Written by: Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney
Recorded: 25 January; 10, 12, 13 March 1975
Producer: Paul McCartney
Released: 27 May 1975 (US), 30 May 1975 (UK)
Available on:
Venus And Mars
Personnel
Paul McCartney: vocals, piano, bass guitar, celeste
Linda McCartney, Denny Laine: vocals
Jimmy McCulloch: electric guitar
Joe English: drums
Gayle Levant: harp
Sid Sharp Strings: violin, viola, cello, bass
‘Treat Her Gently – Lonely Old People’ is the penultimate track on Wings’ fourth studio album Venus And Mars.
I wrote the ‘Treat Her Gently’ bit as it fell into the key of D and once I was in D, I thought, ‘Well, how do I get out of this?’ And so I wrote the second half of the thing. It just fell together. It wasn’t two separate songs put together. They just fell into each other and I wrote it as I was practising the other, almost.
The subject of the song led to Wings performing the theme from British soap opera Crossroads as the album’s closing track.
It is a bit of a British joke that I thought might be too much of a British joke, but I’d still like to put it out. If you don’t get the joke on it, it sounds like a closing theme. Sort of like ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss Diana Ross! and Diana walks off with the orchestra going (sings a triumphant exit song)… But if you see the joke, it comes after ‘Lonely Old People’, nobody asked us to play, they’re wondering what’s going on, spending time, nobody gets involved with lonely old people. One of the big things for lonely old people in England is to watch Crossroads. That was it, just a joke at the end.
Paul McCartney In His Own Words, Paul Gambaccini
In the studio
Wings mostly recorded ‘Treat Her Gently – Lonely Old People’ at Allen Toussaint’s Sea-Saint Recording Studio in New Orleans. The basic track was recorded on 25 January 1975.
The 23-piece orchestra was overdubbed on 10 March at Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles.
Paul and Linda McCartney shared a vocal booth at Wally Heider Recording in LA to record harmony vocals on 12 March, their sixth wedding anniversary.
During a playback at the session studio engineer Alan O’Duffy began harmonising with the recordings. Paul McCartney liked what he heard, and asked O’Duffy to teach the part to Denny Laine, which was then recorded.
The song was completed on 13 March 1975. Paul McCartney added two celeste overdubs, although only one was used in the final mix. He also replaced a piano part recorded in New Orleans. The song was completed with a guitar overdub by Jimmy McCulloch.