Paul McCartney/Wings-song by song thread

There’s also some real strings on it, arranged by Bobby Richards.

 

Next one

Childrem, children

This Laine, McCartney song is a lovely, goofy little folk-tune. The song got a very nice atmosphere and features Paul on fiddle. They were clearly aiming for a Fairy-Tale-song.

Payl McCartney: “We thought we should do it like a fairy-tale kind of thing. It s like a children-song.So we tried to do it as it was like a soundtrack to a cartoon. You imagine lot s of faires and elves down the dingley dell playing on their flutes or little autoharps and stuff”

Tracks like this might not have done much to gain Wings credibility but for me it s a good example of what made them so awesome. No boundaries-just do what you feel like. At the time Denny had become a father so it was hist time to turn to childrens music.

Absolutely lovely song and recording


Lyrics

I know a tiny waterfall
A magic little place
Where we can play together
And watch the fishes race

Children children where are you
Hiding in the forest playing in the rain
I hope you're not too far away
For me to see again

I know where there's a fairy
Who will invite us all to tea
But she won't let me in alone
You'll have to come with me

Children children where are you
Hiding in the forest playing in the rain
I hope you're not too far away
For me to see again

I know a tiny waterfall
A magic little place
Where we can play together
And watch the fishes race

Children children where are you
Hiding in the forest playing in the rain
I hope you're not too far away
For me to see again


Paul McCartney:Acoustic guitar (?), Autoharp (?), Backing vocals, Bass, Flute, Producer, Violin

Linda McCartney: Autoharp (?), Backing vocals, Keyboards

Denny Laine:Acoustic guitar, Backing vocals, Flute, Vocals

Jimmy McCulloch: Acoustic guitar (?)

Geoff Emerick:Engineer

Joe English:Drums, Harmonica, Vocals (?)

 

Backwards Traveller: Worked well as a b side to With A Little Luck. It sounds like a b side - interesting short ditty. It should've stayed as a b side, or simply, he should have finished it, though if one hears the full length demo - its just this bit repeated like 5 times.

Cuff Link: Terrible meandering mess.

Children Children: One "Children" song too many - the other one is MUCH better (Deliver Your Children).

Already, there's a bit too much and too little going on with London Town, the album. A variety of styles, a bit lightweight, a bit underwritten yet very polished sounding.

It sounds like a mixtape. This album is a bit of a mess, even though I still like it.

 

Backwards Traveller

A nice but too short song.

Lyrics:

Hey, did you know that I'm
Always going back in time
Rhyming slang, auld lang syne my dears
Through the years

I am the backwards traveller
Ancient wool unraveller
Sailing songs, wailing on the moon

And we were sailing songs, wailing on the moon
Wailing on the moon

Credits:

Produced by Paul McCartney
Written by Paul McCartney
Acoustic Guitar, Bass, Drums, Electric Guitar, Synthesizer, Vocals by Paul McCartney
Backing Vocals, Keyboards by Linda McCartney
Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals, Electric Guitar by Denny Laine
Label: MPL
Release Date: March 31, 1978
Recorded at EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Length: 1:09 minutes

 

More about Backwards Traveller...

Rough mix:

 

More about Backwards Traveller...

A 2019 cover version by Neil Hamburger, album Still Dwelling:

 

A Mess-tape perhaps

I guess London Town in a way feels like a mix-tape. It s very diverse but I still sense some unity. For me London Town is an album that has a certain "feel" but I can t put my finger on what it is. All I know is that I like the a album a lot more now than back in the days. Even though I liked it then as well

 

More about Backwards Traveller...

Finally, the song is part of the album Motor Of Love, a nice 2005 promo by Lexus as part of the promotion of the US Tour:

 

Cuff Link

A nice short instrumental song.

Credits:

Produced by Paul McCartney
Written by Paul McCartney
Bass (?), Drums, Synthesizer by Paul McCartney
Keyboards by Linda McCartney
Bass (?), Synthesizer by Denny Laine
Label: MPL
Release Date: March 31, 1978
Recorded at EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Length: 2:02 minutes

 

London Town- this has grown on me, I used to find it boring and Paul sings it in kind of an old man voice that I’m not fond of. But the melody is beautiful and is a bit of a sneaky ear worm, it pops into my head hours after listening to it. A lot of nice textures happening.

