Album This song officially appears on the Off The Ground Official album.
Timeline This song was officially released in 1993
This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:
September - October 1992
July 1993
Mar 01, 1993 • From Club Sandwich
If I Fell - Paul McCartney offers a candid appraisal of his post-Beatles career
October 1997 • From Guitar World
From Wikipedia:
“Biker Like an Icon” is a song by Paul McCartney from his 1993 album Off the Ground. It was released as 7″ and CD singles. Commenting this song, Paul McCartney stated that the line “Biker like an icon” came from a conversation about photo cameras with his wife Linda McCartney. The phrase “I like a Leica” became “I like a Nikon” and the lyrics were built around that line with a story of a girl loving a biker like an icon.
The music video for the song first aired on MTV’s First Look television show. The clip was repeated the following day.
From the “New World Tour” tour book:
PAUL: “Linda was talking about cameras, and she said, I Jike a Leica, which became I like a Nikon. I started messing with that and it became a biker who had a girl who loved him like an icon – Biker Like An Icon. I like confusing titles. I remember when John and me would always look at the new titles in the American charts and get intrigued by things like Quarter To Three by US Bonds — what could that be about? It was very important to us to get a title that had that buzz. Think of our titles after, I dunno, I Wanna Hold Your Hand – Hard Day’s Night, Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane, Fixing A Hole.
ROBBIE McINTOSH: Biker Like An Icon was the first thing we recorded after Paul first played us the songs. All we were doing was getting sounds. We took about 15 minutes to learn the shape of it, then we just did it.
HAMISH STUART: A few weeks later we listened back to it, looked at one another and thought, Are we going to spend a day trying to better this? No Point. The magic is there.
“Biker Like an Icon” was the first song recorded for the “Off The Ground” album. As Paul explained in a Club Sandwich interview, this was a very spontaneous recording:
‘Biker Like An Icon’ is a first take and there are a couple of others too [on the album]. [Biker Like An Icon is] such a simple little song that you can ruin it if you go over it 50 times. Everyone understood how it went, and Robbie must have had some idea what he was going to do on slide guitar because he just delivered a solo – I didn’t tell him when to do it, he just felt it.
This, I think, is the secret of the album. With Flowers In The Dirt I experimented with computers, and working with producers who take a long time over everything. There are some interesting aspects to working like that but not enough to excite me. That’s what happened with something like ‘Biker’ – we just did it and got lucky. And the more you listen to the album the more you get to feel that we were enjoying ourselves.
Paul McCartney
The music video for “Biker Like An Icon” was directed by Richard Heslop, who previously directed the video for “Deliverance“.
A short road movie shot on the road from L.A to Las Vagas in 1993 for Paul McCartneys song ” Biker like an icon”. Cameramen Seamus McGarvey and Richard Heslop . Staring Tamzin Haughton and Mike Leigh.. Shot on 16mm black and white film stock. Produced by Polly Tapson . Directed by Richard Heslop . Thank you Paul it was a dream Job.
Richard Heslop
There was a girl who loved a biker
She used to follow him across America
But the biker didn't like her.
She didn't care, she still persisted
Though her brother said she was twisted
And the family said they wouldn't miss her
Anyway.
She loved the biker like an icon
Gazing at his picture everyday.
She loved the biker like an icon
Slowly watching precious water drip away.
She did her best to fix a meeting
She pulled it off one night in Hollywood
When he met her he couldn't let her get away.
He didn't ask for her permission
He took advantage of her position
But he was always her ambition
Anyway.
She loved her biker like an icon
Gazing at his picture everyday.
She loved her biker like an icon
Slowly watching precious water drip away.
The family tried so hard to find her
They showed her picture across America.
But no trace of her sweet face
Was ever found.
She loved her biker like an icon
Gazing at his picture everyday.
She loved her biker like an icon
Slowly watching precious water drip away.
Off the Ground - The Complete Works
Official album • Released in 1993
3:26 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Acoustic guitar, Backing vocals, Percussion, Producer, Vocals Linda Eastman / McCartney : Keyboards Robbie McIntosh : Slide guitar Hamish Stuart : Backing vocals, Bass Paul Wickens : Keyboards, Piano Blair Cunningham : Drums Julian Mendelsohn : Producer Bob Kraushaar : Recording engineer
Session Recording: Nov 25, 1991 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Session Mixing: September - October 1992 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • From the books "Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs" • Buy Volume 1 (1970-1989) and Volume 2 (1990-2012) on Amazon
EP • Released in 1993
3:24 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Acoustic guitar, Backing vocals, Percussion, Producer, Vocals Linda Eastman / McCartney : Keyboards Robbie McIntosh : Slide guitar Hamish Stuart : Backing vocals, Bass Paul Wickens : Keyboards, Piano Blair Cunningham : Drums Julian Mendelsohn : Producer Bob Kraushaar : Recording engineer
Session Recording: Nov 25, 1991 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Session Mixing: September - October 1992 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • From the books "Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs" • Buy Volume 1 (1970-1989) and Volume 2 (1990-2012) on Amazon
EP • Released in 1993
3:40 • Live • L1
Performed by : Paul McCartney • Linda Eastman / McCartney • Robbie McIntosh • Hamish Stuart • Paul Wickens • Blair Cunningham Paul McCartney : Producer Geoff Emerick : Engineering, Mixing engineer Julian Mendelsohn : Recording engineer Bob Kraushaar : Recording engineer
Concert From the concert in Boulder, USA on May 26, 1993
CD Single • Released in 1993
