Comin' Up: Happy 70th Birthday, Paul McCartney

By Craig Hlavaty Mon., Jun. 18 2012 at 2:30 PM

Categories: Miles-tones

That one dude from the Beatles at the Grammys this year.

By now you all know that today is Sir Paul McCartney's 70th birthday. Over on chron.com, there is a wire story on the milestone with a curious headline: "Say It Ain't So: Mop Top Paul McCartney Turns 70." Now does this mean that it's a shame he made it seven decades of service, or does it suck that he's that old and that we are all getting older too?

In case you do not in fact know who Paul McCartney is, check out this blog from back in February. And if you do love McCartney, read this plea urging him to play Houston.

I guess his turning 70 is a reminder to some that we don't have much longer to spend with him, but seeing that he's a veggie and life expectancies are fantastic these days, 70 might as well be the new 50. Or something like that. Ask me if I think that when I turn 50 myself.

Also, a few other rockers are turning 70 soon or have already turned 70 this year, including Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork of the Monkees, Mick Fleetwood, Taj Mahal, Lou Reed, John Cale, Aretha Franklin, and Graham Nash. Beach Boys architect Brian Wilson hits the big 7-0 on Wednesday.

All Paul, except for Linda on the right.

Some call McCartney the "former Beatle" but I profer that you can't be a former Beatle, and being a member of the Fab Four is like being in the Marine Corps. There are no "former marines", just older and inactive ones.

Anyhow, if you need a reminder on how fun Paul McCartney can be (besides that one Simpsons episode) check out the video for his left field single "Comin' Up" which features Paul as almost everyone in the damned clip. Thanks to primitive film magic, it works.

He plays himself as a Beatle, a bearded Amish/hillbilly drummer, Ron Mael from Sparks, a greaser brass section, Buddy Holly, possibly a Ramone, and some others. YouTube says I can't embed it, so watch it here and enjoy. It comes off his 1980 LP McCartney II, which I become obsessed with every few years. The trailer for the reissue of the album last year is a good taste of what was going on at that point of his career. He basically made an LCD Soundsystem record in 1980.