bowie vs. mccartney

Woke up, got out of bed,
Slaved for breakfast till every mouth was fed...

But yeah, I definitely prefer McCartney as a singer to Bowie. Don't get me wrong, there's a fair amount of Bowie vocal performances which move me a great deal: 'Fantastic Voyage' and "Heroes" to name two. I find his voice unbearable on things like 'Teenage Wildlife', though. As for McCartney, I think he went through a phase in the late '60s/early '70s where he couldn't do the "ragged" voice like he used to: his vocals on 'Oh! Darling' and 'Monkberry Moon Delight' border on comical, but I do think touring did his voice wonders while he was in Wings, and his voice held out well for a remarkable amount of time. Only in recent years (and by that I mean from maybe Driving Rain onwards) have I begun to notice McCartney's voice degrading to the point where now he certainly has a worn quality to his voice.

i like some of mccartney's solo stuff but singling out white album tracks and deeming them inferior to stuff on flaming pie is a few steps too far for me. and i like flaming pie!

But I said 'Calico Skies' was as good as 'Mother Nature's Son', not better than. I think 'Calico Skies' is a wonderful song, the live version in particular.

Having said that, I don't know why it's difficult to understand the viewpoint that someone may prefer 'Beautiful Night' to tracks like 'Why Don't We Do It In The Road?', 'Honey Pie', 'Rocky Raccoon' etc. I certainly do! On the other hand, you won't find me hailing stuff like 'Back In The Sunshine Again', 'Heaven On A Sunday', 'Really Love You' or 'Used To Be Bad' as being up there with McCartney's best either.

How could I have forgotten this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTht9VqZAe4

Yeah, I have a hell of a lot of time for that one!

On the day that I die I'd like jokes to be told
And stories of old to be rolled out like carpets

^ I love the directness of this lyric, and I wish McCartney would do it more. He's said himself in the past that he always shies away from getting too personal in songs. Having said that, though, I'm sure there is quite a fair amount of personal stuff in his songs, but he chooses to mask it a lot of the time.

i cant believe so many people consider "Wild Honey Pie" complete garbage, even one of the worst songs the Beatles ever put out. it's an equally goofy and menacing interlude that perfectly suits the paranoia of the white album. sounds cool, and it's short. what's to hate?

It's goofy, sure, but menacing and paranoid? Hmm. Just sounds like McCartney knocking something quick off to me, kinda like 'Bip Bop Link', which of course isn't on a Beatles album and therefore doesn't get the free pass that 'Wild Honey Pie' does because it has The Beatles' name on it.

it's the atonal guitar figure and the fucked pitch/harmonic effect that it's run through along with the vocals that make it a genuinely creepy song, not just a paul goof. good mood setter for the goofy/menacing Bungalow Bill.

mccartney is obviously the more talented musician - composer, arranger, player. bowie is a better performer but only by a hair.

Fattest hair ever..

I mean, I own about three Bowie lps but c'mon!

McCartney can sing, Bowie can't.

whaaaaat's this supposed to mean, that macca is a technically better singer or what? bowie's one of my favorite singers, and i def think he outsings mercury on under pressure though freddie's prob also a "better" singer. so yeah maybe by some standards macca is a better singer but bowie clearly has the better voice and makes better use of it.

It means that at his peak there were few songs McCartney couldn't sing whereas Bowie opened his mouth and I dove under the couch.

I wish I could have seen this, I have watched footage from the "Serious Moonlight" tour over and over. Alas I was a broke teenager. Can't imagine getting worked up over a McCartney appearance. Fantastic concept all the way through.

http://youtu.be/G1hvOcd3B7Q

mccartney was such a magnetic performer that the beatles couldn't even play live anymore over the screaming girls

can't say the same for bowie

That's a joke... right?

I love David Bowie's voice, it's such a great rock and roll instrument that conjures the spirits in old radio, old records. I like all of those oldies singers and old top 40 culture.

Sometimes McCartney's fans annoy me in the way that really "nice" people who never do anything wrong or say anything bad about anyone can annoy me. To me, the point is not to make mom and dad happy and get all A's. There is a sadness to Bowie's work that is more affecting to me.

