Recording "Heaven On A Sunday"

“Heaven On A Sunday” was the last song recorded for “Flaming Pie”, during the last round of sessions with Jeff Lynne. It was recorded with a little help from James, Paul McCartney’s son. From Club Sandwich n°82, Summer 1997:

[…] The song was recorded on the McCartneys’ return to England, and the middle section was endowed with a bluesy feel on the spur of the moment. The guitar solos are shared by Paul and his 19-year-old son James, making his first disc appearance with the instrument. “I played the simpler stuff and left the Young Turk to play the hot electric stuff,” says Paul. James McCartney’s talent on the guitar is the result of some ten years’ practice and home-development while listening to the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, rather than formal lessons. When his father suggested these, James’s response, “Well you didn’t, Dad”, echoed down the decades from 1950s Liverpool. […]

Mark Lewisohn, in Club Sandwich n°82, Summer 1997

I had a song that needed a little solo in the middle of it. So I said, “Look, if I play a bit of acoustic guitar maybe you could answer it with electric”. And we had a great little session. It was lovely. We read each other as if we’d been in a band twenty years.

Paul McCartney, from Flaming Pie Archive Collection book, 2020

He wasn’t phased at all. He just went in there and did it.

Steve Miller, from Flaming Pie Archive Collection book, 2020

Linda McCartney also provided backing vocals on the track.

Session activities

1. Heaven On A Sunday

   Written by Paul McCartney

   Recording

Staff

Production staff

Going further

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