Wings
Mull Of Kintyre

LA RECENSIONE

In 1977, amidst the Punk earthquake, it seemed impossible to most that a traditional Scottish music piece could make its mark on the troubled global music scene of the time. Yet something unexpected happened, and in November of that year, all the world's radios broadcasted for the first time this acoustic ballad enriched by the typical Scottish bagpipes.

The effect on the public was lethal, also helped by the Christmas atmosphere: "Mull Of Kintyre" quickly became the best-selling single in the history of English music up to that time. The quality of the song is based on arrangements for acoustic guitars and voices, truly very engaging. The song, signed by McCartney and Denny Laine, belongs to the "London Town" sessions; initially, it was just a piano sketch, McCartney did not consider it an interesting song. It was Laine who recognized its potential and pushed Paul to complete it. The lyrics, very beautiful, are a love song to Kintyre, the headland where Paul's farm in Scotland is located. The idea of adding bagpipes is a winning one, as the song gains a more airy and warm dimension that immediately engages the listener who finds themselves humming the melody right away.

The single was released with a double A-side: the other track is an extraordinary Rock song, very well performed by Wings when they were still a quintet. The lyrics were taken by Paul from reading porn movie titles in a newspaper, as the song is about a brothel.

A minor masterpiece forgotten too quickly, as will happen the following year with the beautiful "Daytime Nightime Suffering", the B-side of "Goodnight Tonight", another song about the condition of women coping with the many tasks they have to face daily. And it is interesting to note how female figures are a constant in Paul’s production, with or without the Beatles, just think of the various "Lady Madonna", "Eleanor Rigby", "Lovely Rita", or "C'moon", "Little Willow".