With Tug of War (the album) dropping out of the charts, a second single was extracted to boost sales. It had the desired affect, turning around the fortunes of the album. (from Wikipedia)
"Take It Away" was released in June 1982. It was Paul McCartney's twenty-ninth solo single. The highest chart position in the U.S. was #10. This is one of the first music videos I can remember seeing on MTV. It took a while for MTV to make it down to the cable provider in Galveston, Texas. It's still a gorgeous looking video and nice early '80s tune from Macca. They both bring back a lot of memories:The video supposedly depicts the process of Wings coming together, even though it (Wings) was finished by 1982. Despite this fact, former Wings member Denny Laine is credited on the album, so I guess he and Paul had patched things up following the disastrous 1980 tour of Japan (or lack thereof). The musicians in the video (Eric Stewart of 10cc providing guitar and "I'm Not in Love"-esque backing vocals, Ringo Starr and Steve Gadd on drums, and George Martin on electric piano) are the same ones playing on the album track. Of course that's actor John Hurt playing the "important impresario." And don't you know McCartney misses Linda! I sort of miss Linda!
I love the song "Take It Away." In fact, I bought a "Best of Wings" CD that it's on several years ago. Surprised it only reached #10 here.
ReplyDeleteIt's a nice song, chasrich. You must be talking about the Wingspan album? It's a nice collection. I too was surprised it only reached 10, but the American public had been burned numerous time by McCartney and his sort of lame musical output as a solo artist.
ReplyDeleteYes, Wingspan! It's a 2-piece set that I actually bought used.
ReplyDeleteNice to see the Take It Away clip after all this time... it's been years since MTV (or VH1, for that matter) has played much of anything from the Golden Age of Videos. It is kind of bittersweet to see Linda in the video.
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