Song of the Day 7/12: Badfinger, “Come and Get It”

You’d think a pillow maker would have engineered a softer landing. Mike Lindell, the Trump-loving MAGAteer who got rich selling shoddy, overpriced sleep products, is feeling the pinch, so he’s selling off his company’s “surplus equipment.”

According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the firm has listed more than 850 items on an online auction site — sewing machines, industrial fabric spreaders, forklifts, even desks and chairs. Lindell told a friendly interviewer, “We lost $100 million from attacks by the box stores, the shopping networks, the shopping channels, all of them did cancel culture on us.” (Take note, MAGAt-watchers. The correct grammatical form is “did cancel culture,” because it’s a phrase used only by morons and Republicans — but I repeat myself).

Lindell claims this is all part of a retrenchment as he shifts to direct-to-consumer sales, and that it’s not related to his Stop the Steal lunacy. Uh-huh. Sure it is. Psst, buddy, want a good deal on a fabric spreader? Here it is, come and get it.

Paul McCartney wrote this ditty for the 1969 anti-capitalist black comedy “The Magic Christian,” which starred Peter Sellers, along with Ringo Starr in a role written for John Lennon. Macca had contracted to supply three songs for the film soundtrack, and he told the Iveys, a band that Apple Records had just signed, that if they’d cover this tune he’d use two of the band’s originals to fulfill the deal.

Acting as producer, McCartney soon displayed the control-freak tendencies that drove George Harrison to briefly quit the Beatles. He auditioned each member of the newly rechristened Badfinger for the lead vocal, settling on guitarist Tom Evans (who had switched to bass by the time this video was shot), and directing them to follow his demo tape exactly. They did, and were rewarded with their first hit single (No. 4 UK, No. 7 US).

McCartney recorded his demo of the song when he arrived to the studio early during the “Abbey Road” sessions. He played all the instruments and completed it in an hour. The 2019 remastering of the original tape shows why many aficionados consider it the best unreleased Beatles song.