Although intended purely as a children's song in the mould of the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine", "We All Stand Together" is sometimes derided as an example of McCartney's inconsequential songwriting by his critics.[3] In a satirical cartoon by Stephen Collins of The Guardian in 2012, McCartney is shown recalling his creative partnership with John Lennon in the 1960s, before concluding: "It was a great time, y'know ... And then I went on to do The Frog Song."[4]
Release
Two shaped picture discs were issued on the 12 November 1984[5] and 1985, the only difference being a plain clear sleeve on the later version. In 1987, the song was included on the UK/Canada version of McCartney's compilation album All the Best! It also appears on the deluxe edition of his 2016 compilation album Pure McCartney. In October 2020, for the 100th anniversary of the Rupert character, the single was remastered for streaming and a vinyl re-release of the picture disc, alongside a 4K restoration of the accompanying short.[6]
In 2017, Choirs with Purpose, a collection of a dozen charity choirs, assembled for a remake of "We All Stand Together". Their recording features Scottish singer Michelle McManus in a bid to top the UK Singles Chart Christmas chart and win the coveted British Christmas number one for 2017;[14] it failed to make the top 100.[15] Profits from the single were split equally between the participating choirs in aid of their own charity work.
The choirs that took part in the recording with McManus include:
