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
