C Moon

I was looking for a reggaeish kind of song. ‘L’ and ‘7’ put together mean ‘square’ in American jive talk: the ‘L’ had been one part of the square and the ‘7’ had formed the other part. I thought, what’s ‘cool’ then? So we had a ‘C’ and a half moon for the other half [of the circle] and we figured that ‘C Moon’ meant cool.

Paul McCartney, from Club Sandwich N°47/48, Spring 1988

From Wikipedia:

“C Moon” is a pop song with a reggae beat, written by Paul and Linda McCartney and performed by Wings. It was released as a double A-side with “Hi, Hi, Hi” in 1972. The single reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart and since “Hi Hi Hi” was banned by the BBC, “C Moon” received much airplay in the United Kingdom. In the United States, “C Moon” did not appear on any of the major record charts.

Lyrics and structure

The title “C Moon” was inspired by lyrics in the song “Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. McCartney said, “There’s a line in [Wooly Bully] that says, ‘Let’s not be L7.’ Well, L7, it was explained at the time, means a square—put L and 7 together and you get a square… So I thought of the idea of putting a C and a moon together (a half-moon) to get the opposite of a square. So ‘C Moon’ means cool, in other words.“

The recording includes a missed-cue intro that was kept in the released version.

The song is in the key of C and is in 4/4 time. The performers change instruments from their usual places. Guitarist Henry McCullough plays drums, guitarist Denny Laine plays bass, and drummer Denny Seiwell plays xylophone and cornet.

The song was recorded around the same time as “Hi, Hi, Hi“, in November 1972.

Releases

The song was included on the Paul McCartney compilation albums All the Best! (1987) and Wingspan: Hits and History (2001). It was also included as a bonus track on the 1993 remastered CD of Red Rose Speedway, as part of The Paul McCartney Collection. […]

Paul McCartney: The general reaction is that ‘Hi Hi Hi’ is kind of the strong side, but the reason we made it a double A is that ‘C Moon’ is one of those songs that catches up on you after a while. I can hear ‘C Moon’ in a year’s time, people saying, ‘Yeah! I like that one’. There’s things to listen to on that one, put it on headphones and it’s quite a trip.

Linda McCartney: Especially if you’ve just come home from work, that’s the side to get into. […]

Paul McCartney: We left all the little bits in that you’d normally clean up for the record. There’s the intro., the bit ‘is this the intro.’ that was for real. I missed the intro. and the song has changed because of it.”

From “The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After The Break-Up 1970-2001” by Keith Badman

‘C Moon’ was inspired by a line in a Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs single ‘Woolly Bully’, ‘Let’s not be L7’, which, if you put L and a 7 next to each other, you make a square. Similarly, if you put a moon and a C together, they make a circle. This is something I worked out with my mathematical brain and wrote a song about it. I’m hoping to get the word started in the Oxford Dictionary of Language within two years, this is my ambition. I wrote ‘C Moon’ in London recently. Denny, our drummer, plays cornet on it, Henry plays drums, Denny (Laine) bass, I, the bass player, play piano and Linda, the pianist, plays tambourine.

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

Lyrics

Variations

• A Stereo version • From "Hi, Hi, Hi / C Moon"
• A1993 1993 remaster
• A2001 2001 remaster • From "Wingspan Hits And History"
• A2018 2018 remaster
• B "One Hand Clapping" version. Medley with "Little Woman Love" • From "One Hand Clapping"
• C "One Hand Clapping" version. Medley with "Little Woman Love". 2024 Dolby Atmos mix • From "One Hand Clapping (Dolby Atmos)"
• L1 Live version • Milan • Palatrussardi • Italy • Oct 26, 1989 • From "All My Trials"
• L1.2022 Live version • Milan • Palatrussardi • Italy • Oct 26, 1989 • From "The 7” Singles Box"
• L2 Live version • Washington • MCI Center • USA • Apr 23, 2002 • From "Back In The U.S."
• L3 Live version • Los Angeles • Amoeba Music • USA • Jun 27, 2007 • From "Amoeba's Secret"
• L3.2019 Live version • Los Angeles • Amoeba Music • USA • Jun 27, 2007 • From "Amoeba Gig"

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

Related film

Videos

Live performances

“C Moon” has been played in 69 concerts and 190 soundchecks.

Latest concerts where “C Moon” has been played

Going further

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