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SNL: Paul McCartney does “Give Peace A Chance” John Lennon tribute
December 11, 2010 by Bill Palmer
by Bill Palmer
Give Peace A Chance, sang Paul McCartney as he quoted old pal John Lennon in a live performance for the ages on Saturday Night Live. After starting off with a Wings-themed night, in his third SNL performance stint of the night, Paul McCartney finally turned his sights on The Beatles. After performing Wings classics Jet and Band On The Run during his traditional two Saturday Night Live sets, McCartney returned for a rare third set at the end of the show to perform the Beatles classic A Day In The Life, on which he sang both his vocals and that of the late John Lennon. Although he didn’t say it, the performance was easily attributable as a tribute to Lennon, whose murder took place thirty years ago this week. But then McCartney went into full-on tribute mode as he and his band performed Lennon’s song Give Peace A Chance, including bringing the audience in to sing the refrain.
McCartney’s performance of Wings songs early in the night made promotional sense, as Band On The Run saw its re-release earlier this year. But the Give Peace A Chance performance, a song which so clearly defined Lennon’s solo career, was unmistakable in its message. It’s not the first time McCartney has performed the song, as he’s performed the same Day-Peace medley in concert in the past – including on a live DVD release – but the timing and magnitude of tonight’s performance of the song were both new territory.
In the closing credits roll, McCartney then returned to the stage to perform the late Beatles classic “Get Back” after host Paul Rudd had done the usual thank-yous. “This won’t be topped,” Rudd quipped. Here’s more on the McCartney-Rudd episode of Saturday Night Live.
Comments
"Band On The Run" was the first 45 single I ever bought. While I probably won't get lucky enough (or rich enough) to see Paul play live, it was a real treat hearing him play that song. Paul Rudd is right, this won't get topped. Paul & band KILLED.
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LikeWell, fact-fans, of course we all heard about the spat between Paul and Yoko a few years back when, Paul wanted to reverse credits on some songs to McCartney-Lennon (as indeed they had actually BEEN on The Beatles' first UK releases and, during John's lifetime without a problem, on McCartney's 1977 'Wings Over America' live set).
Not only did Yoko get uppity but she'd actually just removed the Lennon/McCartney credit from 'Give Peace A Chance' on the 'Lennon Legend' compilation, which may have been Paul's trigger. It is of course a John song but it is fairly obscure Beatles lore that John had put Paul on the credit of that song as a tribute to his hard work in trying to keep The Beatles together and for dropping their feud at a moment's notice in 1969 to come round to help him record 'The Ballad of John and Yoko' (the Beatles' single that features only the two of them on all instruments). It clearly was of some sentimental value to Paul, although the reason the credit got removed may have had more to do with publishing legalities than any snub by Yoko.
Anyway, since that spat, Paul and Yoko seem to have have been getting on like a house on fire, and he's been doing 'Give Peace A Chance' live in his shows. I saw him team it up with his first live performance of 'A Day in the Life' (the song that many have said is THE Lennon-McCartney collaboration) for the first time in 2008 in Liverpool and so it's nice that this tribute, which has quite a bit of resonance in it from a number of angles, has hit prime-time in the week of remembering John.
Hurrah!
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