The songs

Wings Over America featured 30 songs – five by The Beatles, one – ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ – by Paul McCartney as a solo artist, and 21 previously recorded and released with Wings.

There were also three songs which hadn’t previously appeared on an album. Written by Paul Simon, ‘Richard Cory’ had originally appeared on Simon & Garfunkel’s album Sounds Of Silence; Wings’ live version was sung by Denny Laine. He also sang ‘Go Now’, a 1964 hit for his former band The Moody Blues.

The final new song was ‘Soily’, which Wings had previously performed during their 1972/3 tour of Britain and Europe. It had been considered for the Red Rose Speedway album but remained unused. By 1976 its arrangement had become punchier and more hard rocking, and closed the live set after ‘Hi, Hi, Hi’ as the second encore song.

Nine songs had originally appeared on Venus And Mars – more than any other album. Five were from Band On The Run, four from Wings At The Speed Of Sound, and just one – ‘My Love’ – from Red Rose Speedway. Two other Wings songs – ‘Hi, Hi, Hi’ and ‘Live And Let Die’ – had previously been standalone singles.

McCartney had refused to perform Beatles-era songs during previous Wings shows, but bowed to popular demand for the Wings Over America tour. The five Beatles songs on the album are credited to McCartney-Lennon.

Side three of the album – from ‘Picasso’s Last Words (Drink To Me)’ to ‘Yesterday’ – encompassed the acoustic set at the heart of Wings’ set, and included three of the five Beatles songs.

Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, OH
Venus And Mars (Wings LP, 1975)
Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, OH
Venus And Mars (Wings LP, 1975)
Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, OH
Band On The Run (Paul McCartney and Wings LP, 1973)
Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, OH
Band On The Run (Paul McCartney and Wings LP, 1973)
Kingdome, Seattle, WA
Venus And Mars (Wings LP, 1975)
Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, OH
Venus And Mars (Wings LP, 1975)
Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO
McCartney (Paul McCartney LP, 1970)
Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, OH
Venus And Mars (Wings LP, 1975)
Olympia Stadium, Detroit, MI
‘Lady Madonna’ (The Beatles single, 1968)
Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO
Let It Be (The Beatles LP, 1970)
Boston Garden, Boston, MA
‘Live And Let Die’ (Wings single, 1973)
Boston Garden, Boston, MA
Band On The Run (Paul McCartney and Wings LP, 1973)
Forum, Inglewood, CA
Previously unreleased
Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, OH
Band On The Run (Paul McCartney and Wings LP, 1973)
Forum, Inglewood, CA
Help! (The Beatles LP, 1965)
Boston Garden, Boston, MA
The Beatles (The Beatles LP, 1968)
Cow Palace, Daly City, CA
Help! (The Beatles LP, 1965)
Forum, Inglewood, CA
Venus And Mars (Wings LP, 1975)
Boston Garden, Boston, MA
Venus And Mars (Wings LP, 1975)
Forum, Inglewood, CA
Previously unreleased
Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY
Red Rose Speedway (Paul McCartney and Wings LP, 1973)
Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO
Venus And Mars (Wings LP, 1975)
Forum, Inglewood, CA
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Wings At The Speed Of Sound (Wings LP, 1976)
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Wings At The Speed Of Sound (Wings LP, 1976)
McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, CO
Wings At The Speed Of Sound (Wings LP, 1976)
Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO
Venus And Mars (Wings LP, 1975)
McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, CO
Band On The Run (Paul McCartney and Wings LP, 1973)
McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, CO
‘Hi, Hi, Hi’ (Wings single, 1972)
McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, CO
Previously unreleased

The release

Wings Over America was released on 10 December 1976.

The album might have been a two-disc set, but for a bootleg release titled Wings From The Wings, a triple album recorded on 23 June 1976 at the Forum in Inglewood. This high profile bootleg inspired McCartney to release the group’s entire live set as a triple album.

As well as the audio recordings, several of the concerts were filmed. The premiere of Rock Show took place in New York City on 26 November 1980, with a limited cinema run and video release following.

Wings Over America topped the Billboard 200 in America in early 1977. In the UK it peaked at number eight; it is likely that a number of prospective purchasers were put off by its high £6.80 price. It did, however, sell several million copies in McCartney’s home country.

That had to be a triple album in the end, because we were doing two-hour shows and there was no other way to get two hours of music on record. This album just called to be a triple album. If we could have made it a double album, we would have made it a double album. I don’t like releasing huge price items; I prefer everything to cost 50 pence. I’m not in just for the profit, in spite of what some people might think. This bloke who works with handicapped children wrote to us saying the album was the one that really lifted the children and he wanted to thank us for that.
Paul McCartney

A single, ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ backed with ‘Soily’, was released on 4 February in the UK and 7 February in the US. It reached number 10 in the Billboard Hot 100 in America but peaked at number 28 in the UK, spending just two weeks in the top 30 there.


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