Band on the Run is an album by Paul McCartney & Wings, released in 1973. It was McCartney's fifth album since the breakup of The Beatles, and Wings' third album. It became Wings' most successful album and remains the most celebrated of McCartney's post-Beatles albums. It was 1974's top-selling studio album in the UK and Australia, and revitalised McCartney's critical standing.
In 2000 Q magazine placed Band on the Run at number 75 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2003, the album was ranked #418 onRolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[1] A contemporary review by Jon Landau in Rolling Stone (issue #153) described the album as "the finest record yet released by any of the four musicians who were once called The Beatles".[2]
It was the last McCartney album issued on the Apple Records label. READ MORE (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
THE SONG
It is composed of a three-part structure that revolves around the themes of escape and liberation. The song tells a story about a band being confined to prison and then escaping and going on the run.
The first part (0:00-1:18) is soft and melodic. The singer complains about being stuck in one room forever alone, unable to see any nice people, like his mother.
The second part (1:19-2:05) is more of a soft rock melody with the guitar, drums, and bass becoming more prominent. The singer thinks about giving everything away if he does escape. George Harrison unwittingly contributed the first line of this part: "If we ever get out of here" when he said it during one of the many Beatles' business meetings.[1]
The third and main part (2:05 to 5:09) is the initial rock part, which talks about the band escaping and going on the run. The people in the town are trying to find them forevermore, but they will never be found.
The version played on the radio in America in 1974 was a shorter version of the song, edited down from the original 5:09 to 3:50 in length. The difference was largely caused by the removal of the middle or the second part of the song, as well as the verse that starts with "Well, the undertaker drew a heavy sigh..."[2]
The actual song is a juxtaposed story, where the first part is about being in relative safety of being in London England. The second part is about how McCartney and his wife and some of the band , went to Lagos Nigeria to record the album (Band on The Run) and ended up being interrogated by the Nigerian Police for theft of their African music. It became very apparent that McCartney was not stealing the Nigerian music when the police where invited into the recording Studio ( E.M.I. Studios Nigeria) and then forced McCartney, to play the songs that had been recorded. Linda McCartney had to explain to the Nigerian Police who Paul McCartney was, since most of the people who where involved didn't know who he was, or never heard of the group "The Beatles". Each verse ends with the line " will search for evermore" or "searching every one" The last line is "And the County Judge, who held a grudge Will search forevermore" which proves that the Nigerians where in fact searching to find out what McCartney was doing and if he was stealing their African music. The line "Well, the night was falling as the desert world" is a reference to Nigeria. The middle part is the connection between the juxtaposed parts of the song, the first part being the safety of England and the third part, the dangers of Nigeria. The line "In the town they're searching for us everywhere but we never will be found" is in reference to McCartney and his wife being so afraid for their safety that they left by plane under the darkness of night, without being seen by the police. READ MORE (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Official Video
Video with lyrics
Live recording with Spanish subtitles
