- Album This song officially appears on the Memory Almost Full Official album.
Related sessions
This song has been recorded during the following studio sessions
"Memory Almost Full" first sessions
End of February 2004
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Song facts
“House Of Wax” is a song from Paul McCartney’s 2007 album, “Memory Almost Full“.
There’s something about chords in a song that can take you to a place. In this song they are not complex but there’s something in the tonality of them that takes you to what the vocal becomes. And I like the lyrics: ‘Lightning hits the house of wax, poets spill out on the streets, to set alight the incomplete remainders of the future.’ It’s quite surreal. I enjoyed singing them because of those chords and the mixture of the melody and the lyrics. I think this will be good to do live. It’s another one that my band played on. In fact the medley was conceived early on in this album and the band is featured on a lot of it.
Paul McCartney – interview with Mail On Sunday, May 12, 2008
Interview with David Khane, from Mix Online, October 1, 2007:
“House of Wax”: The climactic “House of Wax,” which McCartney played live on his handful of “secret gig” shows supporting the album, again features the band, with McCartney providing the crying blues guitar solo. “The solos were a big deal for me,” Kahne recalls. “Those sections were blank; we didn’t know what we were going to put there. I heard ‘Taxman’ on the radio, for which he’d done the solo, and I thought how great it would be if he would just rip in those big breaks. So I asked, ‘Instead of making a more complex part, can you just play guitar solos?’ He said, ‘Okay,’ sat in the control room with his Casino plugged into the Vox and just whipped it up, and literally, a half-hour later, they were done. I’ve never heard him play guitar like that. He just pushes the notes sharp perfectly at the right time.”
Last updated on January 18, 2021

The book "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present", published in 2021, covers Paul McCartney's early Liverpool days, the Beatles, Wings, and solo careers, by pairing the lyrics of 154 of his songs with first-person commentaries of the circumstances in which they were written, the people and places that inspired them, and what he thinks of them now.
"House Of Wax" is one of the 154 songs covered.
Lyrics
Lightning hits the house of wax
Poets spill out on the street
To set alight the incomplete
Remainders of the future
Hidden in the yard. Hidden in the yard
Thunder drowns the trumpets blast
Poets scatter through the night
But they can only dream of flight
Away from their confusion
Hidden in the yard. Underneath the wall
Buried deep below a thousand layers lay the
answer to it all
Lightning hits the house of wax
Women scream and run around
To dance upon the battleground
Like wild demented horses
Hidden in the yard. Underneath the wall
Buried deep below a thousand layers lay the
answer to it all
Hidden in the yard. Underneath the wall
Buried deep below a thousand layers lay the
answer to it all
Officially appears on
Memory Almost Full - 2CD limited edition bonus disc
Official album • Released in 2007
4:59 • Studio version • A
Official album • Released in 2007
4:59 • Studio version • A
- Paul McCartney :
- Electric guitar, Piano, Vocals
- Rusty Anderson :
- Electric guitar
- Abe Laboriel Jr. :
- Drums
- David Kahne :
- Mixing engineer, Producer
- Paul Wickens :
- Keyboards, Synthesizer
- Andy Wallace :
- Mixing engineer
- Session Recording:
- End of February 2004
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • Buy Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989 on Amazon
EP • Released in 2007
5:19 • Live • L1
Concert From "iTunes Festival" in London, United Kingdom on Jul 05, 2007
Official live • Released in 2019
6:02 • Live • L2 • 2019 mix
- Performed by :
- Paul McCartney • Rusty Anderson • Abe Laboriel Jr. • Brian Ray • Dave Arch
- Steve Orchard :
- Remix engineer
- Randy Merrill :
- Mastering engineer
- Darrell Thorp :
- Recording engineer
Concert From the concert in Los Angeles, USA on Jun 27, 2007
Amoeba Gig (Limited Edition - Clear Amber Vinyl)
LP • Released in 2019
6:02 • Live • L2 • 2019 mix
- Performed by :
- Paul McCartney • Rusty Anderson • Abe Laboriel Jr. • Brian Ray • Dave Arch
- Steve Orchard :
- Remix engineer
- Randy Merrill :
- Mastering engineer
- Darrell Thorp :
- Recording engineer
Concert From the concert in Los Angeles, USA on Jun 27, 2007
7" Single • Released in 2022
6:02 • Live • L2
- Performed by :
- Paul McCartney • Rusty Anderson • Abe Laboriel Jr. • Brian Ray • Dave Arch
- Steve Orchard :
- Remix engineer
- Randy Merrill :
- Mastering engineer
- Darrell Thorp :
- Recording engineer
Concert From the concert in Los Angeles, USA on Jun 27, 2007
Bootlegs
Live At The Institute Of Contemporary Arts
Unofficial live • Released in 2007
6:22 • Live
Concert From "iTunes Festival" in London, United Kingdom on Jul 05, 2007
Unofficial live • Released in 2007
6:26 • Live
Concert From the concert in Los Angeles, USA on Jun 27, 2007
Unofficial live • Released in 2007
5:36 • Live
Concert From the concert in New York City, USA on Jun 13, 2007
Searching for Him Everywhere 2001-2014
Unofficial live • Released in 2015
5:40 • Live • June 28, 2007
Memory Almost Full - Ultimate Archive Collection
Unofficial album • Released in 2016
4:59 • Studio version • A
Live performances
“House Of Wax” has been played in 6 concerts.
Latest concerts where House Of Wax has been played
Oct 25, 2007 • United Kingdom • London • Roundhouse

Oct 22, 2007 • France • Paris • Olympia Hall
Jul 05, 2007 • United Kingdom • London • Institute for Contemporary Arts
Los Angeles • Amoeba Music • USA
Jun 27, 2007 • USA • Los Angeles • Amoeba Music

New York City • Highline Ballroom • USA
Jun 13, 2007 • USA • New York City • Highline Ballroom
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