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March / April 1981 ?

Overdubs for "All Those Years Ago"

For George Harrison

Last updated on March 5, 2022


Location

  • Recording studio: Friar Park Studio, Henley-on-Thames, UK

Timeline

AlbumSome of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "All Those Years Ago / Writings On The Wall" 7" Single

Some of the songs from this session also appear on:

During the recording of the “Tug Of War” album, Paul McCartney wanted George Harrison to add a guitar solo to the song “Wanderlust“. He, his wife Linda, George Martin (producer of the album) and Denny Laine went visiting George at his house, Friar Park, where he had located his personal studio (named FPSHOT – Friar Park Studio, Henley-On-Thames).

Before working on “Wanderlust“, George Harrison asked Paul to record some backing vocals for a track of his, in homage of the late John Lennon. Paul, Linda and Denny obliged.

But in the end, the guitar overdub for “Wanderlust” was never recorded.

This session day happened after Paul was back from Montserrat, and obviously before the release of “All Those Years Ago” as a single on May 22, 1981.

How emotional was it to record “All Those Years Ago” with George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul just a few months after John Lennon’s assassination?

Oh, that was very emotional. I knew George very well too and Ringo. So, it was a very emotional time and it was recorded at George’s house. As I said I knew all the Beatles quite well and although I wasn’t as close to John as they were, he was a pretty good friend of mine. It was good that we did that. We got something out there to the public to see that we were concerned and hurt by what happened.

Denny Laine – From Interview: Denny Laine (solo, Wings, Moody Blues) (hit-channel.com), July 2017
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From Facebook – With love to Georges on St George’s Day – Paul StGeorgesDay #GeorgeHarrison #GeorgeMartin #PaulMcCartney #TBT #ThrowbackThursday
From Club Sandwitch N°23, Winter 1981

Session activities

  1. All Those Years Ago

    Written by George Harrison

    Recording


Staff

Musicians


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.

Shop on Amazon

Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium

We owe a lot to Chip Madinger and Mark Easter for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details!

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.

As the paperback version is out of print, you can buy a PDF version on the authors' website

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Paul McCartney writing

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