50 years ago today (February 11th), The Magic Christian, a comic film starring Ringo Starr and Peter Sellers, opened in New York City on the same day its soundtrack album, featuring “Come and Get It,” was released. The song was recorded by Badfinger written by Paul McCartney about a month before longtime guitarist Joey Molland joined the band, and Sir Paul had told them if they learned it as it was, it would be a hit. He played it throughout his career with them and heard the story of how it was recorded many times.
“It was recorded about a month before I joined the band. The bass player, Ron Griffith, left for some unknown reason — I’ve heard three different stories. But the story that the guys told me about that song was Paul sent a tape round and a note saying, ‘Learn this song just exactly as it is and we’ll go in and record it and it’ll be a big hit for you.’ That’s what they did. They learned Paul’s arrangement from his demo, then they went in the studio and he recorded it. And it was a big hit, just like he said.”
