Band on the Run (song)
| "Band on the Run" | ||||||||||||||||||
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French single sleeve
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| Single by Paul McCartney and Wings | ||||||||||||||||||
| from the album Band on the Run | ||||||||||||||||||
| B-side | "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" (US) "Zoo Gang" (UK) |
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| Released | 8 April 1974 (US) 28 June 1974 (UK) |
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| Format | 7" single | |||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | September 1973 | |||||||||||||||||
| Genre | Rock | |||||||||||||||||
| Length | 5:09 (album version) 3:50 (radio edit) |
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| Label | Apple | |||||||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney | |||||||||||||||||
| Producer(s) | Paul McCartney | |||||||||||||||||
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| 9 tracks |
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"Band on the Run" is the title song of Paul McCartney and Wings' 1973 album Band on the Run. The song was released as a single in 1974, following the success of "Jet", and became an international chart success. The song topped the charts in the United States, also reaching number 3 in the United Kingdom. The single sold over one million copies in 1974 in America. It has since become one of the band's most famous songs.
A medley of song fragments that vary in style from folk rock to funk, "Band on the Run" is one of McCartney's longest singles at 5:09. The song was partly inspired by a comment that George Harrison had made during a meeting of the Beatles' Apple record label. The song-wide theme is one of freedom and escape, and its creation coincided with Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr having parted with manager Allen Klein in March 1973, leading to improved relations between McCartney and his fellow ex-Beatles. The original demos for this and other tracks on Band on the Run were stolen shortly after Wings arrived in Lagos, Nigeria, to begin recording the album. With the band reduced to a trio consisting of McCartney, his wife Linda, and Denny Laine, "Band on the Run" was recorded at EMI's Lagos studio and completed at AIR Studios in London.
It was symbolic: "If we ever get out of here … All I need is a pint a day" … [In the Beatles] we'd started off as just kids really, who loved our music and wanted to earn a bob or two so we could get a guitar and get a nice car. It was very simple ambitions at first. But then, you know, as it went on it became business meetings and all of that … So there was a feeling of "if we ever get out of here", yeah. And I did.
In a 1973 interview with Paul Gambaccini, McCartney stated that the lyric "if we ever get out of here" was inspired by a remark made by George Harrison during one of the Beatles' many business meetings. McCartney recalled: "He was saying that we were all prisoners in some way [due to the ongoing problems with their company Apple] … I thought it would be a nice way to start an album." McCartney added, referring to his inspiration for "Band on the Run": "It's a million things … all put together. Band on the run – escaping, freedom, criminals. You name it, it's there."
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Wikipedia