Single:
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey entered the Australian singles chart* on 18 October 1971 and peaked at #5. It was #26 on the Top 100 of 1971.
Album:
The song is on Ram which entered the Australian albums chart* on 5 July 1971 and peaked at #3.
Songwriters:
Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney
Producers:
Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney
Record label of Australian release:
Apple
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
Songfacts:
Albert is Albert Kendall, who married Paul McCartney’s aunt Milly (becoming “Uncle Albert”) and provided inspiration for a portion of this song suite. Albert had a habit of getting drunk and reading from the Bible; the only time he read from the Good Book was when he was drinking.
McCartney combined pieces of various unfinished songs to create this; in the later years of The Beatles, they did this a lot as a way to put unfinished songs to good use. As a result, Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey contains 12 different sections over the course of its 4:50 running time. This jumble of musical textures, comic character voices, sound effects and changing tempos turned off a lot of listeners, but many others thought it was brilliant.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/paul-mccartney/uncle-albert-admiral-halsey
Lyrics:
We’re so sorry, Uncle Albert
We’re so sorry if we caused you any pain
We’re so sorry, Uncle Albert
But there’s no one left at home
And I believe I’m gonna rain.
We’re so sorry but we haven’t heard
A thing all day
Click for full lyrics
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 70s
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