Oobu Joobu: Week Eleven

Week 11
02:18   Matchbox
05:40   Blue Suede Shoes
07:50   Yesterday - Cartoon Version
12:50   Christmas Parade
16:10   Yesterday - Boys II Men
Yesterday Comments
        Chazz Palminteri
        Clarence Clemons
        Boyz II Men
19:00   Ballroom Dancing
23:30   Ready Teddy - Little Richard
Yesterday Comments
        Little Richard
26:20   Yesterday - Cartoon Version
26:50   Rockestra Theme
29:45   Yesterday - Duane Eddy
31:30   Vanilla Mouse - Linda
32:55   10,000 year old man -
34:25   Ou est Summertime
Yesterday Comments
        Christopher Reeve
        Kevin Kline
        John Carpenter
Yesterday - Eddie Klien version
        Meg Ryan
        Human League
        Ringo Starr
41:00   True Love - Carl and Paul
43:20   Get It - Carl and Paul
47:45   Yesterday
49:55   Yesterday - Cockney Version
Tape Contents courtesy Aaron Gill for the Internet Oobu Joobu Tape Tree

Spoiler warning for the latest Oobu Joobu

Surprise, surprise! For the first time, Paul McCartney delivers a bona fide "concept" episode of "Oobu Joobu". In contrast to the rather thin "ecology" edition a few weeks back, here we get a serious attempt to program around a specific idea--celebrating the 30th anniversary of the song "Yesterday" (first released in the UK Aug 6, 1965, which means this episiode will actually air on the anniversary in many cities).

The primary means of celebrating the anniversary is a series of comments from various celebrities about their memories of the song. Few of the comments are enlightening, but it's interesting to hear what a broad selection of people have been brought together by this song. In order of appearance, they are: Chazz Palminteri (co-star of Woody Allen's "Bullets Over Broadway"), Clarence Clemons, Boyz II Men, Little Richard, Duane Eddy, Christopher Reeve (Paul wishes him the best afterward, in reference to his recent accident), Kevin Kline, John Carpenter, Meg Ryan, members of the Human League, and Ringo Starr. The best is most certainly Eddy, who contributes a specially-recorded version of the song that says far more with its mournful poigniancy than a whole planeload of celebrities could say with words. Little Richard sings some of the song a capella in a more informal way, and the Boyz II Men bit is accompanied by their version of the song, which is on their current album. The biggest disappoinment is Ringo, who mentions hearing the song as "Scrambled Eggs" and then says that the rest is "a cloud". Thanks Ringo; we'll phone you.

Paul's own thoughts are not much more enlightening, although at least he doesn't waste a lot of time on the information we already know. He does, however, briefly yield the floor to George Martin, who makes an interesting point about Paul's input into the string arrangement, citing a particular moment in the score as an interesting musical idea of Paul's. It would have been nice to hear one of them comment on the contrasts between "Yesterday" and the other two songs Paul recorded the same day, "I'm Down" and "I've Just Seen A Face".

Throughout the show, Paul plays versions of "Yesterday" recorded at soundchecks, all with a decidedly light-hearted bent. On one, he goes into a whimsical dialogue with a stuffed animal, speaking both parts; another is a tribute to Eddie Klien (an MPL employee, if memory serves); another has him using a cartoon voice; and yet another has Paul singing in a Cockney accent. In all, seven such versiona are played, none of them long, and some as short as one line. The only full-length version played is a live version, probably from the Tripping album.

The whole segment on "Yesterday" is not all it could have been--it certainly adds little to my enjoyment of the song. But it's all fun, and it's a welcome change from the randomness of most of the shows in this series. The humor certainly is a good way to get around the difficulty of featuring one song throughout the show.

The highlight of the show, however, has nothing at all to do with "Yesterday". In a segment apparently recorded just for the show, Paul is joined by Carl Perkins, playing acoustic versions of Perkins' Sun classic "Your True Love" and the 1982 Perkins/McCartney duet "Get It". "Your True Love" in particular is wonderful, with the two disparate voices meshing beautifully. "Get It" is not quite as strong, but still very enjoyable. Neither singer can rememeber all the words, but they improvise nicely. This is the series' first real guest appearance, and it makes one wish for many more. To tie in with his guest, Paul includes soundcheck recordings of him doing two Perkins classics--a rollicking "Blue Suede Shoes" with prominent piano, and a strong "Matchbox" in which Paul launches into a spoken section recounting a supposed conversation with the rockabilly legend--sounds in places like George Thorogood's version of "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer".

There's little room for other things here, but Paul does slip in a reggae-flavored improvisation, also from a soundcheck, built around the line "Ou est summertime?" Not bad, for what it is. He also plays two of his album cuts--"Ballroom Dancing", before which he reminisces about filming the song's sequence for the "Broad Street" movie (although he plays the Tug Of War LP version, not the movie soundtrack recording), and "Rockestra Theme". For the latter, Paul recounts the story of the song's recording, and then goes into the version he did with Duane Eddy, leading into Eddy's "Yesterday" bit described above. I believe this is the first time anything from my favorite McCartney album, Back To The Egg, has made it into the show.

Little Richard's original recording of "Reddy Teddy" introduces his segment of the "Yesterday" tribute; it fades out at the instrumental break, at which point the "Yesterday" bit comes on, and then the end of the song appears afterward. The seemingly inevitable reggae song is called "Christmas Present" ("in time for the Christmas season, or thereabouts", Paul chirps); once again, Paul does not credit the artist on this rather cliched ditty.

No doubt about the song of the week. "Your True Love" is pure joy, with all due apologies to a certain 30 year old classic.

... there's a rabbit hanging over me, oh yesterday came bunnily.

Review by Brett Pasternack, extended upon in "The 910"
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