Live And Let Die

Written by: Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney
Recorded: October 1972
Producer: George Martin

Released: 1 June 1973 (UK), 18 June 1973 (US)

Paul McCartney: vocals, piano
Linda McCartney: backing vocals, keyboards
Denny Laine: bass guitar, backing vocals
Henry McCullough: guitar
Denny Seiwell: drums

Available on:
Wingspan: Hits and History
Wings Over America
Tripping The Live Fantastic
Paul Is Live
Back In The World
Back In The US
Good Evening New York City

Written for the 1973 James Bond film of the same name, Live And Let Die became one of Paul McCartney and Wings' most successful singles.

It was recorded at London's AIR Studios in October 1972 while Wings were completing the Red Rose Speedway album, and produced by George Martin.

I read the Live And Let Die book in one day, started writing it that evening and carried on the next day and finished it by the next evening ... I sat down at the piano, worked something out and then got in touch with George Martin, who produced it with us. Linda wrote the middle reggae bit of the song. We rehearsed it as a band, recorded it and then left it up to him.

The song was commissioned especially for the eighth James Bond film. John Barry, who had scored previous Bond outings, was unavailable to work on Live