COMING UP (SONG)

'"Coming Up"' was the opening track from Paul McCartney's ''McCartney II'' album, released in 1980. Like the rest of the album, the song had a minimalist synthesized feel to it, and featured humourously-processed vocals from McCartney. It reached #2 in the UK.
A live version of the song was recorded by Wings in concert in December 1979 in Glasgow, Scotland. This version had a much fuller sound and was included as one of the two songs on the B-side of the single; the other B-side was also a Wings song, "Lunchbox/Odd Sox", that dated back to the ''Venus and Mars'' sessions. In the US, radio stations bypassed the McCartney solo A-side and played the live Wings version, which reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
To help sales of ''McCartney II'', a special single-sided 45rpm promotional white-label copy of the Wings version was included with the album in North America. The live version has since appeared on various McCartney best-of compilations; for example, on the McCartney and Wings greatest hits album ''Wingspan'', the live Wings version is included on the US release, while the McCartney solo studio version is included on the UK release.
A different live Wings recording of "Coming Up" appears on the album version of the ''Concerts for the People of Kampuchea'', with an additional verse that was edited out of the Glasgow release.
"Coming Up" is also well known for its video. It is a very early example of electronic trickery, with Paul McCartney playing ten roles and Linda McCartney playing two. The band features Paul and Linda's imitations of several famous rock musicians; some are more easily recognizable than others. The characters include Ginger Baker (drums), Ron Mael of Sparks (keyboards), Hank B. Marvin (guitar), a left-handed guitarist generally thought to be either Neil Young or simply a generic heavy metal musician, a Beatlemania-era version of Paul (bass and backing vocals), Andy MacKay (sax), possibly the sax player from the J. Geils Band, as well as two sax players and a male backing singer (performed by Linda) that have yet to be identified with any certainty.
"Coming Up" is the only Paul McCartney song to hit the top of the U.S. Billboard Pop Singles chart that was officially credited to McCartney only, despite the fact the version of "Coming Up" that actually topped the U.S. chart was performed by Wings and credited on the single to 'Paul McCartney & Wings' (see the alternate cover). Other Billboard number-one singles by McCartney are officially credited to either Paul & Linda McCartney ("Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"), Paul McCartney & Wings ("My Love," "Band On The Run"), Wings ("Listen To What The Man Said", "Silly Love Songs," "With A Little Luck"), Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder ("Ebony & Ivory") and Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson ("Say, Say, Say"). That oddity makes Paul the ex-Beatle to top the charts both the most (in conjunction with Wings and others) and the least (by himself) after the band's breakup. Ringo Starr and John Lennon registered two U.S. pop number-one hits apiece, while George Harrison had three, all of which were credited to them alone.
Despite his ambivalent feelings about McCartney's solo success, John Lennon was complimentary of this song, and it partially inspired Lennon's own 1980 comeback.^[1] It was McCartney's final hit during Lennon's lifetime.

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1. Rosen, Robert. ''Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon.'' 2001, p. 135. ISBN: 978-0932551511.