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Release year : 1983

Say Say Say / Ode To A Koala Bear (Australian version)

By Paul McCartney7" Single • Part of the collection “Paul McCartney • Singles

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Side 1

  1. Say Say Say

    Written by Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson

    3:55 • Studio versionA

    Paul McCartney : Arrangement, Backing vocals, Electric guitar (?), Electric piano (?), Percussion (?), Synthesizers (?), Vocals Linda Eastman / McCartney : Backing vocals Michael Jackson : Backing vocals, Vocals Eric Stewart : Backing vocals George Martin : Arrangement, Producer Geoff Emerick : Mixing engineer, Recording engineer Jon Jacobs : Mixing engineer assistant, Recording engineer assistant Jerry Hey : Horns Nathan Watts : Bass Bill Wolfer : Keyboards, Synthesizers David Williams : Electric guitar Chris Smith : Harmonica Ricky Lawson : Drums Ernie Watts : Horns Gary E. Grant : Horns Gary Herbig : Horns

    Session Recording: May 1981 • Studio AIR Studios, London, UK ; Odyssey Studios, London, UK

    Session Recording: April 1982 • Studio Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles, USA ; Sigma Sound Studios, New York City, USA

    Session Mixing: Feb 15, 1983 • Studio AIR Studios, London, UK

    Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • From the books "Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs" • Buy Volume 1 (1970-1989) and Volume 2 (1990-2012) on Amazon

Side 2

  1. Ode To A Koala Bear

    Written by Paul McCartney

    3:44 • Studio versionB • Australian mix

    Paul McCartney : Backing vocals, Bass, Electric guitar, Piano, Vocals Linda Eastman / McCartney : Backing vocals Eric Stewart : Backing vocals George Martin : Producer Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Jon Jacobs : Engineer assistant Paul Robinson : Drums Chris Lawrence : Bass

    Session Recording: Nov 30, 1980 • Studio AIR Studios, London, UK

    Session Mixing: Aug 31, 1983 • Studio AIR Studios, London, UK

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Jan van Driel • 3 years ago

I have the Australian 7 inch (Parlophone A.1124) and compared the two versions of 'Ode to a Koala bear'. The yare very similar but he Australian version has a slightly cleaner guitar sound. Most notable difference is that Paul sings "Koala STYLE bear" on some of the verses of the Australian one, whereas he sing "Koala TYPE bear" on the regular mix. This suggests a different vocal take was used. BTW: A koala is not a bear, neither a type or a style of bear ;-)


The PaulMcCartney Project • 3 years ago

Thanks Jan for those details about the Australian version of "Ode To A Koala Bear" !!! This page needs some attention, will try to enrich it soon !


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