Paul McCartney: Ode to a Koala Bear (1983)

 |   |  <1 min read

Paul McCartney: Ode to a Koala Bear (1983)

Okay, at a time when Paul McCartney's whole recording career has been given serious consideration at Elsewhere, this seems frivolous and cruel.

But fun.

This odd song appeared on B-side of the single of Say Say Say -- McCartney with Michael Jackson -- and again on the 12" remixes of SSSay by Jellybean.

And perhaps that's all that needs to be said about it . . .

Except that the sleeve featured this hilariously bad illustration of the former pals (they never spoke again after Jackson bought the Beatles catalogue) . . . and to wonder what George Martin the producer must have been thinking.

He'd been there for all those classic McCartney songs in the Beatles era and beyond but now was sliding the faders on this?

Ah well, truth to tell he'd heard worse from the same source.

And the clip for Say Say Say could be read as an unconscious reference to what snake-oil salesmen they had all become by this time.

For more unusual music or songs with a back-story see From the Vaults.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   From the Vaults articles index

Jay and the Americans: Tomorrow (1962)

Jay and the Americans: Tomorrow (1962)

Although they hit their peak when the American bands fought back against the British Invasion in the mid Sixties, Jay and the Americans always seemed like a band from an earlier era with their big... > Read more

World Party: You're All Invited to the Party (1990)

World Party: You're All Invited to the Party (1990)

Because he wrote She's the One which became a hit for Robbie Williams in 1999 -- and more so because he was sidelined for four years by a brain aneurysm in 2000 -- little has been heard of Karl... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Over the Rhine: The Long Surrender (GDS)

Over the Rhine: The Long Surrender (GDS)

After a series of fine albums, Ohio's Over the Rhine here -- with sympathetic producer Joe Henry – deliver their most sophisticated album to date, one with an ear on their European-cabaret... > Read more

STOP THE CLOCK by GORDON McLAUCHLAN

STOP THE CLOCK by GORDON McLAUCHLAN

It's interesting to speculate on what the writer, journalist and social observer Gordon McLauchlan – who died in January age 89 – would have made of the recent pandemic lockdown.... > Read more