I was 13 in 1973 and, like most people at that age, I had just really discovered pop music. I watched Top of The Pops religiously and was treated to a world of glam and glitter. I wasn’t cool enough, or old enough, to understand Pink Floyd or Jimmy Hendrix, I just loved good old pop songs.
And there were many great pop songs in those days: Slade, The Sweet, Mud, Hot Chocolate, Suzie Quatro, and the like, bashing out countless three-minute hits. Deep and meaningful songs; Daytona Demon, Cum on Feel the Noise, Ballroom Blitz and Tiger Feet…great fun.
I knew about The Beatles, The Who and The Stones, of course, and despite being very young when they ruled the world; I did have an appreciation of their mark on music. And there was a sense that I had missed some great musical boat that sailed by in the 60’s, whilst I was enjoying playing with a twig and a dead snail.
So, when the time came for me to buy my first Album (LP, in those days), Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Wings seemed the obvious choice. It was almost like buying a Beatles record!
I had also heard the title track on someone’s portable tape recorder (a revolutionary invention at the time) and it just grabbed me.
The Big Purchase (& Commitment)
So off I went to Murray’s record shop in Stillorgan, pocket money in hand, unaware that I was about to become a huge McCartney fan, which at the time wasn’t that cool either. You were meant to prefer John Lennon, more street cred.
Back at home, on our (let’s be honest) crappy home stereo, (a three-in-one job with integrated turn-table, tuner and tape machine) I listened to B.O.T.R. over and over again. I listened until I knew all the songs backwards. Band on The Run, Jet, Mamunia, Bluebird etc. and still a great favourite of mine, “Picasso’s Last Words”.
I looked at the clever “on the run” photo on the front and worked out who all the celebrates were, I gazed at the pretend fake passports on the back cover.
I was committed to, and invested in, that Band on the Run album, because that’s what you had to do with albums; get to know them. Not like nowadays when everything is just a playlist. Albums had nuances, slow songs, fast songs, songs that were slow burners. An album was like a new girlfriend, you had to really listen to her, assuming that you could get a new girlfriend, of course, which is a topic for another day.
The Band on the Run album had one thing that really hooked me, excuse the pun, something that is a hallmark of Mr. McCartney and the thing that still grabs me in music today. It had great melodies. I have heard Macca being interviewed saying that he just regards music as “little tunes” and he is so right. On this album everything was hummable.
Band on the Run Challenge: Listen to Mrs Vandebilt without joining in the Ho-Hey-Ho bit….impossible!
Of course, Band on the Run was critically acclaimed, won loads of awards and was maybe the only truly great album that old Paul made post Beatles, but that’s not why I love it. I love it because it became part of my life and transported me to a great fun place.
I was a Band on the Run myself in 1973/4, isn’t everyone at 13/14?
Bizarre Memory Time
In terms of memories Band on The Run will always remind me of Colditz Castle! Yes, the famous Nazi Prisoner of War Camp from World War II.
In 1973/4 my teenage friends and I were obsessed with Colditz as there was a hit TV series on the telly and, even more importantly, a new board-game.
“Escape From Colditz” was the a craze for us, a game where you could plot your escape from the dreaded castle using dice and all other sorts of escape equipment, like wire cutters and rope!
We played “Escape From Colditz” in our various houses drinking MiWadi Orange with Band on the Run as the musical background, surely something Wings never expected. Maybe there is a deep-lying mental connection between a Prisoner-of-War Castle and a Band on the Run?
And Now
I still stick Band on The Run on my CD player every so often and it is still a great album. Everything has changed so much since those distant days growing up on Dublin’s South Side. But one thing hasn’t changed, a great little tune is still a great little tune.
I wonder about the way music jars our memory of things so long ago and captures the essence of an era in our lives. I don’t understand how certain memories (Albums and Board-Games) become entwined like two peas in a pod (Not an iPod, take note).
I love the timeless journey that music brings me on and the places it takes me to. We don’t need music to survive but maybe we need it to help us feel something deep in our hearts….JOY! Yes, we can get joy in other places too but music is right up there with the best of them.
Sing on, Mr. McCartney Sing On. “Mamunia, Mamunia, Mamunia, Oh, Oh, Oh….”
Footnote:
I have just remembered that Band on the Run was actually the second album I bought. The first was “Sladest” by Slade. God, I had such refined taste back then.
Do you have a Band on the Run Memory?
Can you name all the people on the front cover?
Did you ever play “Escape From Colditz” ?
