An intimate oral history of Wings — Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles band, launched in 1971 — edited by historian Ted Widmer, will release on November 4
Few figures in music history have experienced the stratospheric highs and crushing uncertainties that Paul McCartney faced during the 1970s. The Beatles had dissolved on a rather acrimonious note, and McCartney, who was part of the world’s best-beloved band, found himself staring at an uncertain future. Would he fade into the background, forever living under the towering shadow of his former group/self? Or could he rise again?
A new book, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, edited by historian Ted Widmer and featuring extensive insights from McCartney and those closest to him, provides a definitive answer. To be published by Penguin Random House India on November 4, the book is the oral history of Wings, the band McCartney formed with his wife Linda Louise and musician Denny Laine, who also founded the Moody Blues. Through candid recollections and never-before-seen photographs, it reconstructs a tumultuous and exhilarating decade that saw McCartney reclaim his place at the top of the charts and reshape the soundscape of the 1970s.
McCartney’s rebirth in the 1970s
For McCartney, stepping into the new decade was as terrifying as it was liberating. The Beatles had imploded in 1970, and with that collapse came a swirl of legal disputes, personal betrayals, and, perhaps most painfully, the sudden loss of the artistic brotherhood that had defined McCartney’s life for over a decade. “Starting from scratch after The Beatles felt crazy at times,” McCartney admits in a release shared by the publishing house. “There were some very difficult moments, and I often questioned my decision.”
Nevertheless, he pressed on, determined to forge a new path. In 1971, he launched Wings, along with his wife and guitarist Laine. Wings was at once a continuation of McCartney’s musical ambitions and an entirely fresh venture. Unlike the Beatles, this was a family affair; McCartney could be both a bandleader and a husband and father.
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However, if the public assumed that McCartney’s post-Beatles career would be effortless, they were sorely mistaken. Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run traces the band’s often-chaotic evolution, including early struggles to gain credibility. Critics dismissed Wings as a lightweight venture, questioning Linda McCartney’s musical abilities and accusing Paul of clinging too tightly to his Beatles legacy. But as McCartney notes, “As we got better, I thought, ‘OK, this is really good.’ We proved Wings could be a really good band.”
Indeed, by the mid-1970s, Wings had transformed into one of the decade’s notable acts. Albums like Band on the Run (1973), Venus and Mars (1975), and At the Speed of Sound (1976) delivered massive hits, including ‘Jet,’ ‘Let ‘Em In,’ ‘With a Little Luck,’ and the inescapable James Bond anthem ‘Live and Let Die.’ One of their biggest triumphs, ‘Mull of Kintyre,’ would go on to become one of the best-selling singles in UK history.
Rock and Roll on the road
Wings’ rise wasn’t limited to studio success. As Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run chronicles, McCartney and his bandmates embarked on a whirlwind of high-energy tours that brought them from the smallest university halls to massive stadiums around the world. The book will recount the band’s adventurous spirit — travelling across the UK in a converted school bus, playing impromptu gigs, and even surviving a harrowing mugging in Nigeria while recording Band on the Run.
Perhaps one of the most memorable aspects of Wings was their unpredictability. Unlike The Beatles, who had ceased touring in 1966, Wings thrived on live performances. Their 1976 Wings Over the World tour became a big thing, and McCartney returned as one of rock’s most electrifying performers. For McCartney, it was proof that he could still command massive audiences. “To play to huge audiences in the same way The Beatles had and have an impact in a different way. It was a huge buzz,” he notes.
A cultural and historical reappraisal
Ted Widmer, a prize-winning historian, a former White House speechwriter, and the author of Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington (2020), brings a historian’s eye to the project, framing Wings in the broader context of the 1970s. He examines how the band’s journey paralleled the era’s changing tastes, moving from the excesses of glam rock to the earnestness of soft rock and the advent of punk. Widmer also dwells on the critical reception of McCartney’s work, noting that while Wings faced scepticism in their early years, time has been kind to their legacy.
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“Wings was about love, family, friendship, and artistic growth, often in the face of tremendous adversity,” Widmer observes in the release. “It was a joy to relive the madcap adventures of a special band, by listening to their stories and compiling this oral history.” The book is structured around Wings’ nine albums, using each as a focal point for McCartney and his collaborators to recount their experiences. Drawing from over 500,000 words of interviews, it presents an unfiltered look at the band’s inner workings, triumphs, and struggles.
A multimedia celebration
The release of Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run is part of the resurgence of interest in McCartney’s 1970s output. In 2024, a theatrical release of the rare Wings live-in-studio film One Hand Clapping reignited discussions about the band’s legacy. Also, the 50th-anniversary editions of Band on the Run (February 2024) and Venus and Mars (it releases this month) introduce Wings’ music to a new generation.
An upcoming documentary (tentatively titled Man on the Run) from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom, Won’t You Be My Neighbor) also looks set to explore McCartney’s transition from Beatles icon to Wings frontman. “As a lifelong obsessive of all things McCartney, I’ve always felt that the 1970s were the great under-examined part of his story. I’m thrilled to have the chance to explore and reappraise this crucial moment in a great artist’s life and work,” Neville told Collider in an interview.
For McCartney, revisiting the Wings years was not just about nostalgia, but a reaffirmation of artistic reinvention. It was all about taking risks and rediscovering the sheer joy of making music. With its rich trove of stories, rare photographs, and firsthand accounts, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run will give fans old and new an opportunity to look back at an era that forms a vital chapter in Paul McCartney’s legendary career.
