Written by: Paul and Linda McCartney
Recorded: 6 November 1970; 3, 11 January; 1, 9, 10, 12 March; 7 April 1971
Producer: Paul and Linda McCartney
Released: 21 May 1971 (UK), 17 May 1971 (US)
Paul McCartney: vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, piano, xylophone
Linda McCartney: backing vocals
Hugh McCracken: acoustic guitar, 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
Available on:
Ram
Thrillington
The fifth song on Paul and Linda McCartney's 1971 album Ram, Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey was issued as a single in the United States. It became his first post-Beatles number one single.
The song was partly inspired by Albert Kendall, who had worked with McCartney's father Jim at Liverpudlian cotton merchants A Hannay & Co. Kendall was a clerk at the business, and subsequently married Jim's sister Milly, making him Paul's uncle Albert.
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'. There's an imaginary element in many of my songs – to me, Admiral Halsey is symbolic of authority and therefore not to be taken too seriously. We recorded it in New York and George Martin helped me with the orchestral arrangement. I was surprised when it became a big hit.
Wingspan: Paul McCartney's Band On The Run
McCartney also suggested that the Admiral Halsey in the lyrics was loosely based on World War II US Naval officer Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey Jr, commonly known as Bill or Bull Halsey. "As for Admiral Halsey, he's one of yours, an American admiral," McCartney said.
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey was one of the few songs on Ram about which John Lennon spoke favourably. although he was typically disparaging about its range of disparate elements.
I thought it [Ram] was awful! McCartney was better because at least there were some tunes on it, like Junk. I liked the beginning of Ram On, the beginning of Uncle Albert and I liked some of My Dog's Got Three Legs. I liked the little bit about 'Hands across the water', but it just tripped off all the time. I didn't like that a bit!
As suggested by the title, Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey was a song in two distinct parts, but contained several more unfinished fragments of tunes that McCartney weaved together. The song comprises 12 distinct parts, some of which are repeated during the course of the song.
The mid-tempo opening two minutes are McCartney at his most melodious, showing doubters that his songwriting skills hadn't died with The Beatles. It also featured the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, arranged by The Beatles' producer George Martin.
Martin's contribution was not credited on the album, and was unknown by the general public for nearly 30 years. His score sheets for the orchestral arrangement mistakenly bore the title Uncle Arthur.
McCartney conducted the orchestral musicians; the recording took place in Studio A1 at A&R Studios in New York. According to producer Phil Ramone, "The funny thing is about 20% of the orchestra didn't know who he was. They were classical players."
The song's second half featured the Admiral Halsey motif, three instances of the "Hands across the water/Heads across the sky" refrain, and the "Live a little, be a gypsy, get around" passage. The outro alone is in two distinct parts, the first with country and western guitar licks, moving into a segue that marks the beginning of Smile Away.
Admiral Halsey was notable for its production, which contained various sound effects: rain, a vocal approximation of a telephone tone, sea birds and wind. Paul and Linda also demonstrated their best upper class English accents ("We haven't done a bloody thing all day"; "Butter pie?").
If you listen carefully, you'll hear Paul gurgling right before the telephone voice comes in. That sound was his imitation of a British telephone ring. He was supposed to give the engineer a cue when he wanted the lowpass filter dropped in for the Admiral Halsey character. The engineer made the switch too early and the filter came in on one of the gurgles! Paul didn't care, though. To him, it was all about the feel of the music.
Mix magazine
Fascinating detail about that filter effect on the final fake telephone ring – it functions just like a sudden cut in a movie, unintended or not. A “happy accident” worthy of the Beatles!
Am I the only one that hears Paul doing a bit of John Cleese in this song
Nope, I hear it too!
No, you hear nothing of the sort. Cole Porter is the person he’s channelling, not John Cleese. As if. Too much ignorance on these boards.
I was thinking the same thing as I listened to the song but an hour ago. Intentionally or not, Paul sounds very much like John Cleese in that passage.
NNo you are not. Have always looked for a cameo credit for J.C.
Cette chanson est, et de loin, une des plus belles de son époque.
Paul McCartney is the best musician in the world! The only thing you did wasn’t Yesterday! Kudos Paul! Keep going!! Buddy Haughwout!
John Lennon was so jealous and bitter at Paul’s genius and talent, that he just couldn’t help himself with the constant bashing of his musical soulmate. I think that Lennon recognized that McCartney, who loved, admired and hero worshipped him as a teen and young adult, started to catch up, then surpass Lennon with his songwriting skills, that Lennon feared that McCartney wouldn’t need/want him anymore, so Lennon just criticized and put down just about everything Paul did, running to the press and running off at the mouth, with the music press poison pens dripping and at the ready, to heap vitriol at McCartney’s works, as if THEY could create anything better musically themselves.(unlikely)
I think that John truely loved Paul, but was just too envious and wanted to ALWAYS to be perceived as the best……but he wasn’t.
Sorry but John was a music genius too and there are countless great examples of this during his Beatles years,and some during his solo career.Please go listen to his beautiful,brilliant music in his 1974 song, Number 9 Dream, the music is beautiful and brilliant with beautiful melodies and harmonies and John’s usual beautiful singing voice.John produced and arranged this song by himself and the very good album it’s on,Walls and Bridges too. And John’s beautiful Hawaiian type music in this song, You Are Here, from his Mind Games album.
Lennon´s critique of McCartney´s material was almost always fair. He knew what he was talking about. I agree totally with the Lennon citation above, about Uncle Albert and the Ram and McCartney LP:s.
Lennon was better than McCartney at hearing if the basic material of a song was good or not. He was able to think past, and not be fooled by, a slick production.
I really think Lennon wanted McCartney to make good and fully developed songs and was disappointed when he almost never did.
When Paul almost never wrote good and fully developed songs? Paul wrote *many* of these in his early solo/Wings career.And John didn’t always write these type of songs in his solo career either.
On the McCartney LP Maybe I´m amazed and Every night are really good. That would be something is good but definitely not fully developed.
Junk is okay but melodically too predictable. That goes for Teddy boy to. whch does not have very good lyrics, because McCartney did not bother to develop it or did not understand that he should do so.
Man we was lonely has good verses but a rather tedious chorus. The two parts differ too much emotionally to fit together.
Kreen Akrore is interesting but not a real song. What else is there on that LP? Not much.
Ram is even worse: Uncle Albert is good, as is the verse-refrain in The back seat of my car, but that is all, in my opinion.
Wild life is a right out terrible LP. Red rose speedway has the not so bad, but also not very good, My love and When the night.
Band on the run is overrated. The two first parts of the Band on the run song are good as is Denny Laines No words, but the rest of the songs are mediocre compared to McCartney´s Beatles production.
Venus and Mars… I can´t be bothered. Speed of Sound has Let ’em in which is not so bad.
London Town, Back to the egg, McCartney II… Not much substance there.
Tug of war is a good LP in many ways, for a change.
Pipes of peace is not very good. And so on.
I think you’re right. Uncle Albert, as even Paul admitted, was a collection of odds and ends of bits and pieces sewn together to make a song. John saw right through it and called him on it, mentioning what he liked and what he didn’t. John could be very unfair sometimes, but on this count he was just calling it like he saw it.
Maybe it’s just me but this song just screams John. I know that Paul had an Uncle Albert who this was suppose to be about and maybe to some extent it was. To me however, “Albert” is John, who at the time was referring to himself as a genius (like Albert Einstein) and he, John, was so busy rubbing his “love cloud” goings on with Yoko in Paul’s face as if to say “I don’t need you anymore, I have Yoko” Paul hits back with, in essence, “Sorry, I’m too busy for you, I’ve got to check on tea” (We’re so easily called away)
The ending part makes me think of Yoko “Little, little be a gypsy get around…”) The whole tune is extremely clever but it is a dig at both Lennon and Ono. At least that is what I get from it. Love it though.
Nah. McCartney explicitly stated what the song’s about – nothing to do with J & Y. That’s your imagination running amok.
One of my favorite songs by paul. What a genius.
I’ve always loved the song! One of my favorite along with Magneto from Venus and Mars. Love you Paul!
I too like Magneto and Titanium man, though the lyrics is silly.
I’m dying to know “What is that sound effect when he says the word “wa-ter”?? The song Admiral Hasley? For several years I wanted to know how did that weird vocal effect..”Land, across the water “wa-ter”, land across the sky”…
That was Linda McCartney’s vocal, “water”, and it was passed through modulated reverb and mixed in separately from the main backing track.
Who does the voice over on the talking part? Sounds like John Cleese. Is it?
Certainly sounds like Paul, no?
McCartney made a mistake when coupling Uncle Albert with Admiral Halsey. The former is much better and one should never connect a good to a lesser song.
Lennon´s critique of McCartney´s material was almost always fair. He knew what he was talking about. I agree totally with the Lennon citation above, about Uncle Albert and the Ram and McCartney LP:s.
How do we know that John didn’t any influence in the “Uncle Albert” song? And in meaning representation was Einstein. I understand Paul’s comments concerning his uncle and Admiral Halsey. But very deep in my gut something tells me that John had a bit of influence for his own reasoning. They both may of agreed on the lyrics for separate reasons. John was a visionary and Paul would take an idea from time to time I’m sure. Not saying Paul to be fair was a ladder stepper for his own reasons, but was an amazing artist himself but was the first to be the business man.
I had the 45 back in the day. This is just a fun listen, nothing spectacular or meaningful. Not a great piece of art, but one to just hum or sing to, however meaningless the lyrics are.