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.
Medicine Jar
Paul McCartney & Wings Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I wish, I knew
You say, time will tell
I hope that's true
There's more to life than blues and reds
I say, I know how you feel
Now your friends are dead
Dead on your feet, you won't get far
If you keep on sticking your hand
In the medicine jar
Now don't give up
Whatever you do
You say, time will tell
I hope that's true
If you go down and lose your head
I say, I know how you feel
Now your friends are dead
Dead on your feet, you won't get far
If you keep on sticking your hand
In the medicine jar
I said, "Dead on your feet, you won't get far
If you keep on sticking your hand
In the medicine jar"
Check it
What can I do?
I can't let go
You say, time will heal
But very slow
So don't forget the things you said
I say, I know how you feel
Now your friends are dead
Dead on your feet, you won't get far
If you keep on sticking your hand
In the medicine jar
Dead on your feet, you won't get far
If you keep on sticking your hand
In the medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
The song "Medicine Jar" by Paul McCartney is a cautionary tale about the dangers of drug addiction. The lyrics discuss a person who is struggling with addiction, and the singer of the song appears to be trying to convince them to stop. The first verse opens with the lines, "What's wrong with you? / I wish, I knew," indicating that the singer is concerned about their friend's well-being. The friend insists that "time will tell," but the singer hopes that their friend will find a way to overcome their addiction.
The chorus makes it clear that the addiction in question is to prescription drugs, as the singer warns their friend not to continue "sticking your hand in the medicine jar." The song suggests that the addiction has already taken a toll on the friend, as their "friends are dead" and they are "dead on your feet." Despite this, the singer insists that their friend should not give up and should instead try to find a way to heal.
Overall, "Medicine Jar" is a powerful song that showcases McCartney's ability to write catchy tunes with a message. The song is a reminder of the dangers of drug addiction and the toll it can take on a person's life and the lives of those around them. Despite the seriousness of the subject matter, the song is musically upbeat and catchy, making it a memorable addition to McCartney's body of work.
Line by Line Meaning
What's wrong with you?
The singer is asking what is troubling the person they are talking to.
I wish, I knew
The singer expresses their desire to know what is going on with the other person.
You say, time will tell
The other person is confident that time will reveal the solution to their problems.
I hope that's true
The artist expresses their hopes that the other person is right and that they will find a solution eventually.
There's more to life than blues and reds
The artist believes that life is more complex and nuanced than simply being happy (blues) or sad (reds).
I say, I know how you feel
The singer believes that they can relate to the other person's struggles.
Now your friends are dead
The other person has lost important people in their life, making their situation even harder.
Dead on your feet, you won't get far
The artist cautions that the other person will not be able to achieve their goals if they are exhausted or burnt out from their troubles.
If you keep on sticking your hand
In the medicine jar
If the other person keeps relying on drugs or other temporary fixes to their problems, they will not be able to overcome them in the long run.
Now don't give up
Whatever you do
The artist encourages the other person to persevere and not give up, no matter how hard things get.
If you go down and lose your head
If the other person loses control or succumbs to their troubles, they will not be able to recover easily.
So don't forget the things you said
The artist reminds the other person of their own words of encouragement and hope, which they should hold onto despite their struggles.
Dead on your feet, you won't get far
If you keep on sticking your hand
In the medicine jar
The singer repeats the refrain from earlier to emphasize the message that relying on temporary fixes will not help the other person in the long run.
Medicine jar
The repeated phrase emphasizes the danger of relying on drugs or other temporary fixes to cope with problems.
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: COLIN ALLEN, JIMMY MCCULLOCH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Robert Cochran
on Let Me Roll It
The perfect John Lennon song that he never wrote