Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Cover-Up Conjecture: Wings Edition

Posted By on Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 4:30 PM

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I've said this before, but The Great Cover Up is absolutely one of my favorite events on the Tucson calendar (and I'm not just saying that because [FULL DISCLOSURE] I know nearly everyone involved in organizing it). The money goes to a great cause (the Tucson Artists and Musicians Healthcare Alliance) and this year, the event is going to bigger than ever, not just sprawling over three nights, but also now including performances Saturday during the day and probably some sort of food truck event. It'll just be a lot of fun and one of those weekends where you realize why you live here after all.

While another year is going by without someone taking on the Happy Mondays catalog, I'm going to preview this year's Cover Up in the least helpful manner possible: by looking at the list of bands being covered and then telling local bands which songs they should be covering.

First up, Wings. I agree with Alan Partridge that Paul and Linda McCartney's 70's rock exercise was "the band the Beatles could have been", so here are five songs I hope to hear December 15-17.

"Rockestra Theme" (1978)

This instrumental, while a Grammy winner, isn't really anything special, but it would make a great intro, I think.

"Jet" (1973):

Not the biggest hit for Wings, but a fun song the audience can shout along to. As a bonus, "Jet" provides several post-set topics of conversation. Topic one: is the only lonely place really on the moon?

"You Gave Me the Answer" (1975):

A companion piece to "When I'm Sixty Four" and a tribute to his father's big band, "You Gave Me the Answer" is a little precious, I suppose, but still an incredibly charming little pop song.

"Spies Like Us" (1985):

Totally cheating, since this isn't a Wings song, but people forget about both the movie and the song "Spies Like Us", so why not take a few minutes to remind Tucsonans about a lost classic. Extra points for playing "the party mix", although someone would need to do a remarkable Dan Aykroyd impression to pull that off.

"Band on the Run" (1973):

You have to give the audience what they want.

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