Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
| cover = Paul & Linda McCartney - Uncle Albert.jpg
| alt =
| border = yes
| type = single
| artist = Paul & Linda McCartney
| album = Ram
| B-side = Too Many People
| released = 2 August 1971 (US only)
| recorded = 6 November 1970
| studio =
| genre = Progressive pop{{cite magazine|first= Rob|last= Sheffield|title= The 100 Best Beatles Solo Songs|magazine= Rolling Stone|date= March 6, 2024|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-beatles-solo-songs-1234972758/john-lennon-how-1971-1234974785/|accessdate= April 25, 2024|quote= Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” hit Number One, a crackpot prog-pop suite...}}
| length = 4:49
| label = Apple
| writer = Paul and Linda McCartney
| producer = Paul and Linda McCartney
| prev_title = Another Day
| prev_year = 1971
| next_title = The Back Seat of My Car
| next_year = 1971
| misc = {{Extra track listing
| album = Ram
| type = single
}}
}}
"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" is a song by Paul and Linda McCartney from the album Ram. Released in the United States as a single on 2 August 1971,{{sfn|McGee|2003|p=195}} it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on 4 September 1971,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wggEAAAAMBAJ |title=Billboard |page=Front cover |date=11 July 1970 |via=Booksgoogle.com |access-date=5 October 2016}}{{cite web|title=Allmusic: Paul McCartney: Charts & Awards |website=AllMusic|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=p4865/charts-awards/billboard-singles|pure_url=yes}}|access-date=2 May 2013}} making it the first of a string of post-Beatles, Paul McCartney-penned singles to top the US pop chart during the 1970s and 1980s. Billboard ranked the song as number 22 on its Top Pop Singles of 1971 year-end chart."Top Pop 100 Singles" Billboard 25 December 1971: TA-36 It became McCartney's first gold record after the break-up of the Beatles.
Elements and interpretation
"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" is composed of several unfinished song fragments that Norwegian engineer {{ill|Eirik Wangberg|no}} stitched together{{cite web |url=https://www.the-paulmccartney-project.com/interview/interview-with-eirik-wangberg/ |title=Interview with Eirik Wangberg |last=Dirani |first=Claudio |date=2005 |website=Paul McCartney Project |access-date=18 May 2022}} in a similar manner to the medleys from the Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road.{{cite book|title=Lennon and McCartney: together alone: a critical discography of their solo work|author=Blaney, J.|pages=46, 50|year=2007|publisher=Jawbone Press|isbn=978-1-906002-02-2}} The orchestral arrangements by George Martin were recorded in New York at A & R Recording, along with other instruments by McCartney and his new band. The project was moved to Los Angeles where vocals were added by Paul and Linda McCartney – her first experience of recording in a professional studio. The song is notable for its thunderstorm and environmental sound effects added by Wangberg in Los Angeles; he had been invited by McCartney to mix and sequence the Ram album in any way he saw fit,{{cite web |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/paul-mccartney-how-i-made-ram |title=Paul McCartney: How I made Ram |last=Harper |first=Simon |date=24 June 2021 |website=Classic Rock |access-date=18 May 2022}} and he copied the thunder from a monaural film soundtrack, then fashioned an artificial stereo version of it for the song.
