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First half of March 1983

Recording "Silly Love Songs"

For Paul McCartney


Master session

Timeline

Album

Some of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Give My Regards To Broad Street (CD version)" Official album.

Steve Lukather, from TOTO band, said about this session:

Soon after the [1982] Grammys, Jeff and I flew to London to begin work on McCartney’s Give My Regards To Broad Street soundtrack album. We felt a little uncomfortable because at the ceremony Toto IV had beaten Paul’s Tug Of War to Album Of The Year. As soon as we met up with him, Paul said to me, ‘You know, the Beatles never won a Grammy.’ Of course, he was fucking with us but succeeded in making me feel both a dick and embarassed for having won. As I found out only later, it also wasn’t true. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band had won Album Of The Year in 1968, as it should have.

Paul’s original idea was to cut the soundtrack record live on the film set. In case that didn’t work out, and in advance of shooting, he had also arranged for us to put down our track at EMI’s studios. We were doing a version of the old Wings tune ‘Silly Love Songs’, but funkier than the original and in part because Paul had also hired Louis Johnson from the Thriller sessions. […]

The filming was done at EMI Elstree Studios on the outskirts of London. […] When we, at last, made it onto the set, all of the instruments and amps were plugged in and ready to go. In spite of how well the date had gone at EMI, I think Paul thought we might put down something else that was interesting and different once the cameras were rolling. Like I said, though, once you have done thirty takes of a track, inevitably the very earliest will prove the best. In total, we spent two weeks working with Paul. […]

Steve Lukather, from his biography, “The Gospel According to Luke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FN6hRf1mK8

Session activities

  1. Silly Love Songs

    Written by Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney

    Recording


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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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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