Lennon's opinion of "Coming Up"?

I've read various quotes about John Lennon's opinion of "Coming Up", but I'm too old to remember them!

I've read that this song was part of the inspiration for him to start recording again. Living in NYC, I'd guess he more often heard the live version vs. the studio version. I think in the Playboy interview, he said he thought Paul sounded depressed on his latest lp.

Thoughts? Opinions? Idle (idol ) speculation is fun!

 

If he were here, he'd have voted it out of the first round of the Weakest Link tournament.

 

Peter Carlin mentioned this in his McCartney bio - I had the feeling he might have been trying hard (too hard?) for a scoop, but perhaps it was true.

 

In one interview, John stated that he enjoyed "Coming Up" very much -- noting his preference for the album take over the "Live At Glasgow version".

John had apparently been paying close attention -- not only did he have an awareness of both, he even knew where the live version was recorded.

 

In Fred Seaman's book, it's mentioned that Lennon was taken with it allegedly exclaiming with excitement, "**** a pig, that's Paul!".

 

Ok, if idle speculation is allowed, I'll chime in! I think John probably got the "depressed" vibe from hearing "Waterfalls" or perhaps seeing the video way back then. It was, after all, the 2nd single from the album, and the whole "I need love" bit could certainly make one think that Paul was depressed.

It's certainly possible that John had a copy of McCartney II, but I'd guess not. I think he probably became familiar with those songs via tv (the studio version of Coming Up) and radio (the live version was everywhere that summer). Waterfalls didn't get much airplay, but even I remember seeing that video back in the day...

 

In the Playboy interviews he mentioned it as "a good piece of work", IIRC.

 

I need to check when I get home. I recently scored a VG+++ copy from the Amazon Marketplace to replace my original. Useful for occasions such as these.

 

Here's a link to a transcript of John's interview with Playboy in 1980:

http://www.john-lennon.com/playboyinterviewwithjohnlennonandyokoono.htm

From the link:

John: We're neither. I haven't seen any of the Beatles for I don't know how much time. Somebody asked me what I thought of Paul's last album and I made some remark like, I thought he was depressed and sad. But then I realized I hadn't listened to the whole damn thing. I heard one track -- the hit "Coming Up," which I thought was a good piece of work. Then I heard something else that sounded like he was depressed. But I don't follow their work. I don't follow Wings, you know. I don't give a **** what Wings is doing, or what George's new album is doing, or what Ringo is doing. I'm not interested, no more than I am in what Elton John or Bob Dylan is doing. It's not callousness, it's just that I'm too busy living my own life to be following what other people are doing, whether they're the Beatles or guys I went to college with or people I had intense relationships with before I met the Beatles.

 

As seen in the interview above, Lennon claimed to have only heard the singles from McCartney II. But according to Fred Seaman, Lennon had him go out and buy the album for him, and he listened to it a lot and really liked it. Seaman is considered a questionable source, but Lennon was also not the most honest guy in interviews, so believe what you will.

 

Are you saying you bought it just for the articles?

 

He's probably talking about the book version. There are pictures of John and Yoko in it. Fully clothed even.

 

He talked very fondly of the studio version (and has more very kind words for McCartney) while doing an interview in the The Hit Factory, catched on video by Bob Gruen on 10 October 1980. Can't find the full video recording right now, but this video has a portion at the very beginning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW4ErIXTKfI Funny enough some re-upload of a video I uploaded years ago, which combined the 2005 "Twin Freaks" remix with the original video. Don't know why this one is only 1 minute though.

 

I could see Lennon wanting to convince people he didn't care about what the others were up to, but I doubt that he really was as disinterested as he'd have liked us to believe...

 

Exactly. He sure seemed interested in Dylan on his "Serve Yourself" demo.

 

Ah, yes! I'm fairly certain that's the interview I was thinking of -- he mentions the two different versions, and specifically references the Wings recording as "Live at Glasgow", which is exactly as it reads on the record's label. I got the impression that Lennon owned McCartney II or at least the "Coming Up" single.

 

I got the impression he had grudging affection for Coming Up, while finding it a bit of an earworm.

 

Where can I find the live version of Coming Up on a legit CD?

 

All the Best and Wingspan (US edition only, I think).

 

Doesn't Lennon's own 'Clean Up Time' sound like a rewrite of sorts of 'Coming Up'?

 

Right under my nose! Thanks!

 

It fades a bit earlier than the 7".The song is intact,but the audience chant at the end is cut off.

 

Lyrically, maybe. Musically, no.

 

In fact, in the longer video (which sadly is no longer on YouTube), he knows a lot about the song. He mentions to the LA guy that it was "recorded in his barn" and that he if he was with him, he would have told him to use the album version. He also speaks very positively of Macca saying that he was never surprised with the material that Macca came up with during The Beatles. "Would you be surprised by your brother?" is what he said.

 

In the updated version of his Beatles bio, Hunter Davies quotes Paul as saying Yoko told him that shortly before his death, she and John "had been listening to one of my albums and had cried." I've always wondered which album that was, but McCartney II never occurred to me, probably only because I've never liked it much. I have to admit that's not a very good reason, huh?