Paul McCartney's triad of woe

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"Say, Say, Say", "The Girl is Mine", and "Ebony and Ivory"...Sir Paul McCartney, what were you thinking? (but also, how come we don't hear any male duets on pop radio any more?)

― pj (Henry), Friday, 7 July 2006 13:16 (twenty years ago)

My g/f has "Say, Say, Say" on some of her playlists and it's actually a pretty good song. But the image of Paul dabbing shaving cream on Michael's nose in the video is unnerving.

― pj (Henry), Friday, 7 July 2006 13:19 (twenty years ago)

(but also, how come we don't hear any male duets on pop radio any more?)

hip-hop to thread

― marc h. (marc h.), Friday, 7 July 2006 13:27 (twenty years ago)

Just bollixed yr own thread?

Add "Spies like us" and smile again.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 7 July 2006 13:27 (twenty years ago)

JANE - LINDA - HEATHER

― Toad Roundgrin (noodle vague), Friday, 7 July 2006 13:28 (twenty years ago)

against all possible logic, i love 'ebony and ivory' - the opening synth splashes give me goosebumps.

― i am not a nugget (stevie), Friday, 7 July 2006 13:32 (twenty years ago)

"Say Say Say" is a great song!

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Friday, 7 July 2006 13:33 (twenty years ago)

I considered begging my parents for Pipes of Peace just to get it, since I considered it really a part of Thriller that had somehow wandered off and gotten lost (with "The Girl Is Mine" sneaking insipidly in through the open gate)

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 7 July 2006 13:38 (twenty years ago)

hip-hop to thread
B-b-b-but...rappers don't sing!

― pj (Henry), Friday, 7 July 2006 13:41 (twenty years ago)

Oh boy.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 7 July 2006 13:44 (twenty years ago)

B-b-b-but...rappers don't sing!

Erm, setting certain implications of that post aside, what about the marketing reasons why Sir Macca might've done a duet with MJ? These days the only way for an aging rocker to get equivalent demographic crossover cred would be enlisting a guest rapper. But many fans of aging rockers don't like rap, ergo, fewer male/male duets.

― marc h. (marc h.), Friday, 7 July 2006 13:45 (twenty years ago)

The kind of duets we would get these days would be, like, Jack Johnson & Jon Mayer, and we really don't need that. Really don't.

Also didn't the MJ/Macca dueting happen after MJ bought all those Beatles songs? I've always considered it sort've one of Paul's "no hard feelings, mate" gestures.

― choinklate (nickalicious), Friday, 7 July 2006 13:47 (twenty years ago)

No, the duets pre-dated the sale.

― Chairman Doinel (Charles McCain), Friday, 7 July 2006 13:49 (twenty years ago)

Hooking up the biggest pop star in the world with the '60s and '70s biggest pop star was par for the course. These days a performer of Jackson's stature would work with Jay-Z.

Also didn't the MJ/Macca dueting happen after MJ bought all those Beatles songs?

No way. Jackson and Macca never spoke again (although, presumably, their lawyers did) when the latter heard the news.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 7 July 2006 13:54 (twenty years ago)

BTW, when do all of the Beatles songs become public domain? What's the useful life left on those rights?

― DAVE's secret to fortu-Oh look! Shiny! (dave225.3), Friday, 7 July 2006 13:57 (twenty years ago)

the irony, of course, is that Macca was the guy who advised Whacko to consider buying song catalogues...

― hank (hank s), Friday, 7 July 2006 14:03 (twenty years ago)

Oh nevermind. For some reason I thought that 70 year thing had been changed...

xpost

― DAVE's secret to fortu-Oh look! Shiny! (dave225.3), Friday, 7 July 2006 14:03 (twenty years ago)

One time a few of my friends made some karaoke tapes where we sang over pop songs and this one girl sang an ode to her Filipino husband over the music of "The Girl is Mine" called "The 'Pino's Mine" . She had been drinking Gin and Gatorade. It was much better than the original. I really wish I still had that tape.

