In today’s New York Times I read the obituary of veteran actor John Hurt, who passed away on January 25 at the age of 77. The BAFTA-winner actor received Oscar nominations for Midnight Express and The Elephant Man. The Guardian also had a glowing obituary.

What all of the obituaries on this revered actor did not mention is that John Hurt was the star of the video for the 1982 Paul McCartney hit “Take It Away”. In the video Hurt plays a impresario eager to sign Linda McCartney to a contract.

This video received regular play in the rotation of MTV when the music network was less than a year old. Off the Tug of War album, “Take It Away” reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100, staying in the Top 40 for eleven weeks from July to September 1982.

It was the second single released off of the Tug of War album, the first of which, the duet “Ebony and Ivory” of Paul and Stevie Wonder, topped the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks.
Ironically, “Take It Away” was the fourth instance since 1973 in which a McCartney or Wings single reached the top ten but stalled at number ten. The others that hit # 10 were Wings’ “Hi, Hi, Hi” in 1973, Wings’ “Helen Wheels” in 1974, and finally the Wings’ live version of “Maybe I’m Amazed” in 1977.

The song, and the album, were produced by George Martin, who both played piano on the track and appeared in the video as a member of the band. Ringo Starr handled the drumming chores and appeared in the video. Linda McCartney provided backing vocals and tambourines.

When the video was released, MTV was less than a year old and still played videos 24/7. Having an established actor like John Hurt starring in a video was unheard of at the time.

Actually, “Take It Away” played a role in the break-up of Wings. The last configuration of Wings was recording “Take It Away” for a Wings album on December 8, 1980 when early the next morning, on a day intended to finish the song, Paul received word of John Lennon’s murder. The plan had been for Wings to release the album and tour, but when Paul balked at touring as a reaction to John’s death, guitarist Denny Laine felt that he could not wait around in limbo and left the band. A year later the song was recorded with new musicians as a McCartney single.

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