Simple As That

‘Simple As That’ was recorded by Paul McCartney for the 1986 charity album It’s A Live-In World by The Anti-Heroin Project.

The album also featured acts including Wham!, Bananarama, Elvis Costello, Dire Straits, and Eurythmics. Ringo Starr, too, donated a song, ‘You Know It Makes Sense’.

In the mid-1980s the BBC asked me to do something for an anti-heroin charity. They wanted a song to give young people the sense that maybe heroin isn’t such a good idea. This is what I came up with: ‘It’s as simple as that!’

‘Simple As That’ was a family affair, featuring on backing vocals McCartney’s first wife Linda, plus their children Mary, Stella, and James.

It was one of our little family traditions to make a record sometimes for Linda’s dad. So I had a fabulous group of backup singers on this song: my kids. It was always such fun when the whole family went down to the studio and we mucked in. The kids would sing on it; everyone would get a line, and they would enjoy that. So I said, ‘Look, this is for a charity, and it’s a great charity.’ I thought getting kids involved in an anti-heroin project wouldn’t be a bad idea.

A demo titled ‘Simple As That’ was also released on the Archive Collection edition of Pipes Of Peace in 2015. This was recorded in August 1980 and is nothing to do with the Anti-Heroin Project song.