Wide Prairie (song)

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Album This song officially appears on the Wide Prairie Official album.

Timeline This song has been officially released in 1998

Why So Blue

Wild Cat

Master release

Wide Prairie

By Linda McCartney

Related sessions

This song has been recorded during the following studio sessions

"Suzy And The Red Stripes" sessions

November 1973

Nashville sessions

July 1974

Related interviews

McCartneys still making sweet music

Nov 19, 1998 • From USA Today

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Song facts

Wide Prairie – A song written by Paul, for Linda to sing. Recorded in November 15, 1973 in the EMI Odeon, in Paris, with a six man horn section, led by Tony Dorsey added during the Nashville sessions, in June 1974. An 11:37 mix as placed on the 1978 Kold Kutz compilation, but when it was officially released as the title track of on Linda McCartney’s posthumous solo album in 1998, this was edited down to less than half the length.

4 versions to exist :

1) The version released on ‘Wide Prairie’ is the shortest of all the available versions, hand has the “Paul” opening verse edited out. Also, Linda re-recorded two lines that refer to “eating jerky”
2) The version from the Oobu Joobu radio series has the missing verse and has all the original lyrics, but is incomplete on both ends as Paul talks over the intro + outro (“…and looking very relaxed, Adolph Hitler on vibes!”)
3) The EPK had the ‘Wide Prairie version’, albeit with foley, and had an extended fade, which gave us more of the fade in comparatively excellent quality.
4) The version from the original Cold Cuts LP was over eleven minutes, but ran fast and was only VG sound quality (as opposed to excellent)

From Wide Prairie liner notes:

I have always thought of this song as Linda’s fantasy. Her passion for horses and riding started as a young girl and remained with her all her life. Her tongue in cheek attitude and what we caller her “twangy” voice combined to make this joyful little rocker. She recorded it during sessions at EMI studios in Paris where years before I had done a vocal for Can’t Buy Me Love. We travelled there shortly after Princess Anne’s first wedding in Westminster Abbey, taking the group van with the other band members who at the time included Jimmy McCullouch and Denny Laine. As you can probably hear we had a ball.
Paul McCartney

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl4_AfGDG9o

Last updated on November 16, 2019

Lyrics

I was in Paris
Waiting for a flight
When this guy came up
To me and said
Have you got a light?
When I was born in Arizona
And when I was only three
My mother took me to her saddle
And we rode the wide prairie

Oh, wide prairie, wide prairie
And we rode the wide prairie
My mother took me to her saddle
And we rode the wide prairie
Well I was living in Aspebueller
And when I was only ten
My father took me to his saddle
And we rode the range again

Oh, wide prairie, wide prairie
And we rode the wide prairie
My father took me to his saddle
And we rode the wide prairie
And I ain't going back
No, I ain't going back
Going back no more

Well, now we live in Albuquerque
And we raise the family tree
We spend our days a-feeling perky
And we ride the wide prairie
Oh, wide prairie, wide prairie
And we ride the wide prairie
We spend our days
A-feeling perky

And we ride the wide prairie
I was in Paris
Waiting for a flight
When this guy came up
To me and said
Have you got a light?
And you know what happened