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My apologies to a few of you who heard this story already. On Saturday my family and I were suited up and hitting the road for the Bat Mitzvah of the daughter of a friend and Townsman. Car rides to formal events always start off with a bang in our family. In the hour leading up to our departure we’re all on each other’s case, pointing fingers at each other for jeopardizing our ability to get on the road on time. One person’s shower is taking too long, while another person is taking too long to get into the shower. There’s always one more chore to knock out, like a basket of laundry that needs folding. I begin sweating like a pig as soon as I begin putting a tie on. There must be a pill I can take to stop sweating when I’m putting on a tie! I inevitably yell to no one in particular.
For this trip, although I had to finish reading the sports page and have one more cup of coffee before hitting the shower – and although I was already feeling the heat of the tie – I vowed to be the roadtrip’s Dr. Feelgood. I refrained from pointing fingers and threatening to leave without anyone who wasn’t ready at the appointed departure time. Then, in what seemed like a brilliant stroke of spreading some good vibrations, I readied disc 1 of Paul McCartney‘s Wingspan collection – nothing but the hits! I knew this CD would ease my wife’s rising stress level, and if Mom’s relaxed the boys have a better chance of being relaxed. (I was cool, mind you, totally sold on my pose as Mr. Calm.)
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We get on the road. We’re only 2 minutes behind schedule. I wasn’t watching the clock, mind you – just happened to see it out of the corner of my eye. Some minor crankiness erupts as we turn onto the ramp to the highway. It’s cool: I’m about to slip Wingspan, disc 1 (nothing but the hits – no nerdy B-sides to set me off on an unwanted lecture regarding hidden gems or the fact that Back to the Egg-era drummer Steve Holly played on a track on a tribute album that my friends and I commissioned) into the CD player. Almost immediately my wife begins to relax. Our little guy is tired, but is second to me in terms of Proper Attitude Adjustment. Our teenage boy, however, is really burnt out from an extremely fun Friday night on the town with his friends. I was counting on him falling asleep by this point, but he was merely slumped over in misery.
The distinctive opening rhythms of “Silly Love Songs” start up. My wife is totally relaxed. Our younger son is smiles at me when I drop down the rearview mirror to check on him. Our teenager is still slumped over the arm rest, looking as angst-ridden as Laurence Olivier‘s Maxim de Winter in Rebecca.
McCartney sings the opening line, “You’d think that people would have had enough of silly love…”
Young Master de Winter lifts his head and huffs, “Man, can’t this guy sing about anything but love?!?!”
I got two words for the young squire:
Helter Skelter.
Have you had the “Helter Skelter discussion” with him yet?
My fave feel good cd is Squeeze’s Singles. As soon as I hear the bass start up for Take Me I’m Yours, I’m off to a feel good time. It always feels like the sun is shining when I play that cd, whether it is or not.
dale, that Squeeze comp also does wonders for my wife’s nerves.
Hrrundi, he likes plenty of McCartney songs with the Beatles, both sweet and savory, but that day, at least, he was in no mood for Wings:)
Tell the kid I’m siding with him.
I guess Uncle Albert would have been even worse on the boy.
Curiously, Wingspan (or Wings Pan) featured in a weekend car trip for my family as well. Both discs. It is/they are in the best sense of the phrase, “easy listening.” Except when C Moon gets lodged in your brain. Anyway, that’s beside the point. Play your son Monkberry Moon Delight. Not about love. What, by the way, IS it about? Seriously. Or Soily. What the?
Also, your tagline for this post made me think of the Batman villain King Tut’s line “from the mouths of babes, oft times comes pap.”
Yeah, there’s something about Wingspan that bothers me, like McCartney (or someone) specifically chose the most MOR, overplayed and/or cutesy songs of his career. Which admittedly isn’t hard. I’m not saying he should’ve put “Temporary Secretary” on there, but having to listen to “C Moon,” “Silly Love Songs” and “With a Little Luck” on one disc is like eating a whole box of salt water taffy in one sitting.
