Paul McCartney Redefines Jailhouse Rock With 'Band on the Run'

‘200 Greatest 70s Rock Songs’ Book Excerpt

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The title song of Paul McCartney & Wings’ 1973 album, “Band on the Run” became a №1 hit in 1974. McCartney told NPR that he’d always intended the song to be a montage of different musical styles.

“‘Band On The Run’ starts off in one place and goes to another place. It’s a sort of story song, an episodic thing. But I wanted that because I wanted to write that kind of a song and also with the idea of a ‘band on the run.’

“I thought, ‘Okay, well, the characters have got to be in prison at first, and then for them to be a band on the run they got to break out. So these little story points were kind of obvious, they sort of suggested to themselves: Prison, break out, on the run, nighttime in the desert. And so that was a nice one to write but I did start off thinking I’m going to write that kind of a song.”

The song has three distinct musical styles and has become one of Wings’ signature tunes.

"Band on the Run" by Paul McCartney & Wings

McCartney explained in Clash that the song’s theme of escape was inspired by his early days with the Beatles. “If you think about it, 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, and eventually it was really not fun. You’d have to go into these meetings. So there was a feeling of ‘if we ever get out of here,’ yeah. And I did.”

Frank Mastropolo is the author of 200 Greatest 70s Rock Songs and 200 Greatest 60s Rock Songs.