Recording: Warm And Beautiful, The Note You Never Wrote by Wings

Studio Two, Abbey Road Studios, London
Producer: Paul McCartney
Engineer: Peter Henderson

An orchestral overdub session for the Wings At The Speed Of Sound songs ‘Warm And Beautiful’ and ‘The Note You Never Wrote’ took place on 13 February 1976.

The arrangements had been prepared by Fiachra Trench, and violinist David Katz recruited the players. They consisted of The Maggini Quartet and two euphonium players. Kenneth Sillito, one of the violinists, was concertmaster during the session.

The first [Paul] heard [the score for ‘The Note You Never Wrote’] was when we were there in the studio with a fairly sizable string orchestra, and he wanted it slightly less fussy in the double bases – he just took some of that out. Some of the kick notes, he said, ‘No, no, just keep them fairly straight.’ Otherwise, it went down exactly as I had written and presented to him. It’s nice when somebody puts that much trust in you.

Denny Laine also recorded a bass guitar part simultaneously with the orchestra during ‘The Note You Never Wrote’. Towards the end of the five-hour session, studio engineer Peter Henderson made rough mixes of both songs.