Recording "Wild Life", "Tomorrow", "Mumbo"

Monday, July 26, 1971 • For Wings

Album Songs recorded during this session officially appear on the Wild Life LP.
Studio:
EMI Studios, Abbey Road

Songs recorded


1.

Mumbo

Written by Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney

Recording


2.


3.

Staff

Production staff

Tony Clark:
Engineer
Alan Parsons:
Engineer assistant

About

This was the third day of recording the basic tracks of Wings’ first album, “Wild Life“, and time was spent recording “Mumbo“, “Wild Life” and “Tomorrow“.

Mumbo” was improvised in the studio.

There was a period of rehearsal of this jam. Because there was no actual producer in the box, I would spend as much time as I could in the studio, making sure my mics were in the right place and everyone was comfortable, that there was proper visual contact. Then I returned upstairs for listening. They were jamming, it was building up and, for whatever reason, whether I looked at Paul or Paul looked at me, you felt it was happening. I turned to Alan [Parsons]; ‘Quick, record!’ Parsons hit the button and that’s what you get. That’s the take.

Tony Clark – From Wild Life – Archive Collection“, 2018

We recorded that album very quickly. It was almost like a bootleg, which may be a shame and perhaps some of the songs aren’t as good as they might be. We did Mumbo on the tour and somebody said after we’d done it for a bit that it made the album version seem obsolete. On the album it wasn’t even the first take, we were playing it through and Paul shouted to the others ‘it’s in F’ and in fact on the beginning you can hear him shout ‘take it Tony’ to the engineer.

Linda McCartney – From interview with Disc Magazine, December 1972

At the beginning of the cut, you can hear me say, ‘Take it, Tony.’ We had been going for five minutes and then I suddenly realised that he wasn’t recording. So I shouted, ‘Take it, Tony,’ and he just got it in then.

Paul McCartney – From “The Beatles: Off The Record 2 – The Dream is Over: Dream Is Over Vol 2” by Keith Badman

Last updated on May 5, 2022

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