Paul McCartney has debuted an archival video of him performing the previously unreleased song “Blackpool” in the backyard of the famous Abbey Road Studios in London in 1974. The performance was recorded during the sessions for Paul McCartney & Wings’ shelved One Hand Clapping project, the audio for which finally was released in June.
One Hand Clapping captured McCartney and his post-Beatles band recording a variety of songs at Abbey Road over the course of four days in August 1974. The sessions were filmed and recorded for a potential video documentary and live album, although neither came to fruition at the time.
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While taking a break during the last day of the sessions, McCartney went into a garden at Abbey Road and was filmed and recorded playing six songs solo on acoustic guitar. One of the tunes was “Blackpool,” a short folk-blues song with tongue-in-cheek lyrics.
All of the songs from McCartney’s backyard performance, including “Blackpool,” appear on a bonus 7-inch vinyl disc dubbed The Backyard Sessions that’s part of the deluxe One Hand Clapping release. The video has been remastered in high-res.
One Hand Clapping features audio of all of the performances captured for the film, as well as a number of songs recorded off-camera, which were made available officially for the first time as part of the release.
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The One Hand Clapping project came together following the release of McCartney and Wings’ chart-topping album Band on the Run. The group’s core members of Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, and Denny Laine had recently welcomed two new additions to the group—guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton. Wings’ new lineup had just returned from Nashville after recording the single “Junior’s Farm.”
One Hand Clapping features versions of various Wings hits, plus many songs from Band on the Run. It also includes a rendition of McCartney’s solo classic “Maybe I’m Amazed,” reworked segments of a few Beatles tunes, and a version of the Moody Blues hit “Go Now” sung by Laine, who was The Moody Blues’ original frontman.
Besides “Blackpool,” McCartney’s backyard performance also included renditions of The Beatles’ “Blackbird,” the Wings B-side “Country Dreamer,” and covers Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock” and Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue” and “I’m Gonna Love You Too.”
In a Q&A posted on PaulMcCartney.com, McCartney reflected on his impromptu acoustic performance.
“Cool little session, isn’t it? He added, “I can’t remember how it came about, but I thought it’d be a good idea. I like the idea of being outside, it’s just so different! I got in the backyard there and I suppose sitting down with guitar is what I do.”
He added, “And those rock ‘n’ roll songs are the sort of songs that I would do anyway, sitting around on my own. They’re some of the first ones I ever learnt to play, such as ‘Twenty Flight Rock’ by Eddie Cochran.”
One Hand Clapping Release Details
One Hand Clapping is available now as a two-CD set, a two-LP collection, and via digital formats. The Backyard Sessions vinyl single is part of a limited-edition two-LP package available exclusively online.
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