3:24 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Acoustic guitar, Backing vocals, Percussion, Producer, Vocals Linda Eastman / McCartney : Keyboards Robbie McIntosh : Slide guitar Hamish Stuart : Backing vocals, Bass Paul Wickens : Keyboards, Piano Blair Cunningham : Drums Julian Mendelsohn : Producer Bob Kraushaar : Recording engineer
Session Recording: Nov 25, 1991 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Session Mixing: September - October 1992 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • From the books "Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs" • Buy Volume 1 (1970-1989) and Volume 2 (1990-2012) on Amazon
CD Single • Released in 1993
3:40 • Live • L1
Performed by : Paul McCartney • Linda Eastman / McCartney • Robbie McIntosh • Hamish Stuart • Paul Wickens • Blair Cunningham Paul McCartney : Producer Geoff Emerick : Engineering, Mixing engineer Julian Mendelsohn : Recording engineer Bob Kraushaar : Recording engineer
Concert From the concert in Boulder, USA on May 26, 1993
EP • Released in 1993
3:24 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Acoustic guitar, Backing vocals, Percussion, Producer, Vocals Linda Eastman / McCartney : Keyboards Robbie McIntosh : Slide guitar Hamish Stuart : Backing vocals, Bass Paul Wickens : Keyboards, Piano Blair Cunningham : Drums Julian Mendelsohn : Producer Bob Kraushaar : Recording engineer
Session Recording: Nov 25, 1991 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Session Mixing: September - October 1992 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • From the books "Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs" • Buy Volume 1 (1970-1989) and Volume 2 (1990-2012) on Amazon
Official album • Released in 1993
3:26 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Acoustic guitar, Backing vocals, Percussion, Producer, Vocals Linda Eastman / McCartney : Keyboards Robbie McIntosh : Slide guitar Hamish Stuart : Backing vocals, Bass Paul Wickens : Keyboards, Piano Blair Cunningham : Drums Julian Mendelsohn : Producer Bob Kraushaar : Recording engineer
Session Recording: Nov 25, 1991 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Session Mixing: September - October 1992 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • From the books "Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs" • Buy Volume 1 (1970-1989) and Volume 2 (1990-2012) on Amazon
7" Single • Released in 1993
3:24 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Acoustic guitar, Backing vocals, Percussion, Producer, Vocals Linda Eastman / McCartney : Keyboards Robbie McIntosh : Slide guitar Hamish Stuart : Backing vocals, Bass Paul Wickens : Keyboards, Piano Blair Cunningham : Drums Julian Mendelsohn : Producer Bob Kraushaar : Recording engineer
Session Recording: Nov 25, 1991 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Session Mixing: September - October 1992 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • From the books "Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs" • Buy Volume 1 (1970-1989) and Volume 2 (1990-2012) on Amazon
Official live • Released in 1993
3:40 • Live • L1
Performed by : Paul McCartney • Linda Eastman / McCartney • Robbie McIntosh • Hamish Stuart • Paul Wickens • Blair Cunningham Paul McCartney : Producer Geoff Emerick : Engineering, Mixing engineer Julian Mendelsohn : Recording engineer Bob Kraushaar : Recording engineer
Concert From the concert in Boulder, USA on May 26, 1993
Session Recording: July 1993 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Official album • Released in 2005
3:24 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Acoustic guitar, Backing vocals, Percussion, Producer, Vocals Linda Eastman / McCartney : Keyboards Robbie McIntosh : Slide guitar Hamish Stuart : Backing vocals, Bass Paul Wickens : Keyboards, Piano Blair Cunningham : Drums Julian Mendelsohn : Producer Bob Kraushaar : Recording engineer
Session Recording: Nov 25, 1991 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Session Mixing: September - October 1992 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • From the books "Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs" • Buy Volume 1 (1970-1989) and Volume 2 (1990-2012) on Amazon
Unofficial album • Released in 2016
3:21 • Studio version • Guitar Overdubs (5.1. mix)
Unofficial live
4:09 • Live
Concert From the concert in Toronto, Canada on Jun 06, 1993
Unofficial live
4:08 • Live
Concert From the concert in Boulder, USA on May 26, 1993
Unofficial live • Released in 1993
3:35 • Live • Recorded Live at The Ed Sullivan Theatre, New York 10 December, 1992 - for the "Up Close" TV show
Paul McCartney : Bass guitar, Piano, Vocals Linda Eastman / McCartney : Background vocals, Keyboard Robbie McIntosh : Guitar Hamish Stuart : Bass guitar Paul Wickens : Keyboard Blair Cunningham : Drums
Concert From ""Up Close" taping" in New York City, USA on Dec 10, 1992
Biker Like an Icon (version 1)
1993 • For Paul McCartney • Directed by Richard Heslop
Biker Like an Icon (version 2)
1993 • For Paul McCartney
Album Off The Ground
“Biker Like An Icon” has been played in 83 concerts and 1 soundchecks.
Santiago • Estadio Nacional • Chile
Dec 16, 1993 • Part of The New World Tour
Buenos Aires • River Plate Stadium • Argentina
Dec 12, 1993 • Part of The New World Tour
Buenos Aires • River Plate Stadium • Argentina
Dec 11, 1993 • Part of The New World Tour
Buenos Aires • River Plate Stadium • Argentina
Dec 10, 1993 • Part of The New World Tour
Curitiba • Pedreira Paulo Leminski • Brazil
Dec 05, 1993 • Part of The New World Tour
Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 2) 1990-2012
This new book by Luca Perasi traces Paul McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1990 to 2012 in the form of 250 song entries, filled with details about the recordings, stories behind the sessions and musical analysis. His pop albums, his forays into classical and avant-garde music, his penchant for covering old standards: a complete book to discover how these languages cross-pollinate and influence each other.
The second volume in a series that has established itself as a unique guide to take the reader on a journey into the astonishing creativity of Paul McCartney.
Notice any inaccuracies on this page? Have additional insights or ideas for new content? Or just want to share your thoughts? We value your feedback! Please use the form below to get in touch with us.