In 1971, drummer Denny Seiwell, and ex-Moody Blues guitarist and singer Denny Laine, joined Paul McCartney and wife Linda McCartney to record Paul's third post-Beatles project. The result was Wild Life, the first project to credit Wings. The band name is said to have come to McCartney as he was praying in the hospital while Linda was giving birth to their second child together, Stella McCartney. Paul McCartney recalled in the film Wingspan that the birth of Stella was "a bit of a drama"; there were complications at the birth and that both Linda and the baby almost died. He was praying fervently and the image of wings came to his mind. He decided to name his new band "Wings".
In 1972, McCartney returned to touring, mounting an impromptu tour of UK universities and small European venues (with the group driving around in a van), playing no Beatles numbers. He scored hits with the relatively light singles "Mary Had A Little Lamb" and "Hi Hi Hi" (the latter getting in trouble with the BBC for alleged drug references).
In early 1973, McCartney repeated this pattern, adding ex-Spooky Tooth guitarist Henry McCullough, and re-christening the band Paul McCartney and Wings for the album Red Rose Speedway which yielded the first big Wings hit, the romantic ballad "My Love". That same year, McCartney filmed his first American TV special James Paul McCartney, which was savagely criticised by noted rock journalist Lillian Roxon. Wings also recorded the hit theme song to the James Bond film Live and Let Die, which reunited McCartney with producer George Martin. Over the years, this has remained one of the most memorable of all Bond songs and is always an exciting part of McCartney's concert performances (often played to fireworks).
Following the release of Speedway, Denny Seiwell and Henry McCullough left the band, leaving the McCartneys and Denny Laine to cut their next album at EMI's recording studio in Lagos, Nigeria, recording what turned out to be their breakthrough album, Band on the Run.
The album went to #1 and spawned a half-dozen hit singles including the rockers "Jet" and "Helen Wheels", the acoustic ballad "Bluebird", and the dynamic title track a suite of movements recalling side 2 of Abbey Road. Moreover Band on the Run enjoyed very positive critical reception, and did much to restore McCartney's somewhat damaged post Beatles image. It also included the heavy "Let Me Roll It", which was seen as an affectionate impersonation of John Lennon's solo style.
After this, Jimmy McCulloch and Geoff Britton, lead guitar and drums respectively, joined the band, now rechristened Wings again. The first recording session with the new members was held in Nashville and produced the rocky non-album single "Junior's Farm". The new lineup then moved to New Orleans to create the album Venus and Mars (1975), followed by a return to Nashville for Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976); both albums took top chart positions. During this time, Joe English replaced Britton on drums. Speed of Sound represented a substantial departure from the Wings template in that each member of the band sang at least one song, including Linda ("Cook of the House").
Also during this period, Wings embarked on a very successful and theatrical world tour, documented in the triple-live LP set Wings Over America, which included a late 1975 tour of Australia, McCartney's first visit there since the Beatles' epoch-making Antipodean tour in June 1964. McCartney still mostly shied away from the Beatles catalogue; only five such numbers were typically included in the American shows. Laine sang lead vocal for several songs and McCulloch for one, to emphasize that Wings was more than just a backing band for McCartney. One of the Seattle concerts from the American leg of the 1975/76 world tour was filmed and later released as the concert feature Rockshow (1980). Further hits followed with the singles "Silly Love Songs" and "Let 'Em In".
Also in 1976, McCartney inaugurated Buddy Holly Week in London, founded on what would have been Holly's 40th birthday and marked with an annual celebrity party; his lifelong passion for the music of this rock'n'roll pioneer was also reflected in his acquisition of Holly's publishing catalogue. Ever the astute businessman, McCartney also cannily bought the rights to an off-Broadway musical he had seen in America, and this investment reaped huge returns when the musical was adapted into the smash-hit feature film Grease.
After the world tour, McCartney took a break, but this period produced both the most obscure and the most successful records he has made. During 1977 he released the peculiar, unpromoted and little-known album Thrillington, an orchestral re-make of the earlier Ram album, issued under the pseudonym Percy "Thrills" Thrillington, followed by single version of a live recording of "Maybe I'm Amazed". Later in the year, the band recorded their next album in the Virgin Islands.
