![]() ![]() The gently harrumphing frog chorus is immediately recognisable. The “Frog Song”, as it has become universally known, is today one of McCartney’s signature hits. ![]() ![]() Concealed within, like the syrupy filling of a foil-wrapped chocolate, was a performance that would define McCartney in the Eighties: amphibian power ballad, We All Stand Together. Rupert and the Frog Song is an animated short clocking in at an economical 13 minutes. The curtain raiser was another cinematic curio from McCartney – one that could not have been more different from the snooze-a-thon to follow. Give My Regards To Broad Street had been released as a double bill. An unexpected treat awaited as they took their seats and tucked into their popcorn. At least for Beatles fans lured, potentially against their better judgement, to Give My Regards To Broad Street when it opened in cinemas in October 1984. Strange as it may sound this is, however, a story with a happy ending. He woke in a hospital room filled with flowers: a “thank you” from McCartney, who had personally selected the Sooty helmer to direct his passion project. Shortly afterwards he suffered a breakdown and was hospitalised. That was just the start of the bad news for Webb, whose previous credits included an episode of the Sooty Show and two of “Seventies Supernatural Kids Drama” Shadows. This was a hard day’s slog: a charmless, incoherent mishmash. Sadly, it lacked any other redeeming qualities. There was, to be fair, plenty of McCartney in the film. This was on the understanding the studio was backing a “Hollywood musical” starring ex-Beatle Paul McCartney. He had put his reputation on the line talking 20th Century Fox into investing £4.4 million in Webb’s debut feature, Give My Regards To Broad Street (initially budgeted at £500,000). ![]() And now he stood to be publicly humiliated. Weinstein, just 32, was already notorious in the industry as a bulldog whose bite was considerably worse than his bark. “Next time,” Hollywood’s hottest up-and-coming producer growled, “Show me the script.” Available 6 November.Harvey Weinstein leaned close, eyeballing the director. We All Stand Together has been remastered at Abbey Road Studios by Alex Wharton along with the B-side instrumental We All Stand Together (Humming Version), which was included on the original release. Produced by Sir George Martin and featuring The King’s Singers and the choir of St Paul’s Cathedral, We All Stand Together (also known as The Frog Song) was a huge hit upon release, remaining in the charts for 13 weeks, becoming a classic and a much-loved song by every school child in the ‘80s. Released simultaneously with We All Stand Together, the film went on to become the biggest selling video of 1985 in the UK, earning Paul a Grammy nomination in the process as well as seeing him win a revered Ivor Novello Award for Best Film Soundtrack and picking up a BAFTA for Best Animated Short Film. The film saw Paul voice the character of Rupert and featured the voices of the beloved British TV icons June Whitfield (as Rupert’s mother) and Windsor Davies (Father Frog). Written and produced by Paul and directed by Geoff, Rupert and The Frog Song was eventually released in 1984. The film has now been fully restored in 4k as well as getting a new audio mix. The song was the focal point of Rupert and The Frog Song - a short animated film that Paul began work on in 1981 with animator Geoff Dunbar. ![]()
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