Paul McCartney's Top 3 signature solo songs in Russia

... as well as dozens of other post-soviet and eastern european countries countries I guess:

1. Mrs. Vandebilt (known as Hop Hey Hop).
2. Hope of Deliverance.
3. Monkberry Moon Delight.

Weird, I know.

 

Just curious: How did you come to this conclusion? Based on some poll, or on sales, or ??

 

Could be right.

Mrs Vandebilt was voted to be included in concert there.

 

I know "Hope of Deliverance" was a big hit in Germany, having gone gold.

 

Well, overall exposure, radio overkill etc. Hop Hey Hop became almost a folk song here in the 70's equal to Venus and Yellow River. Hope of Deliverance is almost unescapable on the radio for the last 25 years.

 

I don't know "Yellow River".

Is that the song recorded by I. P. Freely?

 

Let's not get carried away by the stream of jokes! This was a huge hit in Europe in 1970 I think

 

Hey...that's some classic 70's pop. What is their country of origin?

 

I never heard that song. I hear Macca/Badfinger/Nilsson/Creedence influences.

 

UK. Christie had several albums and quite a few memorable songs in the early 70's.

 

What about the song "Putin There" off the Flowers In The Dirt LP?

 

Huh. Even the Russians didn't like the Russian album.

 

I can't speak of its radio play in the 1980s (if any), but "Average Person" gets some radio play in Estonia (there was also a widely-played cover version a few years ago; no, I don't have that link, sorry, wish I did). Well, I mean, it's not a true phenomenon like "Yellow River," which is still widely played on Estonian radio and which I too had never heard before I came to Estonia in 2000, but I don't know that I've ever heard "Average Person" on North American radio, so it sort of amazes me when I hear it in Estonia.

 

Hmm… strangely, in my Eastern European country none of these songs is popular (except maybe Hope of Deliverance to some extent, but most people are unaware who's singing, even if it sounds like a familiar song) . Solo Paul McCartney is associated mostly with Mull of Kintyre (this one was massive when I was kid and still is his most popular song), No more lonely nights, and his duets with Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. Of course I speak about the general audience.

 

Interesting. Because otherwise IMHO Russia and Bulgaria share quite a lot of musical tastes (I have family ties to Bulgaria and have been there a lot).

 

I live in St. Petersburg, was born in Brest (Belarus SSR), my dad was born and lived in Minsk (Belarus SSR) for a long time and during his university years, Mrs. Vanderbilt was very popular. The refrain line "what's the use of worrying" especially the way it was sung, was often jokingly parodied by people as "в РТИ заборы есть" meaning "there are fences in/around RTI", RTI standing for radio-technical institute, most likely.

That is also one of the reasons why in 2008 he was asked to play that specific song in 2008 in Kiev, check the crowd reaction when it starts, and if I'm not mistaken they had a poll what song people would like to hear and this song got the most votes. I don't think he played that track live before that, but he sure have been playing it here and there after that.

I don't usually watch TV and was surprised to find out 2 years later that for one of the New Year's Eve TV shows the media people made a version of Monkberry Moon Delight

As semi-related bonus, here's a remake of Drive My Car (the lyrics are different and are 100% about a car, unlike the original) and Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (straight cover version).

 

Yes, I know, that's why I'm surprised.

 

My dad and his peers as well all had a whole bunch of LPs issued by Balkanton, some among them were compilations, but also many full albums (one of them I remember was Michael Jackson's Thriller).

 

As you mention Balkanton (the one and only, state own Bulgarian label during the cold war, with very interesting history and releases), this reminds me that in 1978 Balkanton released “Wings Greatest”, but omitted the song “Live and let die” (because it was from a James Bond movie, and James Bond was not officially approved back then). Because of this omission, Live and let die achieved kind of a cult status in Bulgaria, and it’s also among the popular solo McCartney songs here, although never had radio airplay locally until 1990.

 

Another quite popular Macca tune, though not on the level of these 3 is Bip Bop. It was used as a theme music in one of the 90's top TV shows and I heard it on the radio quite a few times.

 

Melodya pulled an even funnier trick in the late 70's when it released Band on the Run album without it's title track! It was replaced by Silly Love Songs. Guess they thought Band on the Run was literally about a gang jail break or something.

 

Haha, this is how the legends are born

 

Nothing weird, it's true: I'm from Russia.

 

I'm glad you agree. Could be other tunes but these 3 rules supreme in our neck of woods when it comes to all things Macca...