Two for Tuesday: Paul McCartney & Wings

Two for Tuesday 1 Minute

The former Beatles did well in the years after their breakup. Paul McCartney released his first solo album, 1970’s McCartney, as a way of telling the world of the breakup, even though John Lennon had left the group the previous year and was already doing solo projects with his wife Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band.

McCartney released Ram, credited to himself and wife Linda, in 1971, then formed the group Wings later that year. The group consisted of Paul on multiple instruments (bass, guitar, keyboards etc.), Linda on keyboards, Denny Laine (formerly of The Moody Blues) on guitar, and Denny Seiwell on drums. The group released Wild Life in 1971, and Red Rose Speedway and Band on the Run in 1973. Wings managed to replace three lead guitarists and four drummers before permanently disbanding in 1981.

The first #1 hit for Wings was “My Love,” from Red Rose Speedway. It spent nine weeks in the top ten in early summer 1973.

Their next #1 was “Band On The Run,” the title track from their 1973 release. It spent seven weeks in the top ten in early summer 1974.

In total, Wings had 14 top ten singles in the US, including six number one hits.

Paul McCartney & Wings, your Two for Tuesday, May 2, 2017.

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

20 thoughts on “Two for Tuesday: Paul McCartney & Wings”

  1. Pingback: The First Week That Was of May, 2017 – The Sound of One Hand Typing

  2. John,

    What wonderful 70s 🎶 by Paul McCartney and Wings. I haven’t heard either of these songs in a long time. “My Love” speaks to the tender parts of my heart. I’m sure it involves a boy but that’s been too many years ago to remember which puppy love I was experiencing. Thanks for conjuring some fuzzy, warm memories!

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  3. I think Maybe I’m Amazed is my favorite McCartney song. He did well, and I like most of his songs, but I don’t think any of the four were as good as solo artists as they were as a group.

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    1. George might have been the one who gained the most as a solo artist, because he didn’t get much recognition as a songwriter when he was with The Beatles. “All Things Must Pass” was like the dam bursting. He seemed to have grown the most (musically and otherwise) after the breakup, organizing the Concert for Bangladesh (at 27!) and all the other things he did (producing movies, etc.)

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    1. “Maybe I’m Amazed” was on his first solo album, and I think he did it on one of Wings’ live albums. It is a great song, and Faces did a great job with it; I like Rod Stewart singing it even better than Sir Paul, actually.

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  6. I do love these 2 songs and it shows, once again, how great a musician he really is. I’ll listen to the BOTB when I have time:)

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  7. Love, love, love — Maybe I’m Amazed is probably my fave. I love the transitions in Band on the Run :)

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    1. He never released “Maybe I’m Amazed” as a single, amazing in itself because that was a fantastic song. The whole “McCartney” album was great; he did all the instruments.

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  8. I have a someone crawled out from under a rock story to go with Wings. In a record store (when they still existed) my husband overheard two teens talking while they were looking through the posters on display. One said who’s Paul McCartney? The other said I think he used to be in a band called Wings. My husband just shook his head. He still remembers that incident it was so incredulous. He quotes it whenever the Beatles or Paul McCartney come on the radio.

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    1. I’ve heard that from others, too. A friend told me he overheard two tweens talking and one said, “did you know Paul was in a band before Wings?” When you think about it, baby boomers and their parents might be the only people with first-hand knowledge of The Beatles. Kids born after ’64 wouldn’t have gone thru Beatlemania…

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  9. Love Paul McCartney! Such a talented caring man. Thanks for sharing my man. It felt good to hear some of his old songs.

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  12. “You’d think that people would have had enough of Paul McCartney…
    I look around me and I seeeee it isn’t so – oh no.”

    Then there’s this picture of Paul’s twin brother (separated at birth), who gave him the idea for the Red Rose Speedway cover – http://tinyurl.com/k9h4wzr

    McCartney was one of my ex-wife Jean’s favorite artists. She’s seen him several times over the years. In high school, I remember riding around in John Wroclawski’s Triumph TR3 with the top down and listening to Band On The Run.

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  13. My Love is good but I like Maybe I’m Amazed better. I remember such flack that Paul got for having Linda in the band, people said she couldn’t sing. They seemed like such a loving couple though and lasted a long time together without a lot of bad press, as is seen so much these days! Don’t know how you keep up with it all, John, the A to Z took all my time and you have two or three posts every day!

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