- Album This song officially appears on the Walking In The Park With Eloise / Bridge On The River Suite 7" Single.
Related sessions
This song has been recorded during the following studio sessions
Recording "Walking In The Park With Eloise"
Jul 16, 1974
Related interviews
Wife, player, mother, lover... Linda
Oct 05, 1974 • From Sounds
December 1984 • From Playboy
May 05, 2001 • From TV Guide
Paul McCartney: On the Magic of Music – From the Magician Himself
Mar 03, 2020 • From Alda Communication Training
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Song facts
From eil.com:
In downtime from a mid 70s Wings Nashville recording session the idea was mooted of an album of Macca songs that had been left off previous albums or had yet to find a home. ‘Walking In The Park With Eloise’ was recorded around this time (with a view to going on the album) and was said to be inspired by a conversation between Chet Atkins (who plays on the record) and Paul McCartney about their respective fathers. With that in mind Paul duly dusted off this jazz/twenties inspired ditty which was actually written by his father James ‘Jim’ McCartney – he must have been attached to the song as years later Paul chose it as one of his Desert Island Discs.
While in Nashville we recorded about five tracks… one is a song written by Paul’s dad called “Walking In The Park With Eloise”, just music. When Paul was a little boy, about 10, even younger, he remembers sitting at the foot of the piano while his dad was playing this song. We were having dinner with Chet Atkins, the guitar player, one night in Nashville, and Paul had being playing a lot of his music for Chet and he said, “here, here’s one that my dad wrote long time ago” – and he started playing it.
Chet got talking to Paul, saying that the song should be recorded and that would be nice for his dad and so on. We thought, why not? So we got Chet playing on it and Floyd Cramer the piano player and Chet himself got together a nice little band called Country Hams with lots of other Nashville people. So there’s this single called “Walking In The Park With Eloise” by Country Hams coming out on EMI in a couple of weeks.
Linda McCartney – Interview with Sounds, October 5, 1974
Last updated on August 5, 2023
Officially appears on
Walking In The Park With Eloise / Bridge On The River Suite
7" Single • Released in 1974
3:09 • Studio version • A
- Paul McCartney :
- Bass, Washboard
- Denny Laine :
- Acoustic guitar
- Geoff Britton :
- Drums
- Ernie Winfrey :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Bill Puitt :
- Clarinet
- Chet Atkins :
- Electric guitar
- Floyd Cramer :
- Piano
- Denis Good :
- Trombone
- Bobby Thompson :
- Banjo
- Don Sheffield :
- Trumpet
- Session Recording:
- Jul 16, 1974
- Studio :
- Soundshop Recording Studios, Nashville, USA
Walking In The Park With Eloise / Bridge On The River Suite (1982)
7" Single • Released in 1982
3:09 • Studio version • A
- Paul McCartney :
- Bass, Washboard
- Denny Laine :
- Acoustic guitar
- Geoff Britton :
- Drums
- Ernie Winfrey :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Bill Puitt :
- Clarinet
- Chet Atkins :
- Electric guitar
- Floyd Cramer :
- Piano
- Denis Good :
- Trombone
- Bobby Thompson :
- Banjo
- Don Sheffield :
- Trumpet
- Session Recording:
- Jul 16, 1974
- Studio :
- Soundshop Recording Studios, Nashville, USA
Wings At The Speed Of Sound (1993)
Official album • Released in 1993
3:13 • Studio version • A1993 • 1993 remaster
- Paul McCartney :
- Bass, Washboard
- Denny Laine :
- Acoustic guitar
- Geoff Britton :
- Drums
- Ernie Winfrey :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Bill Puitt :
- Clarinet
- Peter Mew :
- Remastering
- Chet Atkins :
- Electric guitar
- Floyd Cramer :
- Piano
- Denis Good :
- Trombone
- Bobby Thompson :
- Banjo
- Don Sheffield :
- Trumpet
- Session Recording:
- Jul 16, 1974
- Studio :
- Soundshop Recording Studios, Nashville, USA
Venus And Mars - Archive Collection
Official album • Released in 2014
3:09 • Studio version • A
- Paul McCartney :
- Bass, Washboard
- Denny Laine :
- Acoustic guitar
- Geoff Britton :
- Drums
- Ernie Winfrey :
- Mixing engineer, Recording engineer
- Bill Puitt :
- Clarinet
- Chet Atkins :
- Electric guitar
- Floyd Cramer :
- Piano
- Denis Good :
- Trombone
- Bobby Thompson :
- Banjo
- Don Sheffield :
- Trumpet
- Session Recording:
- Jul 16, 1974
- Studio :
- Soundshop Recording Studios, Nashville, USA
Ethel & Ernest (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Official album • Released in 2016
2:19 • Studio version • B
- Carl Davis :
- Conductor, String arranger
- Jeremy Murphy :
- Additional mixer
- Chris Egan :
- Producer
- The Chamber Orchestra Of London :
- Strings
- Huw Watkins :
- Piano
- Steven Price :
- Recording engineer
- Mixing engineer :
- Trystan francis
- Briony Allen :
- Additional mixer
- Session Recording:
- May 2016
- Studio :
- Angel Studios, Islington, London, UK
7" Single • Released in 2022
2:19 • Studio version • B
- Carl Davis :
- Conductor, String arranger
- Jeremy Murphy :
- Additional mixer
- Chris Egan :
- Producer
- The Chamber Orchestra Of London :
- Strings
- Huw Watkins :
- Piano
- Steven Price :
- Recording engineer
- Mixing engineer :
- Trystan francis
- Briony Allen :
- Additional mixer
- Session Recording:
- May 2016
- Studio :
- Angel Studios, Islington, London, UK
Bootlegs
Desert Island Discs - In Conversation with Roy Plomley - January 20, 1982
Unofficial album
1:45 • Interview
Venus And Mars - Ultimate Archive Collection
Unofficial album • Released in 2015
3:09 • Studio version
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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WHAMMO! 4 years ago
I imagine old Jim must have been tickled that Chet Atkins played his song!