Recording "Rainclouds"

About

Those two days of recording sessions were held just after the death of John Lennon, and spent working on “Rainclouds“, which would become the B-Side of the “Ebony And Ivory” single. Obviously, given the context, the sessions were quite unproductive, with the exception of the contribution of Paddy Moloney, from the traditional Irish band, the Chieftains, on the uilleann pipes.

The day that John was killed will always stay with me. We were working in London and as soon as I heard the news that morning I rang Paul and asked him if he wanted to stay at home. Of course, he wanted to get away, and he came into the studio and we talked about John endlessly. It was so difficult to believe that our friend had been assassinated by a deranged fan.

George Martin, quoted in the Tug Of War Archive Collection, 2015

From The Chieftains: The Authorised Biography, by John Glatt:

In December 1980 Paul McCartney telephoned Paddy Moloney to ask him to lay down a track of uilleann pipes for a new song called Rainclouds […]. Moloney found himself in a quandary as he and Rita were due to fly out to Bombay for the wedding of his old friend Garech Browne at the same time as the session. […] To celebrate, Moloney had composed a special tune on his tin whistle which he planned to play at the ceremony as a wedding present. Although he was loath to let Garech down, Moloney also realized the vital long-term career benefits of a second collaboration with McCartney.

‘Rita and I both wanted to go to Garech’s wedding, which I understand was incredible,‘ says Moloney. ‘But at that stage of my career I thought that doing another track with McCartney would be very important. […]

From The Chieftains: The Authorised Biography, by John Glatt:

I was listening to the BBC World Service and had heard on the news about John Lennon at 5am at home in Dublin. I was coming over to London to record the uilleann pipes with George Martin and Paul. So I called early in the morning to ask whether I should still come over or not. It was such a shocker. The studio said come on over, so I got on a plane to London.

[…] I got there, about 1 or 2pm to the studio near Oxford Circus. There were only four of five people there. Paul and me talked a bit. He said he was besieged at home – that it was a relief to get to the studio, to get away from home because there were so many people outside.

There were a lot of tears there in the studio. Paul didn’t say too much about what had happened, but that day will never be forgotten. I hadn’t heard the track ‘Rainclouds’ before I got to the studio; I came up with a couple of ideas, and Paul said ‘Go on, play that.’ So I played what would be the bridge of the song. Then Paul asked, did I want to come down to his house, after the session? Did I want to stay over? There were a lot of tears going on. Linda was there; she was very upset.

We talked about stuff, but the shocking event still hadn’t got to Paul at that point, in my opinion. He talked to me about some of the earlier Chieftains music. We had been together since 1962. […]

I felt very emotional while I was playing ‘Rainclouds’, putting more into it than I usually did. A little lift from heaven, perhaps. […]

Paddy Moloney, quoted in the Tug Of War Archive Collection, 2015

From The Chieftains: The Authorised Biography, by John Glatt:

‘We just sat around and talked about how sad and terrible John’s death was, and then put down the 16 bars required for the middle of the song, with George in control,’ said Moloney. ‘Then Paul came In and he was in an awful state. He said that the press had been outside his house since 5:00 a.m. and that he’d been pestered so much at home that he just had to get away. He managed to lose the reporters and sneaked into the studios up the back stairs.

‘We just sat around talking about John. I remember Linda came In at one point and she had been crying. It was very very emotional. By this time a lot of musicians and friends of Paul had arrived In the studio. Finally about two o’clock in the afternoon Paul said, ‘Look, Paddy, do you want to come out to the house and stay?” But I said, “No I’ll leave you to it.” I knew he was very upset. Afterwards a lot of people said they thought it was unusual that Paul had gone into the studio after John’s death. But I thought, “What else would he do?“

From Wikipedia:

The uilleann pipes (/ˈɪlən, ˈɪljən/; Irish: [ˈɪl̠ʲən̪ˠ]) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. […] The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a small set of bellows strapped around the waist and the right arm (in the case of a right-handed player; in the case of a left-handed player the location and orientation of all components are reversed). The bellows not only relieve the player from the effort needed to blow into a bag to maintain pressure, they also allow relatively dry air to power the reeds, reducing the adverse effects of moisture on tuning and longevity. Some pipers can converse or sing while playing. […] The uilleann pipes have a different harmonic structure, sounding sweeter and quieter than many other bagpipes, such as the Great Irish warpipes, Great Highland bagpipes or the Italian zampognas. The uilleann pipes are often played indoors, and are almost always played sitting down.

When leaving the studio, McCartney was asked by reporters for his reaction. From Wikipedia:

He responded, “Drag, isn’t it?”. When publicised, the response was widely criticised, and even McCartney himself regretted the seemingly callous remark. McCartney later said that he had intended no disrespect and simply was unable to articulate his feelings, given the shock and sadness he felt over Lennon’s murder.

After those two days, Paul McCartney didn’t record anything else until the New Year.

Last updated on May 12, 2020

Songs recorded

Staff

Musicians

Paddy Moloney:

uilleann pipes

Production staff

George Martin:

Producer

Geoff Emerick:

Engineer

Jon Jacobs:

Assistant engineer