― pj (Henry), Friday, 7 July 2006 14:34 (twenty years ago)

No way. Jackson and Macca never spoke again (although, presumably, their lawyers did) when the latter heard the news.)

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn

I thought PMc lent MJ "moral support" during his (first) trial?

― M. Agony Von Bontee (M. Agony Von Bontee), Friday, 7 July 2006 14:41 (twenty years ago)

I quite like 'The Girl Is Mine' in an 'accidentally catching yourself with a totally cheesy grin on your face, and being shocked but at the same time quite pleased' kind of way.

― braveclub (braveclub), Friday, 7 July 2006 14:42 (twenty years ago)

In a way I feel like the duet is nearly dead in general. Sure there are lots of songs with x artist and y artist, but they usually sound more like each artist doing his/her own thing on the same track than a duet.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Friday, 7 July 2006 15:00 (twenty years ago)

"Say Say Say" is marvelous engineered-for-maximum-sales pop, and "The Girl Is Mine" is much lovelier than you likely remember. Sappy and a bit silly, yes, but sweet as pie. Whereas "Ebony and Ivory" is simply insipid pap. (I blame Macca - he was far too in awe of Stevie, whereas I suspect he thought of himself as Jacko's equal.)

― Thomas Inskeep (submeat), Friday, 7 July 2006 15:13 (twenty years ago)

The Jellybean remix of "Say Say Say" is marvelous.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 7 July 2006 15:20 (twenty years ago)

Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony
Side by side on my piano keyboard, oh lord, why dont we?

I hate when people say "pya-noh".

― pj (Henry), Friday, 7 July 2006 15:49 (twenty years ago)

I'm still waiting for Darnielle and Momus to cover "The Girl is Mine."

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 7 July 2006 15:50 (twenty years ago)

BTW, when do all of the Beatles songs become public domain? What's the useful life left on those rights?

Currently, it's the life of the author plus 75 years in the U.S. That's unless they're not renewed properly, in which case they become "orphaned works." I'm guessing the Beatles and their estates have sharp attorneys who won't let that happen. Assuming Congress doesn't pass another copyright extension - and I'm guessing they will if and when Disney revists the issue - then the following happens:

* Lennon solo tracks become PD on 1/1/2056.
* Harrison's Beatles and solo compositions become PD on 1/1/2007.
* McCartney's compositions, and hence anything credited to Lennon/McCartney, becomes PD 75 years after he dies. Which means the Beatles may be protected by copyright until the 22nd century.

― mike a (mike a), Friday, 7 July 2006 16:35 (twenty years ago)

(oops - harrison would be 1/1/2077)

― mike a (mike a), Friday, 7 July 2006 16:38 (twenty years ago)

You figure McCartney's got another 20 years left?

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Friday, 7 July 2006 16:39 (twenty years ago)

Maybe. I mean, even if he died tomorrow, almost none of us would be around to take advantage of the Beatles' publishing entering the public domain.

― mike a (mike a), Friday, 7 July 2006 16:40 (twenty years ago)

I think Say Say Say rocks so fuck y'all haters. What always amused me about it was how they kept using the word "girl" so often in the lyrics..."hey listener, we AREN'T singing about each other, okay?! Okay?".

― musically (musically), Saturday, 8 July 2006 18:18 (twenty years ago)

I like "Say Say Say." I think that was one of the songs from Thriller regularly sung by some girl on the train I used to ride to get to school during my first year of college. (Cute--Italian, I think--I wonder whatever happened to her.)

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 8 July 2006 18:22 (twenty years ago)

Except it's not on Thriller, apparently, so I'm mis-remembering.

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 8 July 2006 18:35 (twenty years ago)

I WISH it were there in place of "The Girl Is Mine"! Hard to believe that that was the first single off the album. (Unless my memory's failing me.)

― Monty Von Byonga (Monty Von Byonga), Sunday, 9 July 2006 23:27 (twenty years ago)

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