfelt beginning in my early post Chess: The Musical Memory, the tunes sort of disappeared there for a couple weeks, what with my foray into my local art gallery the following week and the Week of the Guest Posts changing the order of things the week after that. I sorta, kinda, almost got back to it last week, with my discussion of United Breaks Guitars, but that turned into more of a rant about business on the internet. (Gah! Makes my head spin!)

Today, though, we're back with a vengeance. Music is in the air, and we're going to take a little trip down memory lane.

I'd been planning to do some posts about music I've enjoyed in the past anyway, but this evening a little cosmic event occurred that cemented my plans and gave me a musical kick-in-the-arse.

I decided to stop by one of my favorite coffee shops after work today, a little place near the university that I don't get to as often as I'd like. After having my bagel and decaf, I was heading out the door when I heard my name. Looking around, I saw a familiar face that I just couldn't quite place for a moment or two. Turned out to be a fellow who used to work at a local music store and who ran a basic course on synthesizers back in the day. I was actually floored that he remembered me.

I recall driving to that store for the after-hours class, which lasted quite a few weeks, if memory serves. I have a very distinct recollection of waiting to turn left at a traffic light while on my way to a class and hearing Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder singing "What's That You're Doing?" on the car radio.

I was a ravenous consumer of the vinyl at the time, and McCartney's Tug of War album had recently come out. That album is one of my favorites of McCartney's (despite the fairly schmaltzy "Ebony and Ivory", a second duet with Wonder), and it got a good number of spins on my turntable, I can tell you.

[You can do the math. Yes, this was a looooong time ago.]

I always enjoyed the fact that McCartney liked to invite other well-known artists to contribute to his albums. Stevie Wonder appeared on two tracks of Tug of War (and cowrote "What's That You're Doing?"), but he wasn't the only guest artist. George Martin and Ringo Starr appeared on "Take it Away" (one of my favorite songs from the album, probably due to the horn section that kicks in around the second verse), and Carl Perkins appeared on "Get it", a good-ole rockabilly number done with just guitars, harmonica, and two great vocalists.

The trend would continue. Pipes of Peace, the album McCartney put out the following year, featured not only a collaboration with jazz bassist Stanley Clarke, but two songs with Michael Jackson, who, in one of the greatest ironies in music history, would later outbid McCartney for the purchase of ATV Music, which held controlling interest in Northern Songs, the company that published all the Lennon/McCartney compositions from the Beatles days. Bloody complicated business, that.

Later albums would also feature other prominent artists. 1989's Flowers in the Dirt featured four songs co-written with Elvis Costello, one of which, "You Want Her Too", also featured Costello on vocals. The song "We Got Married" features Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour on guitar.

Flaming Pie, released in 1997 featured Steve Miller on three songs (one of which he co-wrote), and the reappearance of Ringo Starr and George Martin. They both participated in "Beautiful Night", Starr playing drums and singing backup and Martin providing the orchestration. Martin also orchestrated "Somedays", while Starr jammed with McCartney and Jeff Lynne on "Really Love You."

I've always admired McCartney's willingness to collaborate and take on new influences. It shows that he's always learning and always growing as an artist. He's arguably the most prolific and successful songwriter in pop music history, and he's nowhere near done. His youthful appearance at the age of sixty-seven is testament to his energy, enthusiasm, and positive outlook (not to mention his vegetarian lifestyle).

Tug of War was one of those seminal albums that had a strong impact on my growing musical sensibilities. McCartney has always had a knack for melody, and putting together this diverse yet cohesive group of songs made me sit up and take notice.

Listening to them takes me right back to the day and puts a smile on my face.

Gesundheit.

(Here's the video for "Take it Away". Look for a guest appearance by actor John Hurt as the impresario. Man, I love this song.)