Band on the Run (song)

"Band on the Run" is the title song from Paul McCartney and Wings' Band on the Run album. The single sold one million copies in 1974 in the United States, where it reached number 1, and it went to number 3 in the United Kingdom. "Band on the Run" can also be found on Wings Greatest (1978) and All the Best! (1987).

Composition
The song is a three part medley. The parts are thematically related, but do not necessarily form a continuous narrative. Paul McCartney was inspired by George Harrison in the first line of the second part of the medley: "If we ever get out of here." He reportedly said these words during one of the Beatles' many business meetings.

The version played on the radio in America in 1974 was edited down from the original 5:09 to 3:50 in length. The difference was largely caused by the removal of the middle or the second part of the song, as well as the verse that starts with "Well, the undertaker drew a heavy sigh..."

"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five", the song that closes the Band on the Run album, concludes with a brief excerpt of the chorus.

Recording
The song was recorded in two parts, in different sessions. The first two were taped in Lagos, Nigeria, while the third bit was recorded in October 1973 at AIR Studios in London.

Reception
The single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over one million copies. The song features prominently on every McCartney/Wings best-of compilation and in McCartney's live shows. It was the second of five number-one singles for the band on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is featured on Guitar Hero World Tour on the main set list. Both the master recording and a live version was added to Rock Band.

Cover versions
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 artiste, "Band on the Run" being the song selected to represent 1974. They recorded the song during their stay in the UK at Abbey Road Studios, due to the history of the place with McCartney. They finished it all in the same day, including mixing and mastering. The song was played on Radio 1 a few days before the CD release and Paul McCartney commented on the cover, and thought they had done a good job. He mentioned that he even popped down to the studio during the day to see how the band were getting on. On 16 April 2011, the cover of the song was released on their album Medium Rare.

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". Grohl later performed the song with Paul's band in 2010 at the White House, when Paul was given the Gershwin Award.

Tori Amos performed a snippet of this song at a number of shows during the Plugged '98 Tour.

The synthesizer section from 2:17–2:40 is sampled on the track "Cutting Rhythms" by Tone Lōc on the album Lōc-ed After Dark. The opening section of the track is sampled on the song "Brown Girl" by Amanda Diva from her EP Life Experience.

Wings band member Denny Laine covered "Band on the Run" in 2007 on his album Performs the Hits of Wings.

Vanessa Carlton used the line "rabbits on the run" as the title of her fourth album.

Former rock band Ween has covered the song live since 1998.

Video
An official video, directed by Michael Coulson, was released along with the song. It served mostly as a tribute to The Beatles, featuring montages of still pictures from their career. Present-day McCartney and Wings were not shown. The video ends with a collage of Beatles pictures much like the album cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Personnel

 * Paul McCartney – lead and backing vocals, guitar, bass guitar, drums
 * Linda McCartney – backing vocals, keyboards
 * Denny Laine – backing vocals, guitar