"Band On The Run" sessions #2

Even after Grapefruit broke up, both Pete and Geoff [Swettenham] had encounters that brought back vivid memories of the old days. Pete was working as a tape operator at AIR Studios when Paul came there to work on ‘Band on the Run’. When Paul arrived on his first day, he immediately recognised Peter and said Hello.

On the last day of recording, Paul had done the backing track of  ‘1985’ but hadn’t written the lyrics. “Paul wrote them over breakfast” says Pete, “which is probably why they are so bad!”

Incidentally, Pete remembers that Paul didn’t credit the studios on the LP sleeve because of an argument over recording schedules, even though he did a lot of work there.

From A Meeting with Half of ‘Grapefruit’. – Beatles in London

George Martin was on vacation, on holiday, and Paul is not one to wait for anything. If he wants something done, it’s got to be done now. So I was put under that kind of pressure.

He played his cassette player — he played just snippets of where he wanted trumpets, and another snippet where he wanted violins. And he wouldn’t give me the whole song, because he was terrified of me bootlegging the album. I got his cassette with me, you know, telling me what he wants, where he wants it. I’ve since lost that cassette, so don’t ask me to find it.

I went home and started writing and writing and writing. I stayed up for almost the entire three days before I had to be there on Wednesday morning. This was Sunday afternoon—I went home and started writing. Monday, Tuesday, I wrote all day long. It was a big thing.

I showed up Wednesday morning absolutely shattered, bags on my bags under my eyes. But it was just a great experience to work with the man.

We had it mapped out where we started with the big band, with the big orchestra. So we did that thing at the end of the intro that Linda McCartney is doing [singing] that bit. The part that comes in [singing] that’s the first time you hear the orchestra.

And there was no count-in. It was just guess every time. I would raise my baton and bring them in, and it might be too late. The second time it was too early—they came in too early. The next time it was too late, because there was no click. No click track. Finally, I don’t know how we got it—take seven. We finally got the band to come in together, and it sounds perfect. And luckily, McCartney is a perfectionist. He wouldn’t have had it any other way. He wouldn’t have had it sloppy at all.

Tony Visconti – About writing the orchestra part for “Band On The Run” – From Q104.3 FM on Facebook, October 2025

Session activities

1. Mamunia

   Written by Paul McCartney, Linda Eastman / McCartney

   Recording • Overdubs

   AlbumOfficially released on Band On The Run (UK version)

2. Helen Wheels

   Written by Paul McCartney, Linda Eastman / McCartney

   Recording • Overdubs

   AlbumOfficially released on Band On The Run (UK version)

3. Band On The Run

   Written by Paul McCartney, Linda Eastman / McCartney

   Recording • Overdubs

   AlbumOfficially released on Band On The Run (UK version)

4. Bluebird

   Written by Paul McCartney, Linda Eastman / McCartney

   Recording • Overdubs

   AlbumOfficially released on Band On The Run (UK version)

5. Mrs. Vandebilt

   Written by Paul McCartney, Linda Eastman / McCartney

   Recording • Overdubs

   AlbumOfficially released on Band On The Run (UK version)

6. Let Me Roll It

   Written by Paul McCartney, Linda Eastman / McCartney

   Recording • Overdubs

   AlbumOfficially released on Band On The Run (UK version)

7. Picasso's Last Words (Drink To Me)

   Written by Paul McCartney, Linda Eastman / McCartney

   Recording • Overdubs

   AlbumOfficially released on Band On The Run (UK version)

8. Jet

   Written by Paul McCartney, Linda Eastman / McCartney

   Recording

   AlbumOfficially released on Band On The Run (UK version)

9. No Words

   Written by Paul McCartney, Denny Laine

   Recording

   AlbumOfficially released on Band On The Run (UK version)

10. Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five

    Written by Paul McCartney, Linda Eastman / McCartney

    Recording

    AlbumOfficially released on Band On The Run (UK version)

11. Oriental Nightfish

    Written by Linda Eastman / McCartney

    Recording

    AlbumOfficially released on Wide Prairie

Going further

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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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The McCartney Legacy: Volume 1: 1969 – 73

In this first of a groundbreaking multivolume set, THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1: 1969-73 captures the life of Paul McCartney in the years immediately following the dissolution of the Beatles, a period in which McCartney recreated himself as both a man and a musician. Informed by hundreds of interviews, extensive ground up research, and thousands of never-before-seen documents THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1 is an in depth, revealing exploration of McCartney’s creative and personal lives beyond the Beatles.

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Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium

Eight Arms To Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium is the ultimate look at the careers of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr beyond the Beatles. Every aspect of their professional careers as solo artists is explored, from recording sessions, record releases and tours, to television, film and music videos, including everything in between. From their early film soundtrack work to the officially released retrospectives, all solo efforts by the four men are exhaustively examined.

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