At the end of 1977, McCartney released the ballad "Mull of Kintyre", an ode to the Scottish Mull of Kintyre coastal region he had made his home in the early 1970s. Its broad appeal was maximised by a pre-Christmas release, and it became a massive international hit, dominating the charts in Britain, Australia and many other countries over the Christmas/New Year period and becoming one of the biggest selling UK singles of all time.
McCartney released the album London Town in 1978. During the recording of the album in May, 1977, both Joe English and Jimmy McCulloch parted ways with Wings (McCulloch died of a heroin overdose in 1979). Though still released as a Wings album, the band was again reduced to Paul, Linda and Laine and a host of studio players. The album was a major commercial success, reaching #2 on the charts, but featured a markedly softer-rock, synth-based sound and yielded only minor UK hits in "With a Little Luck" and "Girlfriend" (the former was a big hit in the US).
In 1979, Wings released the singles "Goodnight Tonight", "Getting Closer", and "Wonderful Christmastime" and the album Back to the Egg, a critical and commercial failure and the last McCartney project released under the Wings moniker, with McCartney returning to solo billing on future recordings.
In November and December of 1979, Wings performed their final tour of the UK, climaxing with a massive rockestra all-star collection of musicians in London in aid of UNICEF and Kampuchean refugees. This final version of the band included guitarist Laurence Juber and drummer Steve Holly, who had joined the group in 1978. During this tour the live version of "Coming Up" was recorded, this being their final US #1 hit the following year.
Wings continued to demo some more tunes during 1980/1981, but following a disastrous aborted Japanese tour, they fell apart.
Legacy
The longevity and success of Wings can be seen as something of a vindication for McCartney, whose early home-grown solo output, which often featured simpler songs and less lavish production than the Beatles received from George Martin, sometimes led to critical dismissal of his work as "lightweight" next to the seemingly more serious nature of his former bandmates' solo output. Though McCartney was the first Beatle to release a solo album after the official break-up of the band, it was John Lennon's early solo output which initially gained the lead in both critical opinion and commercial success, and George Harrison had scored a huge success with his 1970 triple-album solo debut All Things Must Pass. But by the mid-1970s, Lennon's solo career had run out of steam, and he had stopped recording; Harrison was also fading from view by this time, as by 1976 he had all but retired from recording and performing. As leader of Wings, however, McCartney was rising to a new peak of success. He became the only one of the four Beatles who continued to tour and record regularly in the years after their split.
Wings' 1977 single, "Mull of Kintyre"/"Girls School" is still the biggest-selling non-charity single in the UK (although Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" sold more, its sales include a reissue in aid of the Terence Higgins Trust) and it ranked fourth in the official list of best selling singles in the UK issued in 2002.
Hi Hi Hi
Paul McCartney & Wings Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You were standing with a bootleg in your hand
I took you back to my little place
For a taste of a multicolored band
We're gonna get hi hi hi
The night is young
She'll be my funky little mama
Gonna rock it and we've only just begun
We're gonna get hi hi hi
With the music on
Won't say bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye
'Til the night is gone
I'm gonna do it to you, gonna do it
Sweet banana, you'll never give up
We're gettin' hi hi hi in the midday sun
Well well, take off your face
Recover from the trip you've been on
I want you to lie on the bed
Get you ready for my polygon
I'm gonna do it to you, gonna do it
Sweet banana, you've never been done
Yes, I go like a rabbit, gonna grab it
Gonna do it 'til the night is done
We're gonna get hi hi hi
With the music on
Won't say bye bye bye bye bye bye bye
'Til the night is gone
I'm gonna do it to you, gonna do it
Sweet banana, you'll never give up
We're gonna get hi hi hi, we're going to get hi hi hi
We're going to get hi hi hi in the midday sun, ooh baby
Hi hi hi
Hi hi hi
Hi hi hi in the midday sun
The lyrics of "Hi Hi Hi" are quite straightforward and describe a young couple's desire to party and have fun. The lyrics seem to be narrated by a male protagonist who met a young woman at the station who was holding a bootleg in her hand. The singer takes her back to his place to enjoy the music together, and they plan to get "hi hi hi," indicating a desire to consume drugs or alcohol to heighten their enjoyment. The lyrics mostly revolve around their physical attraction and their desire to "do it" until the night is done.