McCartney stated that "Uncle Albert" was based on his uncle: "He's someone I recall fondly, and when the song was coming it was like a nostalgia thing."{{sfn|McGee|2003|p=196}} He also stated: "I had an uncle – Albert Kendall – who was a lot of fun, and when I came to write 'Uncle Albert'/'Admiral Halsey' it was loosely about addressing that older generation, half thinking, 'What would they think of the way my generation does things?' That's why I wrote the line 'We're so sorry, Uncle Albert.'"{{cite web|title=Best Paul McCartney Songs: 20 Essential Post-Beatles Macca Tracks|date=18 June 2021|accessdate=2021-06-18|url=https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/best-paul-mccartney-songs/|publisher=udiscovermusic |author=McGuinness, Paul}} McCartney also told an American journalist, "As for Admiral Halsey, he's one of yours, an American admiral", referring to Fleet Admiral William "Bull" Halsey (1882–1959).{{sfn|McGee|2003|p=196}} McCartney has described the "Uncle Albert" section of the song as an apology from his generation to the older generation, and Admiral Halsey as an authoritarian figure who ought to be ignored.{{cite book|title=The Words and Music of Paul McCartney: The Solo Years|author=Benitez, V.P.|pages=30–31|year=2010|publisher=Praeger|isbn=978-0-313-34969-0}}
McCartney said that the lyric, "'Hands across the water/Heads across the sky' refers to Linda and me being American and British."{{cite web |url= https://www.beatlesbible.com/people/paul-mccartney/songs/uncle-albert-admiral-halsey/ |title=Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey |access-date=22 April 2023 |date=3 March 2023}}
Reception
Paul McCartney won the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists in 1971 for the song.{{cite web|url=http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=Linda+McCartney|title=Past Winners Search|publisher=National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences|access-date=2 May 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0150566.htm |title=1971 Grammy Awards |website=Infoplease.com |access-date=5 October 2016}} The single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over one million copies.{{cite web |url=https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&artist=paul%20mc%20cartney&format=single&perPage=25 |title=RIAA - Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - September 24, 2015 |website=Recording Industry Association of America |access-date=2011-08-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924154025/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&artist=paul%20mc%20cartney&format=single&perPage=25 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |df=dmy-all }}
According to AllMusic critic Stewart Mason, fans of Paul McCartney's music are divided in their opinions of this song.{{cite web|title=Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey|author=Mason, S.|website=Allmusic|url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/uncle-albert-admiral-halsey-mt0001009283|access-date=25 December 2013}} Although some fans praise it as "one of his most playful and inventive songs", others criticize it for being "exactly the kind of cute self-indulgence that they find so annoying about his post-Beatles career." Mason himself considers it "churlish" to be annoyed by the song, given that the song is not intended to be completely serious, and he praises the "Hands across the water" section as being "lovably giddy." Ultimate Classic Rock critic Nick DeRiso states that the song feels "more calculatedly twee than truly inspired, despite its episodic construction" and that its main weakness is that it exposes McCartney's awareness of his own charm.{{cite web|title=How Paul McCartney's 'Ram' Became a Moment of Handmade Genius | url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/paul-mccartney-ram/|publisher=Ultimate Classic Rock|accessdate=2022-05-20|date=May 15, 2016|author=DeRiso, Nick}}
In a contemporary review of Ram, Jon Landau of Rolling Stone gave "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" a negative review, saying the song is "a piece with so many changes it never seems to come down anywhere, and in the places that it does, sounds like the worst piece of light music Paul has ever done."{{cite magazine|last1=Landau|first1=Jon|title=Ram|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/ram-19710708|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=30 July 2017|date=8 July 1971}} Cash Box said that the song "is bursting with fine melodies and interesting musical changes certain to please both AM and underground programmers."{{cite news|title=CashBox Record Reviews|date=August 14, 1971|page=14|accessdate=2021-12-10|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1971/Cash-Box-1971-08-14.pdf|newspaper=Cash Box}} Record World called it a "sound collage of Paul's best song ideas."{{cite magazine|title=Picks of the Week|magazine=Record World|date=August 14, 1971|page=1|accessdate=2023-04-14|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/71/Record-World-1971-08-14.pdf}}
A retrospective 2012 Pitchfork review by Jayson Greene states: "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey is not only Ram{{'s}} centerpiece, it is clearly one of McCartney’s five greatest solo songs. As the slash in the title hints, it's a multi-part song, starring two characters. To put its accomplishments in an egg-headed way: It fuses the conversational joy listeners associated with McCartney's melodic gift to the compositional ambition everyone assumed was Lennon's. To put it a simpler way: Every single second of this song is joyously, deliriously catchy, and no two seconds are the same."{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16651-ram/ |title=Albums: Ram – Paul McCartney / Linda McCartney |date=24 May 2012 |last=Greene |first=Jason |website=Pitchfork |access-date=22 January 2025}}
On the US charts, the song set a milestone as the all-time songwriting record (at the time) for Paul McCartney for the most consecutive calendar years to write a #1 song. This gave him eight consecutive years (starting with "I Want to Hold Your Hand"), leaving John Lennon behind with only seven years.
