Wings Over America

I don't think there's any music that gives me a bigger rush of nostalgia than that of Paul McCartney and Wings. During the mid-seventies, when I was a teenager and carefully spending my money on records, the decision to buy his records was the easiest to make. All I have to do now is hear one of those songs or see an album cover and I'm instantly transported to Dearborn, Michigan, where I can visualize my bedroom and how I sat on the floor and listened to the records.

Of course I am old enough to have been around while McCartney was still a Beatle. My dad was hip enough (he's only twenty years older than I am) to bring home a few Beatle records, and I played those incessantly and even bought a few of my own, but that was after they had called it quits. My dad also bought a copy of one of McCartney's first solo efforts, Ram (my dad loved Uncle Albert, as do I). I also got a copy of Red Rose Speedway for Christmas one year, and though that record is pretty awful in retrospect I didn't know any better and I played it over and over again.

When I started buying records in earnest, about 1974, it was in the forty-five format, and the first one I remember buying was the single Band on the Run. That was a huge seller for McCartney and Wings, and the album had several memorable songs, including Jet. He also had recorded the theme song for a James Bond film, Live and Let Die, and that was one of my early purchases (the combination of McCartney and Bond was quite an elixir for me, those were two of my greatest passions). Interestingly enough, I never did buy that album, though I did get a forty-five for Jet, which is still one of my favorite songs from the decade.

In those days, with no Internet, I had no idea what records were being released or when. If I got wind of a new McCartney record it was akin to being given a jolt of electricity--I had to go out and get the new record. I remember reading about his next upcoming release, Venus and Mars. By now I was buying albums, and I didn't waste much time in getting it. Again, in the rearview mirror of thirty years this was not a good record, but back then it might as well have been Mozart to me. This album was shortly followed by Wings at the Speed of Sound, which had two big hits: Silly Love Songs and Let 'Em In (my mom used to love to sing along to that one when it came on the car radio).

The next release after that was Londontown. By now Wings was just McCartney, his wife Linda, and Denny Laine. I was about seventeen, and starting to realize that Paul's best work was far behind him. I remember distinctly being at a party and talking about the Beatles with some girl that I liked. She was a big Beatle fan but was openly disdainful of the direction McCartney had taken. She sneeringly intoned the overly catchy "With a Little Luck," which was the hit single from Londontown, clearly indicating she thought it was drivel. Classic rock was giving way to new wave and punk. Wings was bubblegum pop.

Londontown was the last new McCartney release I would ever buy. I guess he's had quite a few records since then (I know his latest was some sort of Starbucks-related venture) but I got off the train that day in Christie Rimbach's basement when my childhood infatuation with him succumbed to the harsh realities of adulthood. I do have a copy of Wings Greatest Hits, which is a joy to listen to, and includes Band on the Run, Jet, Live and Let Die, Uncle Albert, Another Day, Silly Love Songs and all the other hits that are firmly rooted in my adolescence.