Archives for February 2019

Certain Songs #1457: Paul Simon – “Kodachrome”

February 15, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: There Goes Rhymin’ Simon
Year: 1973

While I’ve always quite liked the records he made in the 1960s with Art Garfunkle, I’ve never really developed an affinity for Paul Simon as a solo artist, though I do quite respect his ongoing quest to add exotic flavors to his music, and because he’s always been so highly regarded, I’ve definitely sampled him off and on over the years.

But respect isn’t the same as love, and as Certain Songs is about love, I’m sure some of you might be disappointed to find out that after thinking about it, there’s really only one Paul Simon solo song that I truly love, and that’s his 1973 single “Kodachrome.” For the kids in the audience, think of Kodachrome as the filmic equivalent of a really cool Instagram filter.

Certain Songs #1456: Paul Revere & The Raiders – “Kicks”

February 14, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Midnight Ride
Year: 1966

Turn off! Tune out! Drop in!

Whether or not Paul Revere and The Raiders were truly as anti-drug as their biggest hit single — OK, “Indian Reservation,” was bigger, but that was Mark Lindsay with the Wrecking Crew, and only branded as “The Raiders” for maximum commerciality — seemed to indicate they were, but they sure did look like nice clean-cut young men, albeit ones who dressed up as Revolutionary War soldiers. Which you’ve noticed I can’t really let go of.

Certain Songs #1455: Paul Revere & The Raiders – “Just Like Me”

February 13, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Just Like Us!
Year: 1965

Paul Revere & The Raiders were so ridiculous, they probably should been laughed right out of the game. For one thing, there was that terrible gimmick of the Revolutionary War costumes. I guess it was because their founder was “Paul Revere” which was smartly shortened from his real name of “Paul Revere Dick.” You could look it up. And secondly, though while you would assume that “Paul Revere” was the singer, he was the keyboardist.

I guess that probably made sense in the late 50s & early 60s when they were a mostly instrumental band, who even had a top 40 hit in 1961 with a boogie-woogie instrumental called “Like, Long Hair,” but their version of “Louie Louie” — with vocals and sax by Mark Lindsay — failed to take off because it was a total patch on the Kingsmen’s version, they decided to get serious.

Certain Songs #1454: Paul McCartney – “Turned Out”

February 12, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: New (Deluxe Edition)
Year: 2013

And then, suddenly, it’s 2013 — 35 years later — and somehow Sir Paul McCartney is 70 years old.

Yeah, OK, not suddenly. One or two things might happened in the intervening years. The duets with Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. Wings dissolving. The Rutles. John being assassinated. His very own feature film. Songs with Elvis Costello. Linda dying. Being knighted. George dying. Classical albums. Electronic albums. Ringo living. Beatles reissues, repackages, anthologies, films, TV shows, books and books and books and books.

Certain Songs #1453: Paul McCartney & Wings – “Girls’ School”

February 11, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Single, 1977

In 1977, Paul McCartney had a massive massive world-wide hit single with a song called “Mull of Kintyre,” an acoustic guitar and bagpipe driven ode to a Scottish farm he’d owned since the Revolver days which is still one of the all-time biggest selling singles in the U.K.

Meanwhile, here in North America, “Mull of Kintyre” was deemed too Scottish? I guess? And so instead they released the b-side, an admittedly slight rocker called “Girls’ School,” that quite naturally I loved to death.

Certain Songs #1452: Paul McCartney & Wings – “Venus and Mars/Rock Show”

February 10, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Venus and Mars
Year: 1975

Despite the fact that James Paul McCartney hadn’t actually attended a rock show as a casual fan for well over a decade, his single of the same name did kinda capture the anticipation of a fan. Two album tracks stitched together as as a single, “Venus and Mars” provided an acoustic overture while “Rock Show” was the electric heart of the track.

Taken together, “Venus and Mars/Rock Show” is also McCartney at his most playful, both lyrically and musically, and also a sly commentary on the the musical trends of the day.

Certain Songs #1451: Paul McCartney & Wings – “Junior’s Farm”

February 9, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Single, 1974

From the second half of 1973 though the end of 1974, Paul McCartney & Wings put out five straight rockin’ singles: “Live and Let Die,” “Helen Wheels,” “Jet,” “Band on the Run,” and the rockin-ist of them all, the now criminally neglected “Junior’s Farm.”

I say “criminally neglected,” because “Junior’s Farm” has neither had the Bond connection nor a parent album, and it has only shown up on a couple of his compilation albums and exactly zero of his live albums — not even fucking Wings Over America — despite seemingly being tailor-made for live performance.

Certain Songs #1450: Paul McCartney & Wings – Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five

February 8, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Band on the Run
Year: 1973

Do you realize how far off in the future 1985 seemed to me in 1974? I was only eleven, so it was basically double my life!!!

So maybe that’s part of the reason I loved the final track from Band on the Run so much: it seemed so futuristic. And I actually think that was part of the point, at least musically, as “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five” practically bordered on prog.

Certain Songs #1449: Paul McCartney & Wings – “Band on the Run”

February 7, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Band on the Run
Year: 1973

It’s entirely possible, if you adjust for 2019 dollars, that “Band on the Run” might just be my all-time favorite song.

At the very least, it’s one of the most important songs in my life, as I loved it more than any song I’d previously encountered, to the point where I went out and got the Band on The Run album and listened to it in the obsessive way only a pre-teen can do. In my room, very loudly, over and over and over again. To the point where, 45 years later, I still know every single nook and cranny. “Band on the Run” can no longer surprise me.

Certain Songs #1448: Paul McCartney & Wings – “Jet”

February 6, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Band on the Run
Year: 1973

JET!

So, spoiler alert: With one exception, all of the 1970s Paul McCartney songs that I’m writing about are going to be part of the run of singles he released during that decade. (And hell, that exception was a b-side, though I really learned to love it as an album track.)