Later release
"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" appears on the Wings Greatest compilation album released in 1978,{{Cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/wings-greatest-mw0000190866|title=Wings Greatest - Wings, Paul McCartney {{!}} Songs, Reviews, Credits {{!}} AllMusic|website=AllMusic|access-date=30 July 2017}} even though Ram was not a Wings album.
The song appears on several solo Paul McCartney compilations: the US version of All the Best! (1987), as well as Wingspan: Hits and History (2001),{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Paul-McCartney-Wingspan-Hits-And-History/master/93731|title=Paul McCartney - Wingspan - Hits And History|website=Discogs|language=en|access-date=30 July 2017}} and on both the standard and deluxe versions of Pure McCartney (2016).{{Cite news|url=https://www.paulmccartney.com/news-blogs/news/67-tracks-of-pure-mccartney|title=67 Tracks of Pure McCartney...|date=30 March 2016|work=PaulMcCartney.com|access-date=30 July 2017}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Paul-McCartney-Pure-McCartney/release/8632302|title=Paul McCartney - Pure McCartney|website=Discogs|date=10 June 2016 |language=en|access-date=30 July 2017}} It was also included on The 7" Singles Box in 2022.{{cite web|url=https://www.paulmccartney.com/news/paul-announces-the-7-singles-box|title='The 7" Singles Box' – Out 2 December 2022|website=PaulMcCartney.com|date=10 November 2022|access-date=5 December 2022}}
Personnel
- Paul McCartney – vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, bass and xylophone
- Linda McCartney – backing vocals
- Hugh McCracken – acoustic and electric guitar
- Denny Seiwell – drums
- Paul Beaver – synthesizer
- David Nadien, Aaron Rosand – violin
- Marvin Stamm, Mel Davis, Ray Crisara, Snooky Young – brass
- New York Philharmonic Orchestra – orchestral backing
- George Martin – orchestral arrangement
- {{ill|Eirik Wangberg|no}} – mix engineer, thunder sound effect
Chart performance
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
=Weekly charts=
{{col-2}}
=Year-end charts=
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |
| scope="col"|Chart (1971)
! scope="col"|Rank |
|---|
| scope="row"|Australia (KMR){{cite book|first= David |last= Kent |author-link= David Kent (historian) |title= Australian Chart Book 1970-1992 |publisher= Australian Chart Book |location= St Ives, N.S.W. |year= 1993 |isbn= 0-646-11917-6}}{{Failed verification|date=January 2018}}
| 67 |
| scope="row"|Canada RPM Top Singles{{cite magazine|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.7590&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=mhe12pta2k83e08udtq66ot062 |title=RPM 100 Top Singles of 1971 |magazine=RPM |date=8 January 1972 |access-date=11 March 2014}}
|14 |
| scope="row"|U.S. Billboard Hot 100
|22 |
=Certifications=
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|title=Uncle Albert|artist=Paul Mc Cartney|type=single|award=Gold|relyear=1971|certyear=1971}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}
{{col-end}}
Notes
{{Reflist|30em}}
References
- {{cite book |last=McGee |first=Garry |year=2003 |title=Band on the Run: A History of Paul McCartney and Wings |publisher=Taylor Trade Publishing |location=New York |isbn=0-87833-304-5 }}
External links
- {{YouTube|UvUkPtSheyg|Paul & Linda McCartney - Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey}}
{{Paul McCartney singles}}
{{Paul McCartney}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uncle Albert Admiral Halsey}}
Category:Apple Records singles
Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Category:Cashbox number-one singles
Category:Songs written by Paul McCartney
Category:Songs written by Linda McCartney
Category:Song recordings produced by Paul McCartney
Category:Music published by MPL Music Publishing
Category:RPM Top Singles number-one singles
Category:Number-one singles in New Zealand
Category:Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals