Happy Birthday Paul!!!!!

All these years gone by and the Beatles’ Paul McCartney is finally receiving the answer to his burning question “Will you still need me…When I’m sixty-four?” -- which he first asked in the catchy 1967 Beatles’ song “When I’m Sixty-four.” The answer is a resounding “yes!” and is respectfully and cleverly personified in the new unique “Paul McCartney is Sixty-four,” a tribute/parody song with all-new lyrics and performed with reverence to Sir Paul. The song, more of a tribute than parody, is debuting today.

McCartney’s impending 64th Birthday is this Sunday, June 18, 2006, Father’s Day in America.

The unauthorized fan tribute song’s lyrics were written by an avid Beatles and McCartney fan who felt the famous rocker presented a question in the original song that required an inspired answer, and that Paul’s big birthday occasion should be marked in history with another song everyone can sing along to, this time to Paul.

“Paul asks ‘Will you still need me?’ in this original song and we never formally answered him. Like the words in my song say: ‘The world wants to send him a Valentine…A 1942 bottle of wine,’” said the tribute’s songwriter, Bruce Baert, 44, of Whittier, California. (Baert is pronounced: “Bear-t.”) Baert added that he wanted to pen a heartfelt tribute to the youngest living member of the best rock ’n’ roll band of all time. “I hope this song is quaint,” Baert quipped.

McCartney was born in 1942 and recorded ‘64’ when he was 25, then known as the “cute Beatle.” At the time, the age of 64 seemed a lifetime away to him. Now it’s here, and the good news is that 64 is not considered as old as it was in the 1960s. Paul is still going strong, present divorce problems aside.


Baert, a former daily newspaper reporter, was five-years-old when the Fab Four released ‘64’. “I was trying to write a tribute in the spirit of the original and not just use a bunch of well-worn clichés or a laundry list of Beatles’ song titles. I’m hoping through the media I can get this song to Paul himself, or at least to his people. Even with his current marital problems and his modesty about his birthday, I believe Paul would get a kick out of this…so I’m appealing to Ringo Starr, or George Harrison’s widow or Yoko Ono to just get this song to Paul. Maybe the BBC, or (talk show hosts) Oprah, Jay Leno or Ellen Degeneres can help! Surprisingly, there has not been a 64th tribute song that I know of.”

Baert recruited old friend Tony Barron to sing the tribute. Barron, 42, a former Whittier resident and a Whittier High School graduate, is a businessman and a Laguna Hills, Calif., resident. Barron’s voice has been described as a mixture of McCartney and Mick Jagger. He was lead singer and guitar player for the L.A. club circuit band Protégé in the mid-1980s. Baert co-managed the band. This tribute/parody was recorded and engineered at a professional sound studio in Orange County, Calif.

The number 64 has been on Baert’s mind for some time.

“When the Beatles released the ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ album in ’67 featuring ‘When I’m Sixty-four’, my mom played it repeatedly,” Baert recalls. “She always said she wanted it played on her 64th Birthday, and I did just that for her in 1988, and she’s still listening to it!” McCartney also has 64 U.S. Grammy Award nominations (13 wins), and the Beatles first landed on American soil from Britain in 1964 to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Lyrics:

The Beatles’ Paul McCartney’s turning sixty-four,

All these years gone by.

The world wants to send him a Valentine,

A youthful guy from the best band of all time.

Even after the Beatles broke up, you never became a bore.

Paul we still need you, we’ll ‘even’ still feed you,

Now that you’re sixty-four.

(Hmm-------mmm---mmmh)

We are older too…

And your fans have spoken: You stayed with us and we with you.

You’ve been handy mending a muse, and never lost your hair.

From “Yesterday” to “Hey Jude”

You’ve taken us here, there and everywhere.

Beatlemania hit England then America,

Women let out a roar!

Sir Paul we still love you, we’ll ‘even’ still feed you,

Now that you’re sixty-four.

Every song you or Lennon wrote was a legend, like the album of white.

You—lov—ed—Lin—da sooo…

In your family you live on,

Including Ringo, George and John.

Let’s send Paul a card, drop him a line, a ’42 bottle of wine.

When you wrote ‘Sixty-four’ back in the day

Did you know your 64th was on Father’s Day?

Give us your answer, will you still tour? Sing this when you’re 94?

Ah, Paul we still need you, we’ll ‘even’ still feed you,

Now that you’re sixty-four. Hoo!

ORIGINAL LYRICS/SONG:

When I'm Sixty-four, The Beatles



When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now,
Will you still be sending me a Valentine, birthday greetings, bottle of wine?
If I'd been out 'till quarter to three, would you lock the door?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,

When I'm sixty-four?

Hmm------mmm---mmmh.
You'll be older, too. Aaah, and if you say the word, I could stay with you.

I could be handy, mending a fuse, when your lights have gone.
You can knit a sweater by the fireside, Sunday mornings, go for a ride.
Doing the garden, digging the weeds, who could ask for more?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm sixty-four?

Every summer we can rent a cottage in the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear. We shall

scrimp and save.
Ah, grandchildren on your knee, Vera, Chuck, and Dave.

Send me a postcard, drop me a line stating point of view.
Indicate precisely what you mean to say, yours sincerely wasting away.
Give me your answer, fill in a form, mine forever more.
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm sixty-four? Hoo!