December 12, 2010
Did you see Paul McCartney on "Saturday Night Live" last night?
Oh, that wasn't last night. That was back in 1993. Here's a report of last night's show, and here's the clip of him doing — of all things — "A Day in the Life." I don't think The Beatles ever did that live. It was weird having Paul sing the John part (as well as the comb-across-my-hair Paul part), and the last verse was replaced by the chorus of "Give Peace a Chance" — in case you didn't pick up on the tribute to John (a few days after the 30th anniversary of his death.)
"I wasn't really dead," says Paul, in that 1993 clip, when Chris Farley asks if the "Paul is dead" thing was a hoax. And now, Paul lives on, and poor Chris is dead. Chris was born here in Madison and is buried here, in a cemetery at the end of a street named Farley.
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13 comments:
I haven't watched an SNL episode in a while, just some clips on hulu now and then.
With your mention of Chris Farley and his death, the first thing I thought of was his Chippendale dancer sketch with Patrick Swayze, also dead.
Chris Farley: Right. I think we.. I think we got time for one more question. Uh.. remember when you were in The Beatles? And, um, you did that album Abbey Road, and at the very end of the song, it would.. the song goes, "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make"? You.. you remember that?
Paul McCartney: Yes.
Chris Farley: Uh.. is that true?
Paul McCartney: Yes, Chris. In my experience, it is. I find, the more you give, the more you get.
Chris Farley [ ecstatic, starts to point at Paul and mouth "AWESOME!" ]
For me this was the best part of the sketch. When I think of Chris and I wish he would have had more of this in his short life.
Jimbo
No, I didn't. I did see McCartney with Jimmy Fallon Friday night singing 'Yesterday' with the original lyrics for 'Scrambled Eggs'.
http://www.fancast.com/blogs/2010/tv-news/watch-fallon-mccartney-perform-scrambled-eggs-aka-the-original-yesterday/
McCartney. Always a businessman. Apple ITunes now has the Beatles. And what better than Sir Paul appearing all over US tv to raise his profile again and now sell more MP3's.
I think it important to mention that I'm not NOT dead yet... Well, it's important to me.
Wow Paul McCartney's voice is shot to shit. He got better as the night went on, but that first song Jet,had some godawful singing on his part. Every time he had to go to the higher parts he did a lower out of tune version and it sounded really bad. While I can see that as you get older you lose some of your range, did he also lost his ability to even carry a tune?
Yuck.
But as i said, he did get better with each song, and I guess we should cut him some slack, he is a 65 year old guy at this point. Maybe we shouldn't expect the high notes of his youth.
Pure comic genius.
McCartney did the "A Day in the Life/Give Peace a Chance" Lennon homage throughout last year's tour. His singing of the Lennon vocal to me sounds appropriately aged, retrospective and melancholy.
Beyond the familiar and distinctive cracks in his live vocals, McCartney's voice did sound weaker during his first two Wings songs on SNL.
"Jet" is a tough song to sing with many high, long-held notes. Still, his voice sounded weaker than last summer in the stadium setting, which, granted, is a more forgiving venue.
Paul McCartney had a band before Wings?
There's the obvious exception of Lenny Bruce, but comedians who die young do not see their legend grow. There are no candlelit vigils to Chris Farley's gravesite. But when you think about it, there are more prompts in our civilization that lead to overeating than to drug addiction. It could be said that Chris Farley died for our sins in a much more literal sense than Lenny Bruce.....A good laugh is worth more than a good song, and we should mourn our comedians dying young with the same fervor that we do our vanished rock stars. Our culture of overindulgence called Chris Farley and John Candy just as surely as Mark Chapman pulled the trigger on John Lennon. In order to expiate our sins, I am asking that every year Michelle Obama call a national day of mourning to memoralize their passing and that on that day all McDonald's should be closed. Surely these brave men did not die for nothing
Yeah, the weak voice spoiled things for me. Paul was a great rock and roll singer, but it's hard to do what he did vocally into old age*. He might be able to pull off Blackbird, but I suspect Long Tall Sally is out of the set lineup.
*Mick Jagger appears to be an exception.
Saw the "Two Pauls" opening, but as I am old enough to have seen the Beatles on their first tour, I fell asleep before Paul sang, I guess.
@John Stodder
re: Mick Jagger
Well, that's the benefit of never being able to sing in the first place - less to lose as you get older, so ppl think you're just as good - kind of like plain or ugly people don't age as badly as the super cute. See Ringo. I barely see a difference.
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