Pretty Little Head (song)
| "Pretty Little Head" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK front cover | ||||
| Single by Paul McCartney | ||||
| from the album Press to Play | ||||
| B-side |
"Write Away" (7") "Write Away" and "Angry" (12") | |||
| Released |
27 October 1986 (7" and 12") 17 November 1986 (cassette) | |||
| Format | 7", 12", cassette | |||
| Recorded | April/May 1985 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length |
5:14 (album) 3:50 (7") 6:56 (remix) (12" and cassette) | |||
| Label | Parlophone | |||
| Writer(s) | Paul McCartney and Eric Stewart | |||
| Producer(s) | Paul McCartney and Hugh Padgham | |||
| Paul McCartney singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Pretty Little Head" is a song by Paul McCartney,[1] cowritten by McCartney, and 10cc guitarist Eric Stewart. The track is on his sixth studio solo album Press to Play. The track was McCartney's thirty-eighth single, and his first which failed to chart, so, in an attempt to boost sales, he released his first ever cassette single.[1] It still failed to reach the top 75.[1]
Release
The single was released at a length of 3:50 on the 7" release (remixed by Larry Alexander), and as a 6:56 remix (mixed by John Potoker) on the 12" release on the same day, 27 October 1986, and an extra track, "Angry", was added to the 12".[1] The cassette version was the same as the 12", and was released on 17 November 1986.[1] Both of these lengths are different from the album version, which has a length of 5:14. (See Press to Play).
"Write Away", the single's B-side, is included only on the CD release of the album, resulting in the back of the single listing the A-side as "From the album" and the B-side as "From the compact disc".[1]
Track listing
- 7" single (R 6145)
- "Pretty Little Head" - 3:50
- Remix by Larry Alexander
- "Write Away" - 3:01
- 12" single (12R 6145)
- "Pretty Little Head" - 6:56
- Remix by John 'Tokes' Potoker
- "Angry" (Remix) - 3:36
- Remix by Larry Alexander
- "Write Away" - 3:01
Video
A music video, directed by Steve Barron, was recorded for the song,[1] which features a girl running away from home after she witnesses her parents in an argument; she then finds herself in a big city. The girl is actress Gabrielle Anwar. McCartney appears only in a short cameo role, which he filmed in London on 18 October 1986.[1] The beginning of the video contains an excerpt from "She's Leaving Home," a Beatles song written and performed in 1967, for the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
Reception
Reviews of the song, and the album as a whole, were mixed. The song has been described as "wild, hi-tech experimentation",[2] and as "computer-laiden, spacey-sounding, boomey-drumming, while Rolling Stone magazine described it as "dreamily abstract".[3]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Pretty Little Head". JPGR. 2000. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
- ↑ "WARR - Paul McCartney". Wilson and Alroy's Record Reviews. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
- ↑ Decurtis, Anthony (23 October 1986). "Paul McCartney: Press To Play: Music Reviews: Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone (Rolling Stone).
