By Mumford and Sons.

When I think of Mother’s Day, nothing compares to the sentiment expressed by our nation’s poet laureate, Mr. T.

Take it, Mr. T.

I have a headache (big shock) and was only going to put up the song tonight, but I thought I’d give y’all a story that only a couple of people know. Why tonight? Why not. There’s no statute of limitations on shoplifting, as far as I know.

When I was 11, my mom and I were at the mall close to our house. We were in Sears in the coat section, I was looking at scarves. I took two scarves with gloves attached by a plastic clip and stuffed them in my jacket. I didn’t ask my mother for them, I just took them. When I got home I put them under my bed. Someone found them and my dad drove me back to Sears to return them and apologize to the manager. After that he drove to the juvenile hall parking lot and told me that’s where I’d end up if I shoplifted again.

I shoplifted again. I never went to juvenile hall.

It was a compulsion. The next thing I shoplifted was from Eckerd Drugs: a Tiger Beat magazine because Andrew McCarthy’s picture was in it. I had just turned 12.

Next it was flip up sunglasses like Duckie’s in Pretty in Pink.

Once I was in high school it was mainly only took books. Lots of books. At that point I remember feeling like I should have them. A few years ago when Breaking Bad went off the air, Betsy Brandt, who played Marie, said “I don’t think it’s stealing if it’s something you should have.” And that’s exactly how I felt. Not that I deserved these things, but that they should be mine.

None of my friends knew about this. I only told one friend several months ago, but I’m not positive that they really heard my confession. But that’s ok, I confessed to God years and years later.

After high school and college, I graduated to expensive items. A Sac purse. Cashmere sweater. Talbots belt. A set of Ralph Lauren Sheets. A huge set of ink for stamps. A watch. An end table. And a ficus tree.

Yes, a ficus tree.

That was the end. I knew I was done. The urge was gone and I asked God to forgive me. And I didn’t shoplift again.

So, why did tell you all that? To say that we all have something. Some monkey on our backs. I don’t know what you’re carrying, but you can leave it behind. So, do it. Leave it behind.

Still a great song I’ll always love.

It’s been a weird day. Here’s “WTF” by one of my favorites, OK Go.

This is one of my best friends in the world, Kim Covington-Core.

This woman is amazing. I’ve known her forever (1995) and we have a ton of history. And stories and laugh and tears and laughs and love of Aretha and laughs and car dancing and laughs and car trips and laughs and being a the births of both of our first children. This chick has been there for me.

And because all through college she insisted there was a song called “Call Me on My Beeper” when there was no Google machine to look it up, I finally found it. It’s actually called “Beep a Freak” (which is SO much better) by the Gap Band.

This one’s for you, Country Kim.

Virginia Woolf always had the right thing to say.

Found a new song, new artist. Meet Desi Valentine.

Since I’m coming off a series (and a lot of writing, which I’m thrilled about), I thought I’d take today off in a way. I don’t often post photos of myself, but I like this new selfie because of my new hair color. And the song is a favorite, too.

For the final installment of this series on Paul McCartney’s 1983 film, Give My Regards to Broad Street, I’ll be discussing the solo tracks in the movie/soundtrack.

Yesterday I covered the re-recorded Beatles tracks, today — the newly written and recorded song “No More Lonely Nights” — one of my favorite solo McCartney songs, a ballad, which he did like no one — from the Beatles days through to this album. He also recorded “Not Such a Bad Boy,” which is ok — not bad; and the forgettable “No Values.” I’m not counting “Corridor Music” and “Eleanor’s Dream”

Now we enter new/old territory. This gets weird. McCartney chose to include re-recorded versions of “Silly Love Songs,” “Wanderlust,” Ballroom Dancing,” and “So Bad.” No big, right? Maybe not, but why would one of the greatest songwriters of his or any other generation choose to re-record “Ballroom Dancing” and “Wanderlust” when they were released just two years before on Tug of War? As well as “So Bad,” released in 1983? That’s one year before Give My Regards to Broadstreet.

Here’s the campy “Ballroom Dancing” sequence. I always fast-forwarded through this song on the soundtrack.

Wait, it gets campier. You’re not going to believe the weirdness that is “Silly Love Songs.”

See? I told you. So many questions. What’s with the white outfits and owl-looking hair and makeup? I will never understand that sequence. It’s beyond wacky and doesn’t fit with the rest of the film. If you watch the film on You Tube, you’ll find the Beatles sections nicely done. The studio recording section is great. That’s where McCartney shines. The outdoor Victorian part is nice, quaint, very British. Then we go straight into Wackadoodleville.

Let’s go back to the recordings for a bit. Unless he was going for straight camp, there was no reason to re-record and include a few of the songs. It would have been much more interesting to include “Junk,” “The Lovely Linda,” or “Every Night,” from his first solo album, McCartney (1970). Those happen to be a few of my favorites, but I would put those up against the Beatles songs that were included and “No More Lonely Nights” as songs that would have been a better fit.

The argument could also be made that those songs were mostly recorded on McCartney’s farm on his home recording equipment, which you can hear on the album. This isn’t relevant to Give My Regards to Broad Street, but the songs I mentioned were gritty and real. To hear them re-recorded in a proper studio would have been interesting. Not better, because I love the sound on McCartney, but interesting. They were also recorded right as McCartney was going through post-Beatles breakup depression, from what I’ve read. That also makes them particularly notable, especially since six of the other songs from the film are Beatles songs.

