- Album This song officially appears on the Venus and Mars Official album.
Related sessions
This song has been recorded during the following studio sessions
Venus And Mars sessions at Wally Heider Studios
February - March 24th, 1975
String overdubs for Venus And Mars album
Mar 10, 1975
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Song facts
Why did you record the ‘Crossroads’ theme?
It’s a joke. It’s after ‘Lonely Old People’, you see, they’re kind of sitting there in the park saying ‘Nobody asked me to play?’ It’s a kind of poignant moment, and then there’s a little break and then ‘Crossroads’ starts up, and that’s very… it’s lonely old people, y’know, it’s kind of just the kind of thing that lonely old people watch. It could just as easily have been ‘Coronation Street’, but we knew the chords to ‘Crossroads’. No, I just thought that it would be just nice to do it. The thing is that for people who haven’t heard it and don’t know the whole ‘Crossroads’ thing, like Americans, like a fellow who was helping me arrange this stuff, he just thought it was just a lovely tune. He thought I’d written it. He just thought it was a beautiful little tune, and it is. I quite like it as tune, y’know, the ‘Crossroads’ thing. It fitted. Originally it was just a joke, but as it recorded, it ended up as less of a joke.
And I just wanted to see Tony Hatch after he realised that we’d recorded one of his numbers on our new album. I want to tell him.
Paul McCartney – Interview with New Musical Express, July 26, 1975
Last updated on July 30, 2022
Officially appears on
Official album • Released in 1975
1:16 • Studio version • A
- Paul McCartney :
- Bass, Producer, Strings arrangement
- Linda McCartney :
- Organ
- Denny Laine :
- Acoustic guitar
- Jimmy McCulloch :
- Lead guitar
- Joe English :
- Drums
- Sid Sharp Strings :
- Bass, Celli, Violas, Violins
- Gayle Levant :
- Harp
- Tony Dorsey :
- Strings arrangement
- Alan O'Duffy :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Biff Dawes :
- Assistant mixing engineer
- Session Recording:
- Jan 31, 1975
- Studio :
- Sea-Saint Recording Studio, New Orleans, USA
- Session Overdubs:
- Mar 10, 1975
- Studio :
- Sunset Sound Recorders Studio, Los Angeles, USA
- Session Overdubs:
- February 1975
- Studio :
- Wally Heider Studios, Los Angeles, USA
- Session Mixing:
- Mar 27, 1975
- Studio :
- Wally Heider Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Official album • Released in 1993
1:16 • Studio version • A1993 • 1993 remaster
- Paul McCartney :
- Bass, Producer, Strings arrangement
- Linda McCartney :
- Organ
- Denny Laine :
- Acoustic guitar
- Jimmy McCulloch :
- Lead guitar
- Joe English :
- Drums
- Sid Sharp Strings :
- Bass, Celli, Violas, Violins
- Gayle Levant :
- Harp
- Tony Dorsey :
- Strings arrangement
- Alan O'Duffy :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Biff Dawes :
- Assistant mixing engineer
- Peter Mew :
- Remastering
- Session Recording:
- Jan 31, 1975
- Studio :
- Sea-Saint Recording Studio, New Orleans, USA
- Session Overdubs:
- Mar 10, 1975
- Studio :
- Sunset Sound Recorders Studio, Los Angeles, USA
- Session Overdubs:
- February 1975
- Studio :
- Wally Heider Studios, Los Angeles, USA
- Session Mixing:
- Mar 27, 1975
- Studio :
- Wally Heider Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Venus And Mars - Archive Collection
Official album • Released in 2014
1:16 • Studio version • A2014
- Paul McCartney :
- Bass, Producer, Strings arrangement
- Linda McCartney :
- Organ
- Denny Laine :
- Acoustic guitar
- Jimmy McCulloch :
- Lead guitar
- Joe English :
- Drums
- Sid Sharp Strings :
- Bass, Celli, Violas, Violins
- Gayle Levant :
- Harp
- Tony Dorsey :
- Strings arrangement
- Alan O'Duffy :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Biff Dawes :
- Assistant mixing engineer
- Session Recording:
- Jan 31, 1975
- Studio :
- Sea-Saint Recording Studio, New Orleans, USA
- Session Overdubs:
- Mar 10, 1975
- Studio :
- Sunset Sound Recorders Studio, Los Angeles, USA
- Session Overdubs:
- February 1975
- Studio :
- Wally Heider Studios, Los Angeles, USA
- Session Mixing:
- Mar 27, 1975
- Studio :
- Wally Heider Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Venus And Mars (Limited Red & Yellow LP)
Official album • Released in 2017
1:16 • Studio version • A2014
- Paul McCartney :
- Bass, Producer, Strings arrangement
- Linda McCartney :
- Organ
- Denny Laine :
- Acoustic guitar
- Jimmy McCulloch :
- Lead guitar
- Joe English :
- Drums
- Sid Sharp Strings :
- Bass, Celli, Violas, Violins
- Gayle Levant :
- Harp
- Tony Dorsey :
- Strings arrangement
- Alan O'Duffy :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Biff Dawes :
- Assistant mixing engineer
- Session Recording:
- Jan 31, 1975
- Studio :
- Sea-Saint Recording Studio, New Orleans, USA
- Session Overdubs:
- Mar 10, 1975
- Studio :
- Sunset Sound Recorders Studio, Los Angeles, USA
- Session Overdubs:
- February 1975
- Studio :
- Wally Heider Studios, Los Angeles, USA
- Session Mixing:
- Mar 27, 1975
- Studio :
- Wally Heider Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Bootlegs
Live performances
Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.
Going further
Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989
With 25 albums of pop music, 5 of classical – a total of around 500 songs – released over the course of more than half a century, Paul McCartney's career, on his own and with Wings, boasts an incredible catalogue that's always striving to free itself from the shadow of The Beatles. The stories behind the songs, demos and studio recordings, unreleased tracks, recording dates, musicians, live performances and tours, covers, events: Music Is Ideas Volume 1 traces McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1970 to 1989 in the form of 346 song sheets, filled with details of the recordings and stories behind the sessions. Accompanied by photos, and drawing on interviews and contemporary reviews, this reference book draws the portrait of a musical craftsman who has elevated popular song to an art-form.
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