I’ve seen Paul perform “It’s So Easy” live twice: 2009 in Arlington, TX and 2014 in Lubbock, TX. He performs it in honor of Buddy Holly, who was from Lubbock. We’ll see if he does it again tomorrow night in Arlington.
Not playing the new material to captive audiences of 40,000 at a time isn't exactly going to help songs become hits. But the fact is, artists over 70 don't have Top 40 singles. They just don't, but that doesn't stop some of them from playing newer stuff. Another favorite artist of mine, John Prine, played seven songs from his latest album at his most recent show -- out of a nineteen-song set: John Prine Setlist at The Pavilion, Highland Park
Prine played all 10 songs from his new album when I saw him last fall. It was a treat beyond compare and no one was sprinting for bathrooms.
In case no one's answered this: That statement about Come On To Me being his first AC chart appearance since 1997 is complete nonsense. Paul songs making the AC top 20 in the U.S. since then include Ever Present Past, New, My Valentine and Your Loving Flame. Several others made the AC top 40: Paul McCartney Chart History
Wow... it's something to imagine Belushi & Akroyd in Ghostbusters and Spies Like Us back to back. Either they'd have been mass successes or massive flops. As for the song.. wow... I forgive McCartney everything but the 80s were a hard decade that's for sure. You'd have to listen to those records and then look out the window at that studio out back and wonder if it was worth all the trouble!!!
Only one more month till I get to see Paul for the first time live in Los Angeles! It's also the last night of the U.S. leg, so hopefully there's something exciting happening that night.
I will never for the life of me figure out the disdain this song gets in light of the wisps of nothingness that get praised around here. He sounds great, it sounds great, the whole thing is great. The lyrics are stupid, but apply that standard to 1970-1984 if we're going there. I am a proud Spies Like Us lover. I got excited every time I heard it on the radio in 1985, and I get a smile on my face every time I hear it now.
Paul: “John Landis rang me up and he said that he had this flick that he wanted me to write a song for. And they wanted to show it to me and stuff and he thought it was the funniest thing he’d ever done and stuff like that." Paul: “John Landis rang me and said he wanted an up-tempo rock-'n'-rolly thing.' Paul added, 'I thought I might have done a Bondy song - the 75-piece orchestra, more melodic, with maybe an Eastern touch, the known ingredients for a "spy" type of song. I think one of the fun things about what I'm doing now is varying those things a bit.” Paul: “The good thing about it was that they wanted it yesterday! It was like an arbitrary challenge thrown in that either works or doesn’t. In this case, it worked, and we were glad to put all the ingredients together in very little time. It was good fun, and it sharpened us when we got back to the album. It was a big week. I generally like not to go crazy, to take things pretty easy...But sometimes then, you need the challenge, to sharpen you up a bit.”
Well, darn. Why on Earth was Billboard so gung-ho with the "first appearance since "The World Tonight" jazz, then? It's an outright falsehood! EDIT: Sorry, that's on me! Billboard was gung-ho about the Adult Alternative chart and his first top ten appearance since "The World Tonight" -- not Adult Contemporary. Paul McCartney Scores First Adult Alternative Songs Top 10 in Two Decades
Agree. I miss the days when "legacy" artists would really embrace their new albums on tour. Some still do - U2 does considerable portions of their current albums, for instance - but Macca and the Stones barely toss a bone toward their new albums when they tour behind them...
Categorizing RAM as a Wings album goes back a long way. I have an old MTV interview om a videotape where he mentions fans complaining that he didn't play enough Wings tunes on the then just completed 1989/1990 world tour, RAM in particular. It does feature both Linda and Denny Seiwell and came out a few months before Wild Life, so calling it a sort-of-Wings album isn't altogether crazy I think.
Hey, I'll never hold it against anyone that I'm a much bigger fan of Paul McCartney's music (from when he was putting out good stuff) than they are.
I like this picture. If that was taken from the stage, it looks like my seat is gonna be much closer than I originally anticipated.
I just lump “Spies Like Us” in with his two new songs in Give My Regards to Broadstreet : pretty generic to my ears . The sort of start- stop rhythm of parts of it don’t help it get moving IMO: Ooh ooh what do you do No one else can dance like you etc. Of course, I had to have the 45 AND the 12” with the party mix and dj mix or whatever. I wish I could unsee the linked video above. Paul trying to look cute-sy and the Ackroyd and Chase stuff seems so lame at this point.
'Dance Tonight' and 'Spies Like Us' - both videos begin with a whistling man riding a bike. I have no idea what this means, but I'm sure it's enough for some spotty herbert to launch a web site dedicated to 'unpacking' it.
