Sold Date: October 19, 2017
Start Date: October 12, 2017
Final Price: £45.00 (GBP)
Bid Count: 6
Seller Feedback: 4522
Buyer Feedback: 20

This item is not for sale. Gripsweat is an archive of past sales and auctions, none of the items are available for purchase.

"TEMPORARY SECRETARY"  (Paul McCartney, 1980)

Mister Marks, can you find for me,
  Someone strong and sweet, fitting on my knee?
   She can keep her job, if she gets it wrong,
   Ah, but Mister Marks, I won't need her long.
 
  All I need is help for a little while,
   We can take dictation and learn to smile.
  And a temporary secretary's, what I need for to do the job.
  
  I need a.....
   Temporary secretary, temporary secretary,
  Temporary secretary, temporary secretary.
  
  Mister Marks, could you send her quick,
  'Cause my regular has been getting sick.
  I need a...
Temporary secretary, temporary secretary.
 
Mister Marks, I can pay her well,
  If she comes along and can stay a spell.
  I will promise now that I'll treat her right,
  And will rarely keep her 'til late at night.
 
She can be a belly dancer, I don't need a need romancer,
  She can be a diplomat, but I don't need a girl like that,
  She can be a neurosurgeon, if she's doing nothing urgent,
  What I need's a temporary, temporary secretary.
 

I need a, I need a.....
Temporary secretary, temporary secretary,
  Temporary secretary, temporary secretary.
  
  Mister Marks, when I send her back,
  Will you please make sure she stays on the right track?
  
  "Well I know how hard it is for young girls these days,
   In the face of everything to stay on the right track."
 
  She can be a belly dancer, I don't need a need romancer,
  She can be a diplomat, but I don't need a girl like that,
  She can be a neurosurgeon, if she's doing nothing urgent,
   What I need's a temporary, temporary secretary.
   Temporary, secretary, ooh,
  I need a temporary secretary, ooh,
  Temporary secretary, ooh......
 
PAUL McCARTNEY: "Temporary Secretary" / "Secret Friend" UK 12" SINGLE IN A CARD TOP OPENING COLOUR
PICTURE SLEEVE.  PLAYS AT 45 RPM,  ISSUED 15th SEPTEMBER,1980 AND ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE 12" FORMAT.
Paul McCartney did not allow a 7" version to be made, he limited the 12" only pressings to just 25,000, therefore deliberately
severely limiting the sales.  Not that the 12" had any chance of a respectable UK chart entry, so it was hardly surprising when
"Temporary Secretary" never even made a British chart entry.  Even the presence of the exclusive ten and a half minutes length
  of the non album, "Secret Friend" on the B-side, made no difference to this release being a commercial disaster and inevitably,
becoming the rarest Paul McCartney British single ever issued in any decade.  A few years ago I sold the Demo on ebay, that was
  the only 7" version pressed, but edited with nothing at all on the B-side, a one sided Demo record.  Personally I think Paul was
way ahead of his time in 1980 and he also wanted to release the longest track he ever recorded, "Secret Friend" was not included
his previous May,1980 album, "McCartney II", with that length track, it could only fit onto a 12" single.


ISSUED ON THE TEXTURED BLACK & SILVER PARLOPHONE LABEL, WITH TWO BOXED EMI LOGO'S.

PARLOPHONE: 12R 6039

MAITRIX: 12R 6039    A - 1U    /  12R 6039   B - 1U

EMI STAMPING CODES:  3 ~ 1  /  3 ~ 1
only a minor change, because in the following year there would no longer be stamping digits or letters in the 3 and 9 o'clock
positions of the run-out grooves.  Basically, in 1980 EMI were now exclusively using the actual machine stamped digits in place
  of coded letters for the pressing order in the 3 o'clock positions.  Changes happened slowly, I have seen so many 1980 EMI
  related records, including "McCartney 11" with letters still used, perhaps out of habit alone for the pressing plant engineers.
I have regularly found the 'new' actual digits on one side and still with the letter (s) on the other side of the same record.
This record  is showing the very low pressing order per side, No's. 3 from the first 'mothers' on both sides, I have seen and
and sold copies with '2' mothers , but with so few pressed, I doubt very much if a third 'mother' was required.


