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Released in 1978

Backwards Traveller

Written by Paul McCartney

Last updated on February 4, 2020


Album This song officially appears on the London Town Official album.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1978

Master album

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

From Wikipedia:

“Backwards Traveller”/”Cuff Link” is a medley of two short songs written by Paul McCartney that was first released on Wings’ 1978 album London Town. The medley was also released as the B-side of Wings’ No. 1 single “With a Little Luck“. Both “Backwards Traveller” and “Cuff Link” were recorded in October 1977 and completed in January 1978. By this point in the London Town recording sessions, guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Joe English had left the band, so the songs were recorded by only McCartney, Linda McCartney and Denny Laine.

Backwards Traveller

“Backwards Traveller” is only a little more than a minute long. It is a “mid-tempo rocker” in the key of C major. The song consists of a verse followed by two repetitions of the refrain. The lyrics are about the singer going back in time while “sailing songs” and “wailing on the moon.” Paul McCartney plays drums, bass guitar, acoustic guitar and keyboards. According to music professor Vincent Benitez, the organ arrangement with its repeating chords gives the song a “retrospective, 1960s-style sound”.

Rolling Stone Magazine critic Janet Maslin praises the beginning of “Backwards Traveller” as “brilliant, jolting hard-rock” but laments that it ends quickly as if no one could be bothered to complete it. Author Howard Sounes also complains that the song sounds “half-finished”. Chip Madinger and Mark Easter likewise believe that the song had more potential than its ultimate fate as the prelude to “Cuff Link”. Author John Blaney describes “Backwards Traveller” as “a typical McCartney pot-boiler”. Music critic Tom Waseleski describes it as “a swinging little rocker.”

A demo version of “Backwards Traveler” featuring drums, drum machine, keyboard and vocals has been released on several bootleg albums. Neil Hamburger covered “Backwards Traveler” on his 2019 Drag City album Still Dwelling, in an ambitious version with a more expansive arrangement by Erik Paparozzi, current bass player in Denny Laine’s band.

Cuff Link

“Cuff Link” is an instrumental in the key of D minor. Its original title was “Off the Cuff Link”. Perhaps the most interesting feature of “Cuff Link” is the use of a Moog synthesizer to sound like a sitar. Blaney describes the song as “uninspired”. Benitez considers it “unimaginative”. But author Mark Bowen regards it as a predecessor to McCartney’s experiments with electro-pop on the 1980 album McCartney II. Music journalist Ian Peel also notes its electronic pop elements, which are also present in parts of “With a Little Luck”. In 2013 Classic Rock Review described it as a “synth-driven funk instrumental” which “may have sounded hip in 1978 but sounds dated today.”

References

External links


Lyrics

Hey, did you know that I'm

Always going back in time

Rhyming slang, auld lang syne my dears

Through the years


I am the backwards traveller

Ancient wool unraveller

Sailing songs, wailing on the moon


And we were sailing songs, wailing on the moon

Wailing on the moon

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

  • MoMac's Hidden Tracks Vol.10

    Unofficial album

    3:49 • Studio version

  • London Town Roughs And Demos

    Unofficial album • Released in 1991

    3:39 • Studio version

  • Water Wings

    Unofficial album • Released in 1999

    1:15 • Rough mix • From Stereo 1978 Test Pressing Acetate - With Rough Different Mix

  • Water Wings

    Unofficial album • Released in 1999

    3:41 • Demo • Demo recordings in Rude Studio - Campbeltown, Scotland.

  • Water Wings

    Unofficial album • Released in 1999

    3:53 • Demo • Demo recordings in Rude Studio - Campbeltown, Scotland.

See all bootlegs containing “Backwards Traveller

Live performances

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.


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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Paul McCartney writing

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