Cafe On The Left Bank- love the “euro pop” feel, I find the lyrics very vivid, it’s like he’s recounting an actual trip he took to Paris (and I suspect he is). This whole album has such a wistful nostalgic feel to me. I think Paul was very forward thinking for much of the 70s but on this album he’s “backwards traveling”. “Touching all the girls with your eyes”, what a great line. And I agree with whoever name checked Duran Duran, I’ve thought that since I first heard it!

I’m Carrying- one of my favorite ballads of Paul’s . The string arrangement adds a pensive or almost eerie note to an deceptively simple song. I like that the lyrics are a bit vague or ambiguous. What is he carrying?

Backwards Traveller/Cuff Link- great vocal and I really dig the lyrics here. Ancient Wool Unraveller...! I’ve heard people say it’s lazy or unfinished but I think that’s the point, it leaves you wanting more. I also think Cuff Link is cool as hell! I really like Wings’ weird random instrumentals, Zoo Gang, Lunch Box/Odd Sox, this fits right in.

 

Children Children

A fairy tale song with sweet vocals, harmonies and music.

Lyrics:

I know a tiny waterfall
A magic little place
Where we can play together
And watch the fishes race

Children children where are you
Hiding in the forest playing in the rain
I hope you're not too far away
For me to see again

I know where there's a fairy
Who will invite us all to tea
But she won't let me in alone
You'll have to come with me

Children children where are you
Hiding in the forest playing in the rain
I hope you're not too far away
For me to see again

I know a tiny waterfall
A magic little place
Where we can play together
And watch the fishes race

Children children where are you
Hiding in the forest playing in the rain
I hope you're not too far away
For me to see again

Credits:

Produced by Paul McCartney
Written by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine
Acoustic Guitar (?), Autoharp (?), Backing Vocals, Bass, Flute, Violin by Paul McCartney
Autoharp (?), Backing Vocals, Keyboards by Linda McCartney
Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals, Flute, Vocals by Denny Laine
Acoustic guitar (?) by Jimmy McCulloch
Drums, Harmonica, Vocals (?) by Joe English
Label: MPL
Release Date: March 31, 1978
Recorded at EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Length: 2:22 minutes

Paul's own words:

BBC interview 1978:

 

Slow down, guys!

Backwards Traveller:
This sounds like the genesis of a hit. Whether he knew it or not, he had something here and it’s a bit of a shame it wasn’t fleshed out.
This snippet sounds like first-rate McCartney.
The harmonies are simply amazing and I also like the fresh sounding arrangement.

Cuff Link:
Quite why it had to conclude BT is anyone’s guess, but I do like this little jam. The synths play a large part and it’s funky. However, it could have happily existed without abrupting BT.

Children Children:
Much loathed by some, I always loved this little song.
It’s very whimsical, almost like fairytale kinda thing.
Also love the instrument at the start. Is that a xylophone?

 

Of that I have no doubt!!!

 

Yeah, this is an example of where's Paul's trick of taking song fragments and grafting them together feels like the lazy and not very interesting way out.

 

Children, Children is a sweet and charming children's song. In a perfect world it would have been the B-side of Mary Had a Little Lamb.

 

Yeah, as you can hear on the Take It Away podcast it was demo’d just as a segue and the hosts themselves voiced that Paul didn’t even realized the potential it had. I absolutely agree with them!

 

Episode 0 – An Introduction

Episode 1 – McCartney

Episode 2 – Ram – Part 1 of 2

Episode 3 – Ram – Part 2 of 2

Episode 4 – Wild Life

Episode 5 – Red Rose Speedway

Episode 6 – Band on the Run

Episode 7 – Venus and Mars

Episode 8 – Wings at the Speed of Sound

Episode 9 – London Town

 

Children Children 7.5/10

Good song, fits in nicely with the album as a whole. Though I fear folks wanted Paul and the gang to rock more than this.

