Hear Paul McCartney Chew Celery in Unearthed Audio From Super Furry Animals Reissue
Paul McCartney chewing celery on Super Furry Animals’ 2000 song “Receptacle for the Respectable” ranks among the strangest guest appearances of the legendary songwriter’s career. Now, ahead of the 20th-anniversary collection celebrating Super Furry Animals’ Rings Around the World, the Welsh band has offered up the isolated, one-minute version of McCartney’s vegetable solo.
After a chance encounter with the band at the 2000 NME Awards — and following SFA’s involvement in McCartney’s Liverpool Sound Academy project — McCartney agreed to appear on their then-in-the-works new album, with a catch.
“He was going to come to the studio and then decided not to for some reason,” SFA keyboardist Cian Ciarán said in a statement. “So, we sent him stereo backing tracks so he could keep time, then he sent the tape back with a message that started with a really dodgy Welsh accent. Then he goes, ‘I hope you like it’ — the next thing you know you just hear this chewing sound!”
Shockingly, this wasn’t McCartney’s first celery solo: He allegedly munched the fibrous stalk on the Beach Boys’ 1967 Smiley Smile track “Vegetables,” although his involvement and appearance on the released version remain unconfirmed. However, McCartney jumped at the opportunity to reprise his celery antics, at the band’s behest, on Rings Around the World.
The “Maccapella Celery” solo features on the upcoming Rings Around the World reissue, with the three-CD and digital versions of the anniversary collection boasting over nearly 30 unreleased recordings — unfinished songs, outtakes, demos, remixes, and more — in addition to the newly remastered 2000 LP and all the B-sides of the era.
The 20th Anniversary reissue of Rings Around The World has been remastered from the original tapes which you can enjoy across all formats. The deluxe 3CD and digital albums include a bunch of unreleased recordings that we’ve unearthed from our archives!https://t.co/8fpEt8hjz0 pic.twitter.com/01IZoM3PcC
— super furry animals (@superfurry) July 21, 2021
Out September 3rd, Rings Around the World — available to preorder now — will also be repressed on two-LP vinyl for the first time in two decades; original vinyl copies of the 2000 album have long sold for hundreds of dollars on the secondary market.
The 20th-anniversary reissue also features updated packaging with the original artwork and sleeve notes by music journalist Keith Cameron, while the bonus material was curated by SFA archivist and former Flaming Lips drummer Kliph Scurlock, who also serves as drummer for SFA frontman Gruff Rhys.
Earlier this year, Rhys released his latest solo album, Seeking New Gods, as well as his “selective memoir” Resist Phony Encores!
Hear the Rings Around the World version of “Receptacle for the Respectable,” complete with McCartney’s chewing, below:
