Merry Christmas to everyone…
I was 12 when this came out in 1979 and loved it…especially the video that went with it. The live version is the one that hit really big and the single had the live and studio version. The song (Live Version) peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #2 in the UK and #1 in Canada in 1980.
McCartney played all the instruments and shared vocal harmonies with wife Linda McCartney on the studio version.
Paul McCartney on recording Coming Up
I originally cut it on my farm in Scotland. I went into the studio each day and just started with a drum track. Then I built it up bit by bit without any idea of how the song was going to turn out. After laying down the drum track, I added guitars and bass, building up the backing track. I did a little version with just me as the nutty professor, doing everything and getting into my own world like a laboratory. The absent-minded professor is what I go like when I’m doing those; you get so into yourself it’s weird, crazy. But I liked it.
Then I thought, ‘Well, OK, what am I going to do for the voice?’ I was working with a vari-speed machine with which you can speed up your voice, or take it down a little bit. That’s how the voice sound came about. It’s been speeded up slightly and put through an echo machine I was playing around with. I got into all sorts of tricks, and I can’t remember how I did half of them, because I was just throwing them all in and anything that sounded good, I kept. And anything I didn’t like I just wiped.
On John Lennon
I heard a story from a guy who recorded with John in New York, and he said that John would sometimes get lazy. But then he’d hear a song of mine where he thought, ‘Oh, shit, Paul’s putting it in, Paul’s working!’ Apparently ‘Coming Up’ was the one song that got John recording again. I think John just thought, ‘Uh oh, I had better get working, too.’ I thought that was a nice story.
Coming Up
You want a love to last forever
One that will never fade away
I want to help you with your problem
Stick around, I say
Coming up, coming up, yeah
Coming up like a flower
Coming up, I say
You want a friend you- can rely on
One who will never fade away
And if you’re searching for an answer
Stick around. I say
It’s coming up, it’s coming up
It’s coming up like a flower
It’s coming up. yeah
You want some peace and understanding
So everybody can be free
I know that we can get together
We can make it, stick with me
It’s coming up, it’s coming up
It’s coming up like a flower
It’s coming up for you and me
Coming up, coming up
It’s coming up, it’s coming up, I say
It’s coming up like a flower
It’s coming up
I feel it in my bones
You want a better kind of future
One that everyone can share
You’re not alone, we all could use it
Stick around we’re nearly there
It’s coming up, it’s coming up everywhere
It’s coming up like a flower
It’s coming up for all to share
It’s coming up, yeah
It’s coming up, anyway
It’s coming up like a flower
Coming up
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Vanilla pop but like most of his stuff, quite catchy
Not so sure if he heard that Lennon story right hehe
lol… I remember Lennon in interviews before he was killed saying he did in fact like it.
Really? Wow that is the strangest thing…
In his Playboy interview he talked it up…He liked it. He liked that song but not the rest of the album as much.
Just strikes me as an unlennon song don’t you think?
Yea but it was the best thing Paul had some up with for some time. I like the studio version…it’s a little funky guitar…as funky as Paul gets lol
Haha yes… The song actually has a cool groove
I bought the single when I was 12…It does. It does have it’s own groove.
Just had another listen, it’s a little bit Lennon like actually…. As you were… Lol.
A good song that could’ve passed for a Beatles one. Wish radio would play it a bit more! Merry Christmas to you & yours!
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Something different, and yes, catchy. Didn’t he also play all instruments on the Ram album?
On the first McCartney album…that had Maybe I’m Amazed he did but on Ram he had help.
No I was wrong, I was thinking of his first solo album, “McCartney”. I had to see the album covers. Used to have that LP and it has a lot of good music on it.
Yes the Cherries on the cover was McCartney…that one and Ram are good.
I was 13. I bought the 45 of the studio version. I never liked the live version. The tempo changed, the words stretched out and it sounded like a bad, lounge lizard re-make. I hate when musicians screw up their own hits. I wanna slap ’em.
In either the third or fourth season of The X-Files, they just slightly changed the repeating sound of the opening theme…and it made me nuts. It went from a pretty echo to a clear repeat. It annoys me to this day. And, I want to know why the hell they did it.
Same thing with me…I liked the studio version. I can’t understand why the live version is the one that hit. I thought it was weak.
I don’t remember that from the X Files…I’ll have to check that out.
It’s very subtle. It’s REALLY obvious in the DVDs.
The only thing that annoys me more is how the original Derbyshire Doctor Who theme has been screwed with.
I have all of the X-Files I will check it out.
I agree with the Doctor Who theme. I like the original. Some think everything has to be improved… and they don’t improve.
Agreed!