Despite its apparent simplicity, the song was quite controversial when it was released in 1972. Many stations across the United States banned it outright for its suggestive lyrics, and some conservative groups saw it as promoting drug use and sexual promiscuity. Despite the controversy, the song was a hit, and it remains a beloved track for many classic rock fans.
Line by Line Meaning
Well, when I met you at the station
Paul McCartney met his lover at the station
You were standing with a bootleg in your hand
His lover was holding a bootleg in her hand
I took you back to my little place
He took her back to his house
For a taste of a multicolored band
They enjoyed listening to music together
We're gonna get hi hi hi
They are going to get high on drugs
The night is young
It's still early in the night
She'll be my funky little mama
He is attracted to her funky and cool personality
Gonna rock it and we've only just begun
They plan on partying all night long
With the music on
They are still listening to music and getting high
Won't say bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye
They won't leave until they finish partying
til the night is gone
They plan on staying up all night
I'm gonna do it to you, gonna do it
He plans on having sex with her
Sweet banana, you'll never give up
He thinks she is a sexually adventurous partner
We're gonna get hi hi hi in the midday sun
They plan on getting high during the day
Well well, take off your face
He wants her to take off her makeup
Recover from the trip you've been on
He wants her to recover from her drug-induced trip
I want you to lie on the bed
He wants her to lay down on the bed
Get you ready for my polygon
He wants to have sex with her again
Yes, I go like a rabbit, gonna grab it
He is eager and quick in bed
Gonna do it 'til the night is done
He plans on having sex with her all night
We're going to get hi hi hi
They are going to continue getting high
in the midday sun, ooh baby
They will enjoy their high during the day
Hi hi hi
They are getting very high
Hi hi hi
They are still getting very high
Hi hi hi in the midday sun
They are still getting high during the day
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: LINDA MCCARTNEY, PAUL MCCARTNEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@David-hj4sz
Well, when I met you at the station
You were standing with a bootleg in your hand
I took you back to my little place
For a taste of a multicolored band
We're gonna get hi hi hi
The night is young
She'll be my funky little mama
Gonna rock it and we've only just begun
We're gonna get hi hi hi
With the music on
Won't say bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye
'Til the night is gone
I'm gonna do it to you, gonna do it
Sweet banana, you'll never give up
We're gettin' hi hi hi in the midday sun
Well well, take off your face
Recover from the trip you've been on
I want you to lie on the bed
Get you ready for my polygon
I'm gonna do it to you, gonna do it
Sweet banana, you've never been done
Yes, I go like a rabbit, gonna grab it
Gonna do it 'til the night is done
We're gonna get hi hi hi
With the music on
Won't say bye bye bye bye bye bye bye
'Til the night is gone
I'm gonna do it to you, gonna do it
Sweet banana, you'll never give up
We're gonna get hi hi hi, we're going to get hi hi hi
We're going to get hi hi hi in the midday sun, ooh baby
Hi hi hi
Hi hi hi
Hi hi hi in the midday sun
@goldenphonautogram6141
Remember kiddos, Sir Paul is telling us all to get high...
O n l i f e
@kathrynwilson3985
I will do whatever he tells me too !!!!!!!
@frankrappa4765
The spelling threw me off. Shouldn't it be high high high?
@rippi37
Ahh...not
@rippi37
@@lennon1913......Or whatever else takes your fancy....I'm in !!
@ericmorken7099
You aren't very bright are you? Comments like that are absolutely lame.
@paulingle7279
This song has not got the recognition it deserves. Wish the classic rock stations would play it more.
@bolivianprince7326
this man could have sing anything at that time and it would have been a hit
@The1uptriforce
Hence Mary had a little lamb
@pedrocruz4409
@@The1uptriforcelolololols 😄😆😂