Friday, August 17, 2012

Take Me Down, Jimmy!



On May 23rd, 1974, news leaked that Paul and Wings would be flying to Nashville for a six-week visit to rehearse the new band lineup and record a few numbers. The McCartney clan arrived June 6th, followed the next day by the rest of the group.

They all stayed at a farm owned by songwriter Claude "Curly" Putman, Jr., giving Paul the inspiration to write "Junior's Farm"; its B-side, "Sally G", was influenced by the local nightlife. Paul and family also ventured out during the day a few times, visiting the Grand Masters Fiddling Contest at Opryland on June 16th, where they met Dolly Parton and Porter Waggoner. They also socialized with Johnny Cash at his home.

Recording sessions at Soundshop Studios took place over the first half of July, and produced an interesting batch of songs:



In addition to the "Junior's Farm" single, Paul recruited Chet Atkins, Floyd Cramer, and other local pros to record an instrumental number written by his father, Jim McCartney, back in the 1950's. "Walking In The Park With Eloise" would be credited to the Country Hams when it came out as an EMI single in October.

Wings also recorded a country-tinged Denny Laine composition, "Send Me The Heart", and added overdubs to some earlier unreleased recordings, including "Wide Prairie", "Hey Diddle", and "Bridge On The River Suite" (which ended up as the B-side of the Country Hams single). Paul's plan was to gather the various Wings outtakes and rejects on a budget-priced package called Cold Cuts.

Meanwhile, Band On The Run showed no signs of slowing down; it was in the UK top 20 for every single week of 1974, and hung around the Billboard top 200 until May of 1975. A third potential single from the album, "Mamunia", was dropped in favor of the newer "Junior's Farm", but a promo film was created and aired on ITV in August:




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