“That’s maybe my number one career highlight!” Ron Mael of Sparks told Far Out when we caught up with him recently. “To have a former Beatle, who could’ve chosen any keyboard to imitate, so to imitate me was certainly a very flattering moment.” He is, of course, talking about Paul McCartney‘s impersonation in the video for his solo hit ‘Coming Up’.
The track comes from McCartney II which, like its predecessor, saw Macca play every instrument. As such, the album is a purified look at his artistry, it showcases the inspirations in his creative welter without any second-hand filtering. Moreover, it saw him attempt to enter the 1980s renewed, digging back through any lingering disillusionment and getting to the heart of the music that moved him.
Therefore, the characters that cropped up in the music video for ‘Coming Up’ were very notable. In some ways, they were like the animated version of the Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Cover – an assortment of influences brought together in a collage form to showcase McCartney’s inspirations. And it worked; the song went to number one in the US and settled at second in the UK behind ‘Geno’ by Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Returning to what he loved had worked.
So, what was it that he did love exactly? Well, aside from the idiosyncratic Ron Mael, there are a slew of other artists that McCartney imitates in some fashion in the video. These can also be detected in the smorgasbord of sounds he tries out in the instrumentation styles too. We’ve collated a run-down of the characters below.
Who does Paul McCartney imitate in the ‘Coming Up’ video?
Hank Mavin – Commonly known as the hungriest man in rock, Marvin was the lead guitarist for the Shadows, who, along with The Beatles, dominated the British charts in the 1960s. With his straight-arm strumming style, heavy echo and vibrato, Marvin helped to invent the sound of the era thanks to his unique playing.
Ron Mael – The famed keyboardist from rock ‘n’ roll turned electro group the Sparks. As he told us of the imitation: “It was also British bands that meant something to us other than maybe The Beach Boys who sort of encapsulated the Southern California lifestyle, but other than that, it was British bands and then just to have Paul McCartney do that was wow! There is a show here, Saturday Night Live, and McCartney was making his appearance and presenting that for the first time, and it was just like, well, I had a swelled head for a couple of weeks.”
Beatlemania Macca: McCartney tackles a younger version of himself. Unlike many musicians who have moved on from their past, Paul is never shy of celebrating his former glory, and holds The Beatles dearly, as well as the influences that inspired him at the time.
John Bonham: Led Zeppelin’s thunder of drums. Often considered the greatest drummer of all time, McCartney admired his abilities but often felt that he wouldn’t have melded as well with many bands. However, they eventually got to play together on the Wings tack ‘Beware My Love’, and McCartney later reflected: “It was fantastic! He was always on my top 5 drummer list. A great friend and ballsy drummer!”
Andy Mackay: The English oboe and saxophone player best known for being a founder of the art rock extraordinaires Roxy Music. McCartney would eventually recruit Mackay to work on the Tug of War track, ‘What’s That You’re Doing’.
Frank Zappa: The iconoclastic rock star, guitarist and composer who was famously mixed when it came to The Beatles; he put ‘I Am the Walrus’ among his favourite singles of all time, and said Revolver was his favourite album from 1966, but also stated: “Everybody else thought they were God! I think that was not correct. They were just a good commercial group.” As for McCartney, he once cited ‘Freak Out!’ as the key inspiration behind Sgt. Pepper’s.
Buddy Holly: A firm hero to The Beatles. Speaking about the American rockabilly pioneer, McCartney once said that it was Buddy Holly who encouraged him and John Lennon to start writing their own original songs together.
