Recording: My Love by Wings

Studio Two, EMI Studios, London
Producer: Paul McCartney
Engineer: Richard Lush

Wings recorded ‘My Love’ on 26 January 1973.

Paul McCartney initially wanted to include a live version of the on Red Rose Speedway. He had chosen a recording from the Congresgebouw in the Hague on 21 August 1972, during the Wings Over Europe Tour.

During the mixing sessions for the album, however, he became convinced of the need for a studio version, and gave Richard Hewson – who had worked on Let It Be and Thrillington – the live recording, inviting him to write an orchestral arrangement.

Paul sent me a demo of the track and we recorded it live in the studio, because McCartney wanted a certain feeling. It was an experiment. On ‘My Love’ I got the best jazz musicians I knew. They had this particular warm sound and the record starts with that long note.

The session lasted three hours. Everything was done live, even the vocal. But it took 20 takes! The guitar solo was different every time. By the end of the session everybody’s got a bit tired and said to Paul, ‘We could not play any better!’ I’m not sure which was the actual take they used.

‘My Love’ was recorded live in the studio in 14 takes, with Hewson conducting the musicians.

For the first 13 takes, Henry McCullough played a guitar solo which McCartney had “sort of written, as I often did write our solos”. However, prior to take 14, the master version, McCullough proposed a new solo which became widely acknowledged as a career highlight.

We had an interesting moment on the ‘My Love’ session. Instead of piecing it together and overdubbing I wanted to record it live with an orchestra. Everyone was ready in Abbey Road studio two, we knew exactly what we would be doing, and then just before the take Henry came over and whispered in my ear, ‘Do you mind if I try something different on the solo?’ I had to make one of those decisions – to stick with what we’d rehearsed or to run with his new idea. At the risk of messing the thing up I went with his idea and he pulled a great new solo out of left field. He really rose to the occasion.

‘My Love’ was completed by Wings the following day with a handful of overdubs. Towards the end of that session it was mixed in five attempts.