"Say Say Say" by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson

#1 Alert!

Platinum Alert!

Song#:  1656
Date:  10/15/1983
Debut:  26
Peak:  1 (6 weeks)
Weeks:  22
Genre:  Pop, R&B



Pop Bits:  With Jackson's Thriller still ruling the charts, McCartney coming off of his own #1 solo disc (Tug of War), and one hit already in the bank ("The Girl Is Mine"), the time for a second duet between these two legends could not have been more perfect. To help promote McCartney's upcoming LP Pipes of Piece, this duet was issued as the first single. Not only did the song have a significantly high debut within the Top 30, it quickly rose to the top spot and remained there for a solid six weeks becoming one of the decade's top superstar collaborations. It hit several other charts as well getting to #2 R&B, #2 Dance, #3 AC and #24 Rock. It also had Jackson taking away a specific historic title from McCartney. The single was Jackson's seventh Top 10 within a year, which broke the record that was held by both The Beatles and Elvis Presley. Although the song was a major hit, it didn't translate into big albums sales for McCartney. His associated Pipes of Peace LP would top out at a weak #15. It would be a platinum seller, but considering the size of this hit, the album results were a bit of a disappointment.

ReduxReview:  I remember the huckster/vaudeville-style video for this song. It was pretty corny and even though it had a story line, it had nothing whatsoever to do with they lyrics. However, I don't think people really cared because the song was so solid. Of the three songs McCartney and Jackson collaborated on (see below), this one is by far the best. The song played to the strengths of both artists and it's one of the better pop grooves that McCartney had done in a long while.

ReduxRating:  8/10

Trivia:  This was McCartney's second album to feature a pair of duets with a superstar artist. Tug of War contained two duets with Stevie Wonder, including the #1 hit "Ebony and Ivory." For Pipes of Peace the superstar was Michael Jackson, who did this hit and another track titled "The Man." Both songs were co-written by McCartney and Jackson. Oddly, these tracks are not new. They were originally recorded during McCartney's sessions for Tug of War, a year before their first duet single, the #2 "The Girl Is Mine," was released.

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