On TWO discs, right, Oats? One disc is nothing but the hits. The People selected those tracks, in a sense. The other disc is McCartney’s stoned amuse bouche offerings, no? He’s long displayed a terrible sense of presenting what is cool about himself, so I think the collection is consistent with who he is.
Wasn’t that same question, from Macca’s father, the impetus for “Eleanor Rigby?” Of course, I can’t find any confirmation of this right now, so maybe I just imagined hearing this.
Really? If so, that’s hilarious, because that’s my son’s favorite McCartney song!
“He’s long displayed a terrible sense of presenting what is cool about himself”
Truly. Wingspan disc 2, though quite enjoyable in its own right, nonetheless represents yet another missed opportunity for Mc to establish proper cool creds.
Also, I hope I’m not the only person who wanted to pince-nez McCartney for releasing a Wings compilation that ends in 1984, four years after Wings broke up!
I think that video of Silly Love Songs can cause fusion of cells in the brain stem. Or at least that’s what it feels like to me. I’m solidly with your son on that one. (Never a McCartney fan, here.) I always make mix lists for the iPod, and Krissy never noticed that for the last 10 years or so, every time we start out on a family trip, the first song to come on is the opening credits to Rear Window, by Franz Waxman. I had to rip this off the DVD, because it is available nowhere, but what a great slice of Americana, as can only be cobbled together by a refugee immigrant.
McCartney fans – and detractors – short of going back in time and actually having him killed in his prime, in that mythical car accident, how would we consult the man on finally establishing some proper cool creds?
I haven’t thought this out yet, but I’d recommend we build a case for him as possibly rock’s best bassist, the James Jamerson of rock, in a sense.
Even though it’s 20 years late, 2010 would be an excellent time to write, record and release McCartney III. He’s been playing most of the instruments on his last few solo albums anyway, but the time is now to take a stand. He’s always taking credit for things that he maybe shouldn’t, but I think he can fairly reliably claim a “Godfather of DIY” position, in terms of record-making, with the McCartney series.
I think the obvious thing Macca could do to establish his cool creds would be to reverse the songwriting credits on Beatles’ classics rendering them by “McCartney/Lennon.” I know I changed my mind about when I saw that…
I feel that Macca has this weird internal thing where he needs to validate himself. I really think it goes beyond just ego. If you try to watch his latest concert tour documentaries, they all seem to have this recurring theme of, “Hey. Look. Jack Nicholson/Howard Stern/Brian Wilson/Corey Feldman/Tom Cruise/Whoever came to my concert. Here they are in the audience enjoying the show. Doesn’t this make me cool?” There’s all these shots of audience members crying/reacting to the presence of Macca. I don’t need these things to convince me that I like your music, dude. Just show me the concert.
I have a love/hate thing for Macca. I do love his music, even at some of its silliest, but sometimes I wish he would just stop.
TB
Didn’t he play most everything on the album he did with Nigel Godrich? That would kind of make it “McCartney III,” no?
Is McCartney II that good? I haven’t played it in eons.
I think Skip Spence would be the more appropriate Godfather of DIY.
From Wikipedia: “During his six months in Bellevue, Spence was diagnosed with schizophrenia. On the day of his release, he drove a motorcycle, dressed in only his pajamas, directly to Nashville to record his only solo album, with no other musicians appearing on it, the now-classic psychedelic/folk album Oar.”
I recall hearing that the studio only had three tracks.
I’m not endorsing that album in its entirety, by the way. Half is really good, and half sounds exactly like a schizophrenic in the middle of an acid-induced breakdown.
Skip Spence raises an interesting question. If you’ve been diagnosed with schizophrenia and record an album, can it really be D.I.Y.? Or is it D.I.O.? Is it a solo album or a duo album?
Dunno, just asking myself…
Mod, your question, “how would we consult the man on finally establishing some proper cool creds”–and for “consult” I read “counsel”–will be answered in the order it was received. My entire staff is working on this one.
I’m with the boy.