Studios One and Two, AIR Studios, London
Producer: George Martin
Engineers: Bill Price, Steve Nye
Wings began recording ‘Live And Let Die’ on 19 October 1972.
The session took place at AIR Studios. It was co-run by George Martin, who produced the session and chose the orchestral musicians for the recording.
I read the Live And Let Die book in one day, started writing it that evening and carried on the next day and finished it by the next evening … I sat down at the piano, worked something out and then got in touch with George Martin, who produced it with us. Linda wrote the middle reggae bit of the song. We rehearsed it as a band, recorded it and then left it up to him.
Paul McCartney and Martin’s plan was to have Wings and the 38-piece orchestra perform the song simultaneously. However, they chose to spend several hours before the session musicians’ arrival to record a backing track in case the live recording proved unsuccessful.
The orchestra consisted of 18 violins, six violas, eight cellos, four basses, two piccolos, two saxophones, two oboes, three trumpets, three trombones, two horns, harp, xylophone, bell tree, and tympani.
The Wings session began at 2.30pm. Ten takes of ‘Live And Let Die’ were recorded, featuring Paul on piano, Linda McCartney on organ, Henry McCullough on lead guitar, Denny Laine on bass guitar, and Denny Seiwell on drums. The last of the takes was considered the best, but it was not needed.
The session musicians arrived at 7pm. After setting up, it transpired that the sound baffles were not sufficient to prevent sound leakage, so the string instruments were moved into Studio Two. Bill Price engineered the bulk of the recordings in Studio One, with Steve Nye taking care of the strings.
Three takes of ‘Live And Let Die’ were recorded. The song was completed with overdubs on 20 and 21 October.