The 5 Best Songs Paul McCartney Wrote for the Wings Album ‘Red Rose Speedway’

Paul McCartney had at least one first after The Beatles broke up. He wasn’t the first to release a true solo album (Ringo Starr beat him to it in March 1970), but he was the first to form a new band. Macca put out two solo records before creating Wings in 1971. The band’s mistakes weren’t private since they had a world-famous songwriter leading the way, but they succeeded nonetheless. Paul wrote or co-wrote all the songs on Wings’ second album, 1973’s Red Rose Speedway, including five that shouldn’t be missed.

Paul McCartney and Wings landed in the top-10 with ‘Red Rose Speedway’

Even with Paul’s name attached, the 1971 Wings album Wild Life was more of a curio. It didn’t produce any charting singles and peaked at No. 11 in England (per the Official Charts Company). 

Red Rose Speedway fared much better. Early singles “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and “Hi, Hi, Hi,” backed with reggae-ish “C Moon,” reached the top 10. So did “My Love” (which we’ll get to in a minute). The record rose to No. 5 in England and spent three weeks atop the Billboard charts.

Strangely, Paul left the rollicking “Hi, Hi, Hi” off the record. He wanted to release a double album, but the record company pushed back. If he had included it in the 1973 release (instead of the fully restored version that came out decades later), it would have made our list of the five best songs on Red Rose Speedway. But since we limited our selections to the original album cuts, it won’t appear.

Note: Songs presented in album running order.

1. ‘Big Barn Bed’

What starts as a vaguely country-tinged tune with some jangly acoustic guitar underneath a three-note electric riff doesn’t deviate fro that motif for much of the song. The acoustic and electric guitar interplay forms the backbone of a song. But the repetition facilitates a steady build to a richly layered crescendo that brings in a cymbal-heavy drumbeat, piano, and harmonious background vocals.

2. ‘My Love’

We wouldn’t be surprised if John Lennon put this in Paul’s granny music category, but the syrupy love song — complete with woah-woah-woah lyrics, strings, a warm Hammond, and tasteful guitar solo — is a shining example of Paul’s strength writing ballads.

“My Love” hit No. 9 in England, and it performed even better in the United States. It spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts, becoming Paul’s second chart-topper after The Beatles. “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” from Ram was also a No. 1 song.

3. ‘Get on the Right Thing’

Red Rose Speedway opens with a bang, with “Get on the Right Thing” following “Big Barn Bed” and “My Love” in the running order. “Get on the Right Thing” opens with gently rising and falling guitar notes, and it soon segues to something more anthemic.

It’s all about the chorus, where the soothing wordless background vocals take over for the guitar while the bass and drums continue to propel a steady rhythm. Those same vocals drive the middle eight when they brightly sing the song’s title, which they also do at the conclusion.

4. ‘Single Pigeon’

Paul’s piano playing takes center stage early as he situates a bouncy riff with an uneasy melody in between quiet vocals, which vacillate between equally restive and brightly high-pitched (“I’m a lot like you-oo-oo.”) Like “Big Barn Bed,” the song adds layers as it progresses — acoustic guitar, background vocal harmonies, and bright horns that help bring the tune to its conclusion.

The album’s shortest song doesn’t sound too far off from something from The Beatles White Album era. Paul channeled that energy five years later and delivered one of the standout songs from Wings’ second album.

5. ‘Loup (1st Indian on the Moon)’

Paul had a connection with Pink Floyd that went beyond recording for the same label. His prediction about Pink Floyd making it big proved right, and he later worked with Floyd guitarist David Gilmour on multiple occasions. 

Wings’ instrumental channels some of Pink Floyd’s most psychedelic moments. There are  wordless, chanted vocals, a tom-heavy tribal drum beat, guitar notes that seem to drop into the mix like drips from a faucet, drones that sound like sustained organ notes, synthesizer squiggles, and hammering bass, and it all strangely works. A sound experiment that sounds like an extension of the Pink Floyd opus “Echoes” emerges as one of the best Red Rose Speedway songs.

He continued displaying chops for decades to come, but Paul McCartney’s best Red Rose Speedway songs prove that the bassist/multi-instrumentalist had plenty left in the tank after The Beatles.

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