In a Rolling Stone interview, McCartney explained how the song came about: John Lennon described "Coming Up" as "a good piece of work" and, according to McCartney, it prompted Lennon to return to recording in 1980.
Live version
A live version of the song was recorded in Glasgow, Scotland, on 17 December 1979 by Wings during their tour of the UK. An edited version from the performance was included as one of two songs on the B-side; the other B-side was "Lunchbox/Odd Sox", a Wings song that dated back to Venus and Mars. Both B-sides were credited to Paul McCartney and Wings. Columbia Records wanted to put the live version on McCartney II but McCartney resisted the change, wanting to keep it a solo album. Instead, a one-sided 7" white-label promotional copy of the Wings version was included with the album in North America. "Coming Up " has since appeared on the US versions of the McCartney compilations All the Best! and , while the solo studio version is included on UK and international releases. The full length version of the song with an additional verse from the 1979 Glasgow show was finally released as bonus track on the Paul McCartney Archive Collection reissue of McCartney II in 2011. A different live Wings recording of "Coming Up" appears on the album Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, also recorded in 1979.
Music video
The music video for "Coming Up" features Paul McCartney playing ten roles and Linda McCartney playing two The "band" identified as "The Plastic Macs" on the drum kit, features Paul and Linda's imitations of various rock musician stereotypes, as well as a few identifiable musicians. In his audio commentary on the 2007 video collection The McCartney Years, McCartney identified characters that were impersonations of specific artists: Hank Marvin, Ron Mael of Sparks, a 'Beatlemania-era' version of himself, and a drummer vaguely inspired by John Bonham from Led Zeppelin While others such as authors Fred Bronson and Kenneth Womack have suggested that there are other identifiable impersonations in the video, such as Andy Mackay, Frank Zappa and Buddy Holly, McCartney said the other roles were simply comic relief. The video premiered in the UK on The Kenny Everett Video Show on 14 April 1980 and in the US on Saturday Night Live on 17 May 1980.
Chart performance
In the UK, the single was an immediate hit, reaching in its third week on the chart. In the US, Columbia Records promoted the live version, which subsequently received more airplay than the studio version. McCartney was unaware of Columbia's move, otherwise he might have pushed for the A-side, which he thought was the stronger version. An executive from Columbia Records explained the switch by stating "Americans like the sound of Paul McCartney's real voice." The live version reached on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over one million copies. Although the live version received more airplay and was considered to be the "hit", Billboard listed the A-side on the Hot 100 for the first 12 weeks on the chart, including three weeks at, before switching to the more popular B-side for the remaining nine weeks on the chart.