And heck, if he was looking for something different, how about “Venus and Mars,” “Jet,” Band on the Run,” or “Call Me Back Again.” By the way, if you don’t have the Wings Venus and Mars album and you’re remotely a McCartney fan (which you are because you wouldn’t be reading this drivel if you weren’t), go get it. It’s a great one and you’re missing out.

So, what have we learned from this series on McCartney’s little film? Well, it’s probably the reason he didn’t make another, no, I’m not including the animated Rupert and the Frog Song, which was released at the same time as GMRTBS. The other films he’s made have been concert films and interview pieces. I doubt we will get another McCartney movie at this point.

The other takeaway I see from this is that “No More Lonely Nights” may just be McCartney’s last excellent song. “My Brave Face” co-written by the amazing Elvis Costello is also up there, but in my opinion nothing in his 80s+ stuff is better than the opening “I could wait another day…until I call you.” And of course that doesn’t touch his masterpiece (and my favorite) “Maybe I’m Amazed,” but that’s 70s material.

So, if we only got “No More Lonely Nights” out of GMRTBS, it’s worth it. Believe me, it’s not worth watching the movie again for, but the original song (not the other two weird versions on the soundtrack), which is on You Tube, even a live version. The rest of the soundtrack is, sadly, forgettable. And there could be many reasons for this. 1984 was getting into the best of the Second British Invasion with tons of synthpop, along with heavy metal, American Rock, and Michael Jackson. McCartney didn’t fit. He did get somewhat of a rebound later on with Press to Play and Flowers in the Dirt, but his peak as a solo singer-songwriter had gone. After those albums he recorded some experimental synth stuff with The Fireman, several classical works, and many tours that sell out in literal minutes. He will always be my first celebrity crush, my musical first love. “Here Today” will always, always make me cry. Let’s go out with that one for my own sentimental reasons. Put “No More Lonely Nights” on your iPod and see McCartney on tour of you can. Just don’t watch Give My Regards to Broad Street.

Continuing our series on Paul McCartney’s wacky movie from 1984, here’s my take on the real problem of the film (I’m only a McCartney fan, not a film critic, so don’t sue me. Also, the chances that you’ve seen this movie are almost non-existent).

McCartney’s film showcases 17 songs, including six re-recordings of some of his biggest Beatles songs, and three (THREE) versions of “No More Lonely Nights.” I’ll focus on his solo stuff tomorrow. Let’s’look at the Beatles stuff.

One of the first things you’ll notice in the film is Ringo Starr sitting at the drums in a studio around 12 minutes in. Ringo gets up and Paul records some Beatles songs. I can’t recall if he states a reason why he’s re-recording the six songs or not, because if you recall from yesterday, the whole movie turns out to be a dream.

So, Paul re-recorded six perfect Beatles songs and in my view (and several people’s opinions on some message boards), he greatly screws with “Here, There, and Everywhere,” changing a lyric. But hey, it’s his song, he can do what he will. So, he records “Yesterday,” “Here, There, and Everywhere,” “Eleanor Rigby,” a Little reworked “The Long and Winding Road,” a longer version of “Good Day Sunshine,” and “For No One.” As I said, there was no reason to do these songs and a point could be made that he had amassed quite a solo career of songs to draw from.

This is a jazzy completely unnecessary remake of “The Long and Winding Road.”

Painful.
The odd thing about the beginning of the recording session is who steps out. Ringo. Ringo refused to be in on that action. This is what McCartney had to say about that:

“Ringo wasn’t happy to get involved with it. We had some songs in the film where we wanted him to drum on them, but he didn’t want to attempt a new version. I can see it from his point of view, actually, because it would have been, ‘Did I drum good on version A or version B?’ and he didn’t even want a comparison. From my point of view, I’m looking at a song. I’m looking at one of my songs. I don’t want to be ashamed of anything I’ve written.”

Of course that was Ringo’s point of view. He had to have realized the film and soundtrack were McCartney’s vanity project. Plus, it’s not like Paul was doing a Ringo song. Or one of George Harrison’s. Oh, and speaking of Harrison…

As the movie goes on you’ll notice George is missing. I always thought that was odd, but I was young when I first saw the movie and seeing Ringo was good enough for me, but when I decided to write this series, I had to find out what was going on with the absent guitarist.

In an interview, he was asked if he asked Harrison to be a part of Give My Regards to Broad Street.

“No, I didn’t actually,” remarks McCartney on whether he considered including Harrison. “George was out of the country for that year… tell you the truth, I know George wouldn’t have wanted to do it.”

McCartney continued to describe Harrison’s feelings toward appearing in movies, saying, “George doesn’t really have any aspirations in acting, I don’t think,” he says. “He never really did in the old movies… he was the least keen of us to do some acting.”

Ok.

This was 1984. Paul had to have known of a little film released in 1979 called The Life of Brian with the actors from Monty Python. Being that he knew of the film (it would be impossible not to), he would know that his pal George founded HandMade Films specifically to fund the movie with 3 million dollars of his own money. He appears in a scene (pictured). So, maybe he wasn’t interested much in acting, but he definitely loved film. But McCartney didn’t think to ask him. That makes sense.

This is the re-recording of “Here, There, and Everywhere.”

That, Dear Readers, is the end of the Beatles portion of the series. Tomorrow we will tackle the solo stuff (which McCartney also re-recorded) and some pretty silly stuff.