‘Madcap adventures': Paul McCartney co-authors book about his time in Wings
Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, by McCartney and historian Ted Widmer, will hit UK and US bookshops on 4 November.
'I'm so very happy to be transported back to the time that was Wings and relive some of our madcap adventures through this book,' said McCartney. 'Starting from scratch after the Beatles felt crazy at times. There were some very difficult moments and I often questioned my decision. But as we got better I thought, 'OK, this is really good.' We proved Wings could be a really good band. To play to huge audiences in the same way the Beatles had and have an impact in a different way. It was a huge buzz.'
Formed in 1971, Wings released seven studio albums, a live album and a compilation album over the ensuing decade, including Band on the Run, Venus and Mars, and At the Speed of Sound. Alongside McCartney, the band's core members were his wife, Linda, and Denny Laine.
'Wings was about love, family, friendship and artistic growth, often in the face of tremendous adversity', said Widmer, who was a speechwriter in the Clinton White House.
Described as an 'oral history', the book will remember Wings' songs, collaborations and performances, drawing on interviews with McCartney and others in the band's orbit. Organised around nine Wings albums, the book 'sheds new light on the immediate aftermath and seismic global impact of the Beatles' break-up', according to its publisher, Penguin imprint Allen Lane.
'The narrative follows the various incarnations of the band as they survive a mugging in Nigeria, appear unannounced at UK university halls, tour in a sheared-off school bus with their children, while producing some of the most indelible and acclaimed music of the decade,' Allen Lane added. The volume will also feature more than 100 photographs, many of which have never been seen before.
The book is part of a wider re-examination of the band's catalogue, which has included the theatrical release last year of performance film One Hand Clapping and its accompanying album, 50th anniversary editions of Band on the Run (released last year) and Venus and Mars (released next month), and a forthcoming documentary about McCartney's solo and Wings-related work of the 70s by film-maker Morgan Neville.
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