My Top 1000 Songs #480: Magneto & Titanium Man

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

For all my undying love and admiration of Sir Paul McCartney, the man has written his fair share of clunkers over the decades. Yet even some of his silliest and most lightweight work can be salvaged by his pop songsmith genius. Perhaps none more so than "Magneto And Titanium Man," off Wings' 1975 LP Venus & Mars. It's an odd little song about some Marvel comic book characters, a story about a bank robbery that, frankly, I've never been able to follow. But it's also one of the most ridiculously catchy tunes he ever wrote, a seemingly throwaway track that is impossible to hear without feeling a little giddy.

There are better tracks throughout his post-Beatles career, and even on Venus & Mars, but few as bouncy and cheerful and unabashedly bonkers, and all these years later I still find myself singing the titular line at the most random times, as it just shows up unannounced in my head and demands my attention.

Live (with an introduction from 70s Paul sideman Denny Laine, who passed last week):