Paul McCartney - Coming Up (1980)

"Coming Up" is a song written and performed by English musician Paul McCartney, released as the opening track on his 1980 ...

"Coming Up" is a song written and performed by English musician Paul McCartney, released as the opening track on his 1980 solo album McCartney II. Like other songs on the album, the song has a synthesised sound, featuring sped-up vocals created by using a vari-speed tape machine. McCartney played all instruments and shared vocal harmonies with wife Linda McCartney.

The single was a hit in Britain, peaking at No. 2 on the singles chart. In the United States and Canada, the live version of the song performed by Paul McCartney and Wings in Glasgow the year prior (released as the B-side to the single) saw greater success.

Music video

The music video for "Coming Up" features Paul McCartney playing ten roles (himself, two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, a keyboard player, and four saxophone players) and Linda McCartney playing two (one female backup singer and one male backup singer.) The "band" identified as "The Plastic Macs" on the drum kit (a homage to Lennon's conceptual Plastic Ono Band), features Paul and Linda's imitations of various rock musician stereotypes, as well as a few identifiable musicians. In his audio commentary on the 2007 video collection The McCartney Years, McCartney identified characters that were impersonations of specific artists: Hank Marvin (guitarist from the Shadows), Ron Mael of Sparks (keyboards), a 'Beatlemania-era' version of himself, and a drummer vaguely inspired by John Bonham from Led Zeppelin While others such as authors Fred Bronson and Kenneth Womack have suggested that there are other identifiable impersonations in the video, such as Andy Mackay, Frank Zappa and Buddy Holly, McCartney said the other roles were simply comic relief.

The video premiered in the UK on The Kenny Everett Video Show on 14 April 1980 and in the US on Saturday Night Live on 17 May 1980.