Solo_Song Of The Week -- 001 - Wanderlust
Oct 12, 2019 19:51:25 GMT -5
John S. Damm and winstonoboogie like this
Post by RockoRoll on Oct 12, 2019 19:51:25 GMT -5
Wanderlust
Released
"Tug Of War" had an initial official release date of 15th February 1982, then 12th March, but did not appear in the shops until the end of April -1982
When Paul McCartney & Wings went out to record their 1978 album London Town, they got permission to record on a boat in the Virgin Islands. One of the boats that was available was called Wanderlust, but they ended up using a different boat. Paul liked the name and later wrote this song about it.
Wanderlust’, is the eighth track on solo album Tug Of War, which was reissued in 2015 as part of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection.
Recorded at Air Studios, London and produced by George Martin - Paul’s long-time collaborator, producer and friend - the track actually originated from an event which took place on a boat in the Virgin Islands, where Wings were in the middle of recordings for London Town.
Paul explains: “We’d been on one of the boats, and the captain had smelt some pot, and you know, we thought, ‘Well, we’re in the middle of the ocean, and we’re not harming anyone’.
“But he [the captain] was very uptight about it, and he basically asked us to leave. ‘Wanderlust’ was the name of the boat. So my song is [sings], ‘Light out Wanderlust’ – you know, we don’t want to be here – ‘Captain says they’ll be a bust.’ It’s all about this captain and him getting uptight about smelling some pot somewhere.”
The track’s production has a cinematic feel thanks to the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and later also featured in the 1984 film, ‘Give My Regards To Broadstreet’.
Paul added: “…I enjoyed doing that track, and the brass ensemble was great; we did that back in England. They were fabulous, the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. I think, listening to the record again recently, I didn’t use the brass ensemble enough. They could have done more; they could have been more often in the song, instead of just the solo.”
Song Facts
From an interview for Club Sandwich, 1982:
Is “Wanderlust” an emotional song?
It’s actually a personal experience. What happened was that we were recording (we went out to the Virgin Islands to record an album called ‘London Town‘) and we were on boats, in a little bay recording for a month. The captain of the boat that we were on was a little, sort of, heavier than the other captains – you know, he sort of took it a little more seriously – and at some stage we had a sort of argument with him, and I sort of said, “You know, we don’t need all this aggro stuff”, and we wanted to get off onto this other boat that happened to be in the harbour. These people had said we could come on this, and this boat happened to be called “Wanderlust”, so it became like a symbol of freedom to me, this catamaran, as it was, called “Wanderlust”. We only actually stayed one night on it, but it was like, after this hassling that this other fellow had given us, to get onto this boat was like freedom, you know, so the song for me is actually just carrying on the idea. You know, just head us out to sea and take us away from all these headaches, and just wanderlust kind of free....Paul McCartney
Producer George Martin thought this was Paul's best vocal performance in his solo career and one of his best vocals ever, including with The Beatles.
Released
"Tug Of War" had an initial official release date of 15th February 1982, then 12th March, but did not appear in the shops until the end of April -1982
When Paul McCartney & Wings went out to record their 1978 album London Town, they got permission to record on a boat in the Virgin Islands. One of the boats that was available was called Wanderlust, but they ended up using a different boat. Paul liked the name and later wrote this song about it.
Wanderlust’, is the eighth track on solo album Tug Of War, which was reissued in 2015 as part of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection.
Recorded at Air Studios, London and produced by George Martin - Paul’s long-time collaborator, producer and friend - the track actually originated from an event which took place on a boat in the Virgin Islands, where Wings were in the middle of recordings for London Town.
Paul explains: “We’d been on one of the boats, and the captain had smelt some pot, and you know, we thought, ‘Well, we’re in the middle of the ocean, and we’re not harming anyone’.
“But he [the captain] was very uptight about it, and he basically asked us to leave. ‘Wanderlust’ was the name of the boat. So my song is [sings], ‘Light out Wanderlust’ – you know, we don’t want to be here – ‘Captain says they’ll be a bust.’ It’s all about this captain and him getting uptight about smelling some pot somewhere.”
The track’s production has a cinematic feel thanks to the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and later also featured in the 1984 film, ‘Give My Regards To Broadstreet’.
Paul added: “…I enjoyed doing that track, and the brass ensemble was great; we did that back in England. They were fabulous, the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. I think, listening to the record again recently, I didn’t use the brass ensemble enough. They could have done more; they could have been more often in the song, instead of just the solo.”
Song Facts
From an interview for Club Sandwich, 1982:
Is “Wanderlust” an emotional song?
It’s actually a personal experience. What happened was that we were recording (we went out to the Virgin Islands to record an album called ‘London Town‘) and we were on boats, in a little bay recording for a month. The captain of the boat that we were on was a little, sort of, heavier than the other captains – you know, he sort of took it a little more seriously – and at some stage we had a sort of argument with him, and I sort of said, “You know, we don’t need all this aggro stuff”, and we wanted to get off onto this other boat that happened to be in the harbour. These people had said we could come on this, and this boat happened to be called “Wanderlust”, so it became like a symbol of freedom to me, this catamaran, as it was, called “Wanderlust”. We only actually stayed one night on it, but it was like, after this hassling that this other fellow had given us, to get onto this boat was like freedom, you know, so the song for me is actually just carrying on the idea. You know, just head us out to sea and take us away from all these headaches, and just wanderlust kind of free....Paul McCartney
Producer George Martin thought this was Paul's best vocal performance in his solo career and one of his best vocals ever, including with The Beatles.