Pretty Little Head (song)
"Pretty Little Head" | ||||
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![]() UK front cover | ||||
Single by Paul McCartney | ||||
from the album Press to Play | ||||
B-side |
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Released | 27 October 1986 (1986-10-27) (7" and 12") 17 November 1986 (1986-11-17) (cassette) | |||
Recorded | April/May 1985 | |||
Genre | Electronic rock | |||
Length | 5:14 (album version) 3:50 (7" version) 6:56 (remix) (12" version and cassette) | |||
Label | Parlophone | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) |
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Paul McCartney singles chronology | ||||
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"Pretty Little Head" is a song by Paul McCartney,[1] cowritten by McCartney, and 10cc guitarist Eric Stewart. The track is on his sixth solo studio album Press to Play (1986). The track was McCartney's 38th 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] A cassingle was also issued with the same track listing 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]
Music 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. Her father is played by Roger Lloyd-Pack, by then a familiar face in Britain for his role as Trigger in the sitcom Only Fools and Horses.[2] 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.
Critical reception
Reviews of the song, and the album as a whole, were mixed. Rolling Stone magazine described it as "dreamily abstract".[3]
Track listing
All songs written by Paul McCartney and Eric Stewart
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
References
External links
- Pretty Little Head at Discogs (list of releases)
- v
- t
- e
- "Another Day" / "Oh Woman, Oh Why" (with Linda McCartney)
- "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" / "Too Many People" (with Linda McCartney)
- "The Back Seat of My Car" / "Heart of the Country" (with Linda McCartney)
- "Eat at Home" / "Smile Away" (with Linda McCartney)
- "Wonderful Christmastime"
- "Coming Up"
- "Waterfalls"
- "Temporary Secretary"
- "Ebony and Ivory" (with Stevie Wonder)
- "Take It Away"
- "Tug of War"
- "The Girl Is Mine" (with Michael Jackson)
- "Say Say Say" (with Michael Jackson)
- "Pipes of Peace"/""So Bad"
- "No More Lonely Nights"
- "We All Stand Together"
- "Spies Like Us"
- "Press"
- "Pretty Little Head"
- "Stranglehold"
- "Only Love Remains"
- "Once Upon a Long Ago"
- "Ferry Cross the Mersey"
- "My Brave Face" / "Flying to My Home"
- "This One"
- "Figure of Eight"
- "Put It There" / "Mama's Little Girl" (with Wings)
- "Birthday" (live) / "Good Day Sunshine" (live)
- "All My Trials" (live)
- "Hope of Deliverance"
- "C'Mon People"
- "Off the Ground"
- "Biker Like an Icon" / "Things We Said Today"
- "A Leaf" (with Anya Alexeyev)
- "Come Together" (The Smokin' Mojo Filters)
- "Young Boy"
- "The World Tonight"
- "Beautiful Night"
- "No Other Baby" / "Brown Eyed Handsome Man"
- "Run Devil Run" (promo)
- "From a Lover to a Friend"
- "Freedom" / "From a Lover to a Friend"
- "Hello Goodbye" (promo)
- "Tropic Island Hum" / "We All Stand Together"
- "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (with U2)
- "Fine Line"
- "Jenny Wren"
- "Really Love You" (Twin Freaks)
- "This Never Happened Before" (promo)
- "Dance Tonight" / "Nod Your Head"
- "Ever Present Past"
- "Heal the Pain" (with George Michael)
- "Walk with You" (with Ringo Starr)
- "(I Want to) Come Home"
- "My Valentine"
- "Only Our Hearts"
- Christmas Kisses: "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" / "Wonderful Christmastime"
- "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" (The Justice Collective)
- "New"
- "Queenie Eye"
- "Only One" (with Kanye West)
- "FourFiveSeconds" (with Rihanna & Kanye West)
- "All Day" (with Kanye West)
- "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" (with Timo Maas & James Teej)
- "I Don't Know" / "Come On to Me"
- "Fuh You"
- "Who Cares"
- "Back in Brazil"
- "Get Enough"
- "Home Tonight / In a Hurry"
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