A Love For You

Song facts

A Love For You appears on the 2003 “The In-Laws” movie soundtrack.

From Abbeyrd’s Beatles Page (May 5th 2003):

[…] I spoke with Ralph Sall, the Music Supervisor on “The In-Laws,” who gave me the following information about the two previously-unreleased Macca tracks featured in the movie:

Sall was provided multi-tracks for the song, which, while dating back to the early 1971 CBS New York recording sessions for McCartney’s Ram album, had been subject to various overdub attempts by the former Beatle over the years, as has been the fate of many unreleased McCartney titles. “It originally featured Paul and Linda McCartney, drummer Denny Seiwell and guitarist Hugh McCracken, who recorded the basic track,” explains Sall, noting that it was this version which had been previously bootlegged. “He did some more recording at one of the last-ever Wings sessions in January 1981, with guitarist Laurence Juber and drummer Steve Holly, who added percussion. It’s probably one of the only McCartney songs that has that many Wings members on it.”

McCartney did additional work to the track in 1986, says Sall, but then, for the new soundtrack release, came to Los Angeles in late February of this year to add some additional guitar at Henson Recording Studios. The song was then mixed by Sall and David Kahne, who produced McCartney’s Driving Rain album two years ago.
In addition to “A Love For You” and “I’m Carrying” (from 1978’s London Town), the soundtrack opens with a previously-unreleased version of “Live and Let Die” (itself the title track for the 1973 James Bond classic). “The version used here dates from the sessions for a never-aired television special,” says Sall. [That special was likely “One Hand Clapping,” filmed and recorded at Abbey Road studios in August 1974.] The recording features drummer Geoff Britton, who had only a brief tenure with Wings. The track was remixed by Sall himself for inclusion in the soundtrack. […]

From Abbeyrd’s Beatles Page (May 27th 2003 review of “The In-Laws” soundtrack):

[…] The disc open with “A Love For You”, a track I’ve had a fondness for since I’d heard the previously “final” mix of it on Pegboy’s 1996 “Cold Cuts” bootleg. I’ve heard every previous mix of it since then, and ultimately, the “In-Laws” version is generally the best. First off, the instrumental intro has been changed, not in duration but content, with harmonies preceding the first verse. Certain (high) lead guitar parts following the chorus have been newly replaced/recorded, and towards the end of the choruses, Paul has added new, double-tracked (and a little harmony) vocals, no doubt to make up for his slight mumbling on the original “Ram”-session vocals. And as with the much-bootlegged instrumental version, this new mix does not fade out. I’m still getting used to the new intro, but this version is terrific, and it’s nice to have the general public hearing this song at last (and in a movie, no less). […]

Basic track recorded on October 26, 1970 during the Ram sessions, in the Columbia Studios, New York, with overdubs added in March 1971 in the Sound Recording Studio, in Los Angeles. The track was prepared by Paul and Eirik Wilhelm Wangberg (aka ‘Erik the Norwegian’) to be released on a single (with ‘Get On The Right Thing’ as the a-side and ‘Great Cock and Seagull Race’ as third song) later that year, but then Wings was formed and the single never materialized. ‘A Love For You’ wasn’t on the 1978 version of Cold Cuts, but opened the 1980 version. A February 2002 remix by Ralph Sall and David Khane was officially released in 2003 on The In-Laws soundtrack album, while the 1986 remix by John Kelly was released in 2012 as one of the bonus tracks on the Archive Collection of Ram. As Paul kept adding overdubs over the years, every version of it is a bit different. This is the edited remix from January 1981.

Last updated on April 22, 2016

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