That's for sure. McCartney does melancholy but not quite what Bowie sometimes gets at. However ... Bowie for all his instinct/genius has pretty much been more misses than hits since the very early '80s, imo. So my defenses of him stand only up to a point, because I would be lying if I said I had much affection for even the stuff I've liked of his from the past 30+ years. Could any of you make a compelling case for a tracklist for a second volume of Changesbowie? I know McCartney could fill up at least a disc of '80s and beyond stuff, maybe two, that people would call really good.

anguish, menace, solitude, decadence, cold-blooded pomp ... Bowie's voice, for all its limitations, pulls off a lot of things that McCartney's doesn't. But Bowie is playing an entirely different game. He is about the creation of persona, spectacle, atmosphere, and the voice is in service to that. McC otoh is all about the song itself. McC's world is Platonic, and his voice is dedicated to achieving each song's ideal Form as much as possible.

Yeah, I could listen to such a thing, but then again, Changes is to me about hits, and I like Bowie albums. Shit, I remember when people could get seriously gay-bashed for owning a Bowie album. I witnessed it at school. With McCartney, personally I can't get past the "Grandma likes it" factor. I just have no need to hear that stuff no matter how high quality it is, whereas I follow Bowie to this day.

My grandparents can't stand Paul McCartney, fwiw.

man it must have sucked to grow up in the seventies

Peak value: Bowie by sizable margin
Career value: McCartney by a hair
voting Bowie

http://also.kottke.org/misc/images/bowie-hair.gif

Changesbowie

Funny, I remember being in the shop with my mum and pocket money, pondering between "Life on Mars" with the pic cover, and "Live and let die", I was definitely prompted towards Macca by mother.

I mean, I did like the record, (preferred the b-side), and I did get that single+pic about 10 years ago in a boot sale.

It didn't suck to grow up in the seventies - at least in the U.S., but it was frustrating for people coming out of the sixties and the rock and roll era - the excitement of new 45's to buy and play - to not hear all of the excellent black artists who were around back then. The funk records were getting the shaft. Bowie would come out with something and the radio would play it just enough for you to form a lasting memory. Then he'd be forgotten and come back again with something very different, like an uncle you'd see only a couple of years. For a kid fed up with the whiteness of rock music it was exciting, in a way those other white cats weren't. Plus conservative people hated him....reason to stay up and watch him on TV:

http://youtu.be/NkefglL9c4c

it's like he's turned into his hero/ziggy-prototype gene vincent

Peak value: Bowie by sizable margin
Career value: McCartney by a hair
voting Bowie

just want to say that giving mccartney's career the edge on account of his hair is a terrible mistake

Between those two songs, "Suffragette City." Career value, McCartney by a wide margin if the Beatles count, Bowie if they don't. Peak, McCartney by a bit if the Beatles count, Bowie if they don't.

"Martha My Dear" one of his greatest for me.

figure paul's beatles work has to count in his favor, cuz, well, he was in the beatles. wrote songs for em and everything. given that, he takes this on both peaks & career. bowie's hair is hella cool tho.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

It's Make Your Mind Up Time!

The other point:

McCartney can sing, Bowie can't.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

there's crazy talk ITT but this is special

Among the more pointless Apple and orange hair comparisons ever.

Funny I always thought Bowie over-sang on everything. Loves some vibrato.

Love Bowie, his terrible singing has nothing to do with it.

would any of bowie's major records be improved by better singing?

these days I entertain the idea of Ian Hunter singing the Ziggy tunes.

Dylan often wrote terrible lyrics, sometimes in the same song. Don't see the big deal pointing out Bowie's schtick.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

There is definitely a story being told through these pictures:

http://i.imgur.com/lhoKEHw.png

http://i.imgur.com/BpjqoDS.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/pNkVSya.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/WnXWl6S.jpg

1973, 1985, 1995, 1999?

McCartney is my favourite Beatle and I still hate his guts
Ooh you wrote a bassline
Blackbird is tight, every other song a negative sum
Bowie the best argument in history for magic > chops

Are those the captions for the four pics?

about flippin' time