"Mull of Kintyre" | ||||
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Single by Wings | ||||
A-side | "Girls' School" | |||
Released | 11 November 1977 | |||
Format | 7-inch single | |||
Recorded | 9 August 1977 | |||
Genre | Scottish folk | |||
Length | 4:45 | |||
Label | Capitol | |||
Writer(s) | Paul McCartney, Denny Laine | |||
Producer(s) | Paul McCartney | |||
Wings singles chronology | ||||
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"Mull of Kintyre" is a song by the British-American rock band Wings written by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine. The song was written in tribute to the picturesque Kintyre peninsula in Scotland and its headland, the Mull of Kintyre, where McCartney has owned High Park Farm since 1966. The song was Wings' biggest hit in Britain where it became the 1977 Christmas number one, and was the first single to sell over two million copies nationwide.
The lyrics of the first verse, also used as the repeating chorus, are an ode to the area's natural beauty and sense of home:
Mull of Kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire
Is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre
McCartney explained how the song came into being:
I certainly loved Scotland enough, so I came up with a song about where we were living: an area called Mull of Kintyre. It was a love song really, about how I enjoyed being there and imagining I was travelling away and wanting to get back there.
"Mull of Kintyre" was recorded on 9 August 1977 at Spirit of Ranachan Studio at High Park Farm in Scotland, during a break in recording the London Town album caused by Linda McCartney's advanced pregnancy. The song featured bagpipes played by the Campbeltown Pipe Band from nearby Campbeltown. Paul's vocals and acoustic guitar were recorded outdoors. "Mull of Kintyre" and "Girls' School" (a rocker that had been previously recorded for London Town) were released as a double A-sided single on 11 November 1977, independently of the album. It was included on the Wings compilation Wings Greatest in 1978, and the UK/Canada version of McCartney's 1987 compilation album, All the Best! as well as his 2001 compilation Wingspan: Hits and History.