Band on the Run (song)

Infobox Single
Name = Band on the Run


Artist = Paul McCartney and Wings
from Album = Band on the Run
B-side = "Zoo Gang" (United Kingdom)"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" (United States)
Released = June 28, 1974
Format = 7" single
Recorded = 1973
Genre = Rock
Length = 5:10
Label = Apple Records
Writer = Paul McCartney
Producer = Paul McCartney
Certification = RIAA - Gold June 4 1974
BPI - Gold September 1 1974
Last single = "Jet"/"Let Me Roll It"
(1974)
This single = "Band on the Run"
(1974)
Next single = "Junior's Farm"/"Sally G"
(1974)
Misc =

"Band on the Run" is the title song from Paul McCartney and Wings' acclaimed "Band on the Run" album, one of McCartney's most ambitious and best-loved songs.

Reception

The song features prominently on every McCartney/Wings best-of compilation and in McCartney's live shows. The song was considered the best evidence that McCartney's muse had not deserted him after The Beatles. It was the second of six number-one singles for the band on the Billboard Hot 100.

Composition

It is composed of a three-part structure that revolves around the themes of escape and liberation. George Harrison contributed the line in the middle section "If we ever get out of here." A part of the middle section would later be sampled by Tone Lōc on his 1989 track "Cutting Rhythms", but had to be removed as permission was not given.

Cover versions

Eve Of Summer remixed it in 2007, for their album "7".

A cover version of "Band on the Run" was recorded in 2007 by Foo Fighters as their contribution to the "Radio 1. Established 1967" album. This album, commemorating BBC Radio 1's 40th anniversary, features a cover version of a song released in each of the station's 40 years recorded by a modern-day band or solo artist; "Band on the Run" being the song selected to represent 1974.

On 1 June 2008, McCartney was joined onstage by Foo Fighters lead singer Dave Grohl for a special performance in Liverpool. Grohl played guitar and sang backing vocals on Band on the Run and then played drums on Beatles songs Back in the U.S.S.R. and I Saw Her Standing There.

Chart positions