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TL;DR:

  • The Beatles’ “Flying” was inspired by 12-bar blues songs.
  • Paul McCartney said it’s credited all members of the band because it’s not a real song.
  • The tune appeared on the hit album Magical Mystery Tour.
Paul McCartney at a turntable
Paul McCartney | Keystone / Staff

The Beatles‘ “Flying” is a track with no lyrics that appears in the movie Magical Mystery Tour. Paul McCartney explained why the song features writing credits from all four of The Beatles. Subsequently, a notable band covered the song for a film based on Fab Four tunes.

Paul McCartney said The Beatles’ ‘Flying’ is not a real song

In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed the origin of “Flying.” “‘Flying’ was an instrumental that we needed for Magical Mystery Tour so in the studio one night I suggested to the guys that we made something up,” he said. “I said, ‘We can keep it very very simple, we can make it a twelve-bar blues. We need a little bit of a theme and a little bit of a backing.'”

Paul said he was instrumental in writing the tune. “I wrote the melody,” he said. “The only thing to warrant it as a song is basically the melody, otherwise it’s just a nice twelve-bar backing thing. It’s played on the Mellotron, on a trombone setting. It’s credited to all four, which is how you would credit a non-song.” Very few of The Beatles’ songs were credited to all four members of the band.

The song isn’t 1 of The Beatles’ masterpieces but it’s better than Paul McCartney felt

“Flying” isn’t one of the band’s more complicated songs. Despite this, it’s interesting. The opening riff of the song sounds like elevator music from outer space. The wordless vocals on the track are also an unexpected touch.

The fact that “Flying” doesn’t have any words makes it easy to project thought onto. It’s psychedelia in its purest, most abstract terms. The title really works for the song. Listening to a tune like this causes the mind to fly away to another dimension. “Flying” isn’t groundbreaking like “A Day in the Life” or “Revolution 9,” but it’s not a “non-song,” like Paul said.

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How ‘Flying’ performed on the pop charts in the United States and the United Kingdom

“Flying” was never a single, and never reached the Billboard Hot 100. The instrumental appeared on the soundtrack for Magical Mystery Tour. That LP topped the Billboard 200 for eight weeks and stayed on the chart for 93 weeks altogether.

According to The Official Charts Company, “Flying” did not chart in the United Kingdom either. Meanwhile, Magical Mystery Tour peaked at No. 31 in the U.K. and remained on the chart for 10 weeks.

Unlike other Beatles songs such as “Yesterday” and “Something,” “Flying” didn’t become a standard. However, the space rock band the Secret Machines covered the track for the film Across the Universe. The movie is a jukebox musical based on The Beatles’ songs.

“Flying” isn’t one of the Fab Four’s hits but it has an interesting backstory.

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