 

Yeah... It’s really that defiant side of his, like ‘let’s jam for a little bit and throw it in there’.
It’s stuff like this that makes me recall that in-concert experience from a couple of years back, Wells Fargo, Philly on the Out There tour, 2015, my lovely wife and I sitting towards the back.
Paul had the guts to play Temporary Secretary (which really was a rarity played live back then) and this idiot behind us and some more booing him for it afterwards. Paul just looked into the audience, shrugging his shoulders, like ‘what!??’.
I thought that was absolutely cool!

 

Café On The Left Bank (6.5/10)
One of the few Mac melodies I just don’t like – must be kind of strong for people to like this one but I’m not a fan. Jimmy does sound very good on it and the solid, but succinct lyric evokes either France or a French café in London but there’s not a whole lot of meat here. It seems to not really go anywhere in the midsection, though the guitar solo on the coda ends it nicely.

I’m Carrying (8/10)
The guitar with the gizmo and Paul and his carnation. Somehow this short and sparse piece in lovely and evocative. “With my carnation hidden by the packages..I’m carrying” – that is a beautiful line when coupled with the sweet music. Splendid. The strings takes their time slowly walking the packages to the end of the song. I love the little ad-lib at the end – “I’m carrying... can’t help it, ooooh, I’m carrying something for you”.

Backwards Traveller/Cuff Link (6.5/10)
I really enjoy the almost exciting “Backwards Traveller” but I need more of it and less of “Cuff Link” which is another instrumental curiosity from Wings that is alright like most, but it’s really about getting some rougher textures to mix with other tracks’ soft textures. Mac sounds so enthusiastic vocally on “Backwards Traveller”, and it’s one of the most exciting minutes on the album. If only he finished it.

Children Children (6.5/10)
Very cute, and more obviously a children’s song, but I’m sure some didn’t care and just didn’t want something cute- but it’s a decent composition. It’s got some melody, the chorus has a hook, Denny sings better here than on the last album and it could fit either here or on the Rupert The Bear soundtrack (which hopefully sees release on an Archive set). The light fantasy lyrics keep it simple – they never get too deep so it's in and out in a jiffy.

 

Next one
Girlfriend

A RnB styled pop-number. Of course the song became famous because Michael Jackson recorded it. That must have helped Paul to make a fortune out of the tune..
When the album arrived we had no idea about the Jackson connection. All I knew was that this was a great, catchy pop-song. It sounded like a true hit and Pauls vocals goes from high to lower notes seemingly without effort. The instrumental break also adds some weight to Wings version. The harmomy-vocals are very attractive.In a way this is a pop-song in the style of early Beatles but with a slick 70-s RnB sound-not far away from what people like Smokey Robinson did at the time
A perfect pop-song and imo a classic. Also an example of the extraordinary versality that London Town displays.

Song facts

From Wikipedia:

“Girlfriend” is a song written by Paul McCartney. McCartney thought of the song as one that Michael Jackson might like to record, and mentioned this to Jackson at a party in Hollywood. Jackson had stated in interviews with the music press in the 1970s that he was a fan of The Beatles and the chance to record a McCartney original helped to inspire his next project. However, McCartney ended up recording it himself with his band Wings, and it was issued in 1978 on the album London Town. Subsequently, it was suggested by Quincy Jones as a possible track for Jackson to record for his 1979 album Off the Wall. Jones was unaware that the song had been written for Jackson in the first place. Jackson’s recording omitted the middle eight heard in McCartney’s version. It was issued as a single in 1980, in the UK only, as the fifth and final single from the Off the Wall album. This proved to be


Girlfriend I'm gonna tell your boyfriend
Tell him exactly what you're doing
Tell him what you do to me
Late at night when the wind is free
Girlfriend

Girlfriend I'm gonna show your boyfriend
Show him the letters I've been saving
Show him how you feel inside
Then our love couldn't be denied
And we're gonna have to tell him
You'll only be a girlfriend of mine

Till the river stops a-flowin'
Till the wind doesn't wanna blow
Till the flowers stop a-growin'
Till my love doesn't want to know

Girlfriend we'd better tell your boyfriend
Tell him exactly what we're doing
Tell him what he needs to know
Or he may never let you go
Yes, we're gonna have to tell him
You'll only be a girlfriend of mine

Till the rivers stops a-flowin'
Till the wind doesn't wanna blow
Till the flowers stop a-growin'
Till the ocean's a sea of snow

 

Backwards Traveller/Cuff Link 4/5 ~

nothing to add!

