Give my Regards to Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney entered a new phase in the 1980s singing his first ever duets and recording songs for movie soundtracks.
Source: https://www.liveabout.com/top-80s-songs-featuring-saxophone-p2-10685
(Robert R. McElroy/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
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Sitting in Math 10 in my first semester of tenth grade in the fall of 1984, there was a lull in class when I heard it: “No more lonely nights.”

It was someone, who sounded like one of the Grade 12 girls who had a spare first period, but I never found out who it was.

Nevertheless, it was the next in a long line of Paul McCartney songs. “No More Lonely Nights” was from the soundtrack to the movie, “Give my Regards to Broad Street”, which I heard in the 1980s.

I was thinking about Paul McCartney earlier this year when he celebrated his 80th birthday.

Prelude
It goes without saying that Paul McCartney was prolific in the music industry. Record setting with The Beatles, and a successful second career with Wings, he was well known at the dawn of the 1980s.

I have to say, I did know who he was, as we all kind of did through some sort of pop culture osmosis. Yet, back then, in the world of Top 40 music, the Beatles and Wings did not get played a whole lot, especially with Canadian Content regulations mandating a percentage of Canadian music.

I do recall songs such as “Yesterday”, and “Band on the Run”, and even sneaking into my brother’s bedroom to look at his record collection and seeing the cover for the Wings album “Rose Royce”. After he went to college, among the stuff he left behind was a .45 of “The Long and Winding Road”.

So, as the 1980s opened, I already knew who Paul McCartney was.

Duet
The first big hit I heard from Paul McCartney in the 1980s was this amazing, stirring ballad. McCartney teamed up with Stevie Wonder on his first ever duet. The song was “Ebony and Ivory”, which was not only a truly beautiful song, but it had a greater message.

The song came out on March 29, 1982 and went all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, staying there seven weeks. It was number one on the United Kingdom chart too.

“Ebony and Ivory” was also nominated for Grammys for song of the year; record of the year; and best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals.

I have a personal memory too.

It was the summer after Grade 7 and my mom, my sister and I went to Radium Hot Springs for a family trip. On our way to B.C., we stopped part way there in Claresholm and ate pizza at a local eatery that I later discovered was Douros Pizza and Pasta. While we ate, music played, and the song I remember playing in the background of that family trip was “Ebony and Ivory”. I have lived in Claresholm the past 21 years.

Duet, part two
In 1983, Paul McCartney teamed up on another duet, this time with Michael Jackson on the song, “The Girl is Mine.” It was the first song released on Jackson’s blockbuster “Thriller” album and went all the way to number one on the rhythm and blues chart and number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also nominated for a Grammy for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal.

Although recorded, a year earlier, the two collaborated on another successful duet, “Say, Say, Say” which appeared as the lead single on McArtney’s solo “Pipes of Peace” album in 1983. It went all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

This was a song I heard a lot, and liked, before I really got into music. I recall hearing it at my friend Mike Hartman’s place, and watching the video and hearing the song on “Solid Gold” on Saturday night. I also distinctly remember it playing on the TV while I played on my Commodore 64 in our makeshift games room.

“No more Lonely Nights”
It was classic Paul McCartney, the next in a long line of slow songs that included “Hey Jude”, “Let it Be”, and “Yesterday”. “No More Lonely Nights” came out in September of 1984 and peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100.

This was a song I associate with the end of 1984 when I first got into music at the same time my grandmother was dying. I spent a lot of time at my cousins’ place in Lethbridge and remember seeing the video in their basement on MuchMusic. It was another song I heard on “Solid Gold” while playing on my Commodore 64.

Live Aid
The next time I heard something new from Paul McCartney was in the summer of 1985. I went over to my friend Chris Vining’s in Coaldale to watch the “Live Aid” concert. It was actually two concerts, one in London, England and the other in Philadelphia.

The London concert’s finale was a rendition by everyone of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”. The song before that, the lead up to the finale, was “Let it Be”. It was sung by McCartney, Bob Geldof, David Bowie, Pete Townshend and, as Wikipedia reminded me, Alison Moyet.

It was a powerful performance, and could only be trumped by “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”

Sound track success
Paul McCartney's last hurrah in the 1980s occurred in 1985 when he released the song “Spies Like Us” for the movie of the same name. It was another catchy tune that featured Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd, stars of the movie, appearing in the music video.

“Spies Like Us” went all the way to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 singles, making it McCartney’s last U.S. top 10 single of the decade, and last one until 2015.

I recall talking about this song during Math 20 in first semester of Grade 11, right after I went and saw the movie with, I am pretty sure, my sister.

Parting thoughts
Paul McCartney is best known for his work with the Beatles and Wings. One band may go down as the greatest band in history, while the other was a really good second act for McCartney.

But all that had come and gone in the 1980s when I started really listening to music, and McCartney had moved into a different phase of his career.

He began recording duets, with a lot of success, and began having chart success with songs he wrote for movies.

Although, I would become very familiar with the Beatles collection, and the songs of Wings, in the ‘80s, my memories are of Paul McCartney singing with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, and his songs in the movies.

It was all about Paul McCartney, and not about his band.

And it was yet another part of the soundtrack of the ‘80s.