Paul McCartney and Denny Laine: Give Barrack Obama Your Vote

Let’s suppose that those who have been keeping an intelligent, careful eye on American politics would not be completely convinced by the current polls, which at present indicate that the election is Barrack Obama’s. Things continue to change at the drop of a hat, in spite of each new configuration of the way America “feels” being initially perceived as written in stone. And so, let us suppose that, just as a McCain presidency would place Palin dangerously close to the highest office in the land, perhaps the world, so McCain is dangerously close to winning the presidency. To sit back with the sense that nothing need be done about this, were one in a position to do something, might therefore be the highest form of irresponsibility.

In 1975-76, Paul McCartney and Denny Laine did a song called, “Must Do Something About It,” which was based on a communication I had sent to Paul McCartney at a time when, like now, I was of significance to Paul McCartney. My communication immediately followed a McCartney radio interview, in which he said that on his upcoming concert tour he was likely to do his songs note perfect to the version heard on the recordings, as that’s what the people wanted. My communication stated that it (the communication) should be regarded as my vote, that it would be more real if he felt at liberty to change the notes, and that if he should ever wish to visit my school, CalArts, I would be delighted to show him around (i.e., “hold your coat”).

When one considers that Denny Laine became Paul McCartney’s main musical collaborator following John Lennon, it seems something of a contrast to, in any manner, juxtapose that song’s “must do something about it…. or not” persona within proximity of Lennon’s “I sure as hell will do something about stuff” outward persona.

And that brings us to the stage that has now been set. Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel (who sat next to me on an airplane Easter Sunday 1978, the year the Pope would have wanted to be sitting next Billy Joel, owing to his recent hit about a Catholic girl hiding behind a stained glass curtain counting on her rosary; Easter Sunday 1978, three weeks before I received a letter from Paul McCartney regarding my upcoming graduation from film school; Easter Sunday 1978, six weeks before Rolling Stone Magazine’s June Random Notes piece about Lennon considering a part in a movie called “Street Messiah”, which I followed up on, and might have succeeded in working on had it ever been made) will be performing for Obama on October 16th, with surprise guests.

There is a great, wise expression: “It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it.” I would not want McCartney publicly supporting Obama if it were to be done clumsily, in a run of the mill fashion, as a typical celebrity endorsement, or tainted by seeming like an upstaging, or as something pointedly alienating to anyone not of like mind. But what I would love to see would be if McCartney could find a good way to fuse a Beatle-like feeling (from when they suggested the group persona of a social movement) together with the kind of support for Obama that is like being part of the rising spirit of a new social movement.

The suggestion I would like to make, as simple as it may sound, would accomplish a lot, in addition to meeting the only real criteria – it feels “right”: I would like to suggest a reunion of Paul McCartney and Denny Laine as part of the Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen Obama event. It would provide the perfect proximity to present times for the “ghost” of John Lennon’s activist spirit; it would contain the promise of musical chemistry yet unexplored; it is the right time, as Denny Laine’s new book about Paul McCartney could be seen as implying that their famous relationship could now finally be in the right place for such a musical reunion.

Obviously, I am far outside of the real inner issues McCartney and Laine would have to address in making such a decision. So: let this opinion of mine just be seen as.... one vote.