Children Children 3/5 ~ another addition to the variety of the album. Not my favourite but a clever composition and a decent performance, Denny is really good. The Incredible String Band on synths?

Girlfriend 4.5/5 ~ It's always a delight hearing Paul using falsetto (Hi, George! Morning, Terry! ) A perfect - a bit crazy - popsong with a great, great bridge.

 

Girlfriend:
This was actually written for Michael Jackson in 1975, who decided to take up on the offer for Off The Wall. He probably realized it’s potential by hearing Paul’s version. It’s a bit on the twee side of things, but I like it and it absolutely fits the vibe of the album. I especially love the bridge, it really elevates the song to another level.

 

Cafe On The Left Bank: 4/5 To me, this song always felt like a precursor to Take It Away. There are some definite similarities there in the method of how the story is told, the up tempo (but not overtly rocking) music, the non-forward guitar work. Not surprising too is this song is reminiscent in sound of the 1980 Rude Studio demos Paul did for what became the TOW/POP albums. I’m not even putting possible political connotations into this discussion but I do like the imagery and story here. Another cool winner that probably won’t ever appear on most people’s lists but is another solid song.

I’m Carrying: 5/5 Vocally, one of Paul’s most emotive songs. And like with other little gems, its beauty lies in its deceptive simplicity. In the history of music, Paul still seems to find chord progressions that no one has done before and turn it into a little piece of lovely music.

Backwards Traveller: 3/5 The bit of wackiness on side one is lyrically gibberish I suppose but musically exciting. Given its connection to cuff link, it’s just a little spurt of an unfinished idea right in the middle of what otherwise was turning into a side one with a definite feel to it. Someone earlier days ago said it should have just stayed as a b-side and I agree. I like it but it doesn’t really fit here.

Cuff Link: 2/5 See Backwards Traveller. Deduct points for being more boring and also question its inclusion on the album.

Children Children: 3/5 A frolic through the field. Denny’s voice is idyllic in this most innocent of songs. Paul and Denny nailed the melody an music for the subject matter.

Girlfriend: 2.5/5 OK so it continues the laid back, easy feeling of the album. Check. But I’m not going to ever jump through hoops for this song. I also never skip it. It’s just good album filler and that’s it. I’m also not too keen on the falsetto.

 

Girlfriend

A catchy pop song with a terrific bridge. The vocals by Paul are amazing with an incredible and natural use of his voice in order to manage the high and low notes.

Lyrics:

[Verse 1]
Girlfriend, I'm going to tell your boyfriend (yeah)
Tell him exactly what you're doing (yeah)
Tell him what you do to me
Late at night when the wind is free
Girlfriend

[Verse 2]
Girlfriend, I'm going to show your boyfriend (yeah)
Show him the letters I've been saving (yeah)
Show him how you feel inside
Then our love couldn't be denied, oh no

[Pre-Chorus]
And we're going to have to tell him
You'll only be a girlfriend of mine

[Chorus]
Till the river stops a-flowing
Till the wind doesn't want to blow
Till the flowers stop a-growing
Till my love doesn't want to know

[Verse 3]
Girlfriend we'd better tell your boyfriend
Tell him exactly what we're doing
Tell him what he needs to know
Or he may never let you go

[Pre-Chorus]
Yes, we're going to have to tell him
You'll only be a girlfriend of mine

[Chorus]
Till the river stops a-flowing
Till the wind doesn't want to blow
Till the flowers stop a-growing
Till my love doesn't want to know

Credits:

Produced by Paul McCartney
Written by Paul McCartney
Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals, Bass, Drums, Electric Guitar, Electric Piano, Piano (?), Synthesizers, Vocals by Paul McCartney
Backing Vocals, Keyboards by Linda McCartney
Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals, Electric Guitar, Piano (?) by Denny Laine
Label: MPL
Release Date: March 31, 1978
Recorded at EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Length: 4:42 minutes

Paul's own words: