Mixing: Baby’s Request by Wings

Replica Studio, London
Producers: Paul McCartney, Chris Thomas

The song ‘Baby’s Request’ was mixed in stereo for Wings’ seventh studio album Back To The Egg on 26 February 1979.

The song was originally recorded by the band as a demo for The Mills Brothers, the American jazz and pop vocal quartet who rose to fame in the 1930s. It written on request by Paul McCartney.

That came about because we were on holiday in the south of France last summer, and we saw The Mills Brothers, the famous old Mills Brothers. Everyone thought that they were dead but they were in cabaret down there, and they were 73 years of age and rotund. They were great and sang exactly like they used to and they are still an amazing group. I went to see them backstage and one of them said, ‘Hey, Paul. How’s about writing The Mills Brothers a song?’ So I said, ‘Yeah, Herbie, OK.’

‘Baby’s Request’ was never originally intended to be a McCartney or Wings song. A misunderstanding with The Mills Brothers’ management – they requested $1,000 in order to record their version – meant it ended up being used on Back To The Egg instead.

I went back to the hotel and spent the next day writing a song for them and when we got back to London we demoed it, sent it out to them and, unfortunately, there was a slight cock up on the management front. For some reason, their manager got the idea that we were going to pay them to record it. So they ended up not doing it, and we ended up doing it ourselves.