FIRST EDITION THICK CARDBOARD, TOP OPENING PICTURE SLEEVE, PLEASE SEE MY PICTURES FOR BOTH SIDES.
The record was never played, without constant handling and stored in a plastic outer sleeve, there is no wear or fading to the
artwork and the white section on the front....is still the 1970 white.   Just the usual minor storage / standing traits of these
fairly thin, matt 12" sleeves.  The artwork colours on the front & back have superbly  bright, deelply toned colours, a gentle
enough impression from the record.  No side centre edges or bottom edge splits, just  the merest standing pressure on the
bottom edge, the corner's extreme tips are as close to perfect as I have seen.
THE COVER IS IN OUTSTANDING  MINT- CONDITION.


I IMMEDIATELY PLACED THE RECORD IN A NEW WHITE INNER SLEEVE, THAT WENT INTO A NEW PLAIN CARD COVER,
SUCH REMARKABLE CONDITION AT 37 YEARS OF AGE CAN NOW BE PERMANENTLY PRESERVED.

THE TEXTURED LABELS ARE IMMACULATE WITHOUT ANY SPINDLE ALIGNMENT TRACES, THE VINYL IS GLEAMING
LIKE BRAND NEW WITHOUT ANY MARKS OR SCRATCHES ON EITHER SIDE, IN UNPLAYED, MINT CONDITION.


I normally think I have done well to find a lightly played, unmarked "Temporary Secretary", such is the rarity, it's been a while
since I last sold a copy on ebay.  Obviously I now feel obliged not to play the record myself and offer this as still unplayed.
No music, but now several intrigues,"Temporary Secretary" was written and recorded when Paul had reverted to a solo artist in
late 1979.  He disbanded Wings and recorded in the same fashion as late 1969 to early 1970, just before the Beatles broke up in
  May,1970.  He wrote all the songs, played every instrument, sang and even recorded the album himself, he mixed the tracks and
   Linda took the artwork's photo's, he naturally titled it after that 1970 first ever solo album when he worked to the same method.
  One day people will wake up what an extraordinary talent he was in the decade after the Beatles and then continued to be for all
the 30 years since his second completely solo album in 1980.  As usual, to help promote "McCartney II", Paul released singles and
on the 5th September,1980, the third single released was "Temporary Secretary," Paul was always looking for inovations and he
was always ahead of his time, including during the 60's with psychedelia.  Unknown at the time, he made a brave decision to only
  release "Temporary Secretary" on the 12" single format and for the B-side, an ureleased track from the "McCartney II" recording
  sessions. "Secret Friend" was no ordinary track, it was the longest song Paul ever issued at ten and a half minutes long!  Hardly a
track for day time radio consumption, in the coming 1980's decade, 12" records would become accepted outside of DJ's, but 1980
was only ten years from the end of the 60's and collector's habits were not easily altered, even CD's took a few years before
acceptance in the 1980's decades. Who can remember buying the CD single, the 7" single, the picture disc and a collector box set
with goodies inside?  For anyone who missed that and not forgetting the 'cassingle' all of those had the same title on the A-side!
It was a collector's paradise but unfortunately, many of the artists did not have the talent to sustain a career and in the end,
beauty was in the eye of the beholder.  Paul McCartney was not exactly short of talent, "Temporary Secretary" was a fantastic
track and with that 10.05 minutes of "Secret Friend"  on the other side, the 12" format was a 'no go area' for people conditioned
to 7" singles, I have met many who only ever collected 7" singles and nobody, not even Paul McCartney, could lure then onto the
12" variety. For the first time in his career, including radio bans in the earlier 70's, shock, horror, ex-Beatle Paul released a
new single and it failed to chart.  Another reason it failed to sell, concerned another unique decision Paul made, only he could
explain why he insisted a limited pressing of only 25,000 made, so that alone prevented any chance of a big selling record and
no doubt that had to be his intention.
  
Back on the Parlophone label had obvious connections with his former band before Wings, 1980 was the very first time he had
  a solo or Wings record released on that familiar Parlophone label.  The entire 1970's decade had been with Apple and Capitol,
  oh, yes, just in case anyone is unfamiliar with Britain during 1980, the lyrics were requesting a secretary from a "Mr. Marks."
  An employment agency used to regularly advertise on the TV to supply office staff, 'Alfred Marks,' it was the inspiration behind
  the song, John Lennon was often inspired in the same way, reading a newspaper, looking at a poster or watching the TV.  As I am
  not describing the tracks, filling in the background to this unique and extremely limited edition single will explain the reasons
  for the rarity.
{Roy}
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