youtu.be/1aMZh3m_ez0 - I had an Uncle Albert. I dont know if Im, like, inventing memories, but I remember he came with his mother (my grandmother) to visit us at our summer home in Wildwood. I sort of remember the RAM album coming up in conversation. Maybe we were talking Beatles, or something. My mother had Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey on a 45rpm single. I recorded it onto a cassette, along with Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, Space Oddity, The Man Who Sold The World, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and Mrs. Robinson, among other classics. I listened to that cassette on the school bus every morning on the way to 9th grade at Carver High School. I might have asked Uncle Al what he thought of the Uncle Albert song, and I think he responded approvingly of the whole RAM album. His response sounded a little cryptic at the time, because I was familiar only with the single, and not the full album. He was going on about RAM, and I was like, Uh. Okay. I got wise later on, and then I was like, Ah yes. RAM. He was a funny guy, I thought. Us kids liked him a lot, though I didnt hear from him much while I was in high school. He disappeared to Florida for some years. During finals week of my freshman year of college, 1999, we got the call that he had left this world by his own hand. From my point of view, he had been fading away for a long time, and then suddenly he was gone for good. Of course, it is impossible for me to listen to this without thinking about good old Uncle Al, and I wish he were around to enjoy the RAM portion of my Beatles marathon. Paul McCartney also had an 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? Thats why I wrote the line Were so sorry, Uncle Albert. ~ Paul As for Admiral Halsey: 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, hes one of yours, an American admiral, McCartney said. ~ beatlesbible/people/paul-mccartney/songs/uncle-albert-admiral-halsey/
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 03:00:35 +0000