On Saturday, Paul McCartney became the first ex-Beatle to ever beam a
concert into outer space when two songs were broadcast to the international
space station. "I've got me amplifier turned up to 11," shouted McCartney,
"so I hope you can hear me." Actually, there was no need to shout, as he was
demonstrating NASA's new atomic microphone. The device worked perfectly.
"Here's a song I wrote without John," McCartney told the
surprised astronauts, before launching into 'Good Day Sunshine'. "All he did
was play the bloody tambourine."
"That was simply marvelous," said Russian cosmonaut Valery
Tokarev, who like many of his countrymen, had first heard the Beatles after
they brought down the Berlin Wall. "Perhaps we could now talk you into
playing 'Come Together'."
"Not bloody likely," replied McCartney. "That's one of
John's songs, and I'll be damned if I'm going to broadcast the old buzzard
across the universe."
"Oh, come on," cajoled American astronaut Bill McArthur.
"In the spirit of international cooperation."
"Listen up, spaceman, I'm the musician here and I'll play
what I like. "Now here's a song off my new album."
"New album?," cried the two in unison. "Give us a break,
Sir Paul."
"Listen here, guys. You keep complaining and I'm going to
open up a can of 'Silly Love Songs' on your ass. Or maybe 'Uncle Albert'.
What do you say to that?"
"We've got a volume control."
"Wise guys, huh? Well maybe you can just take the long and
winding road back to earth."
"Okay, okay. Something off the new album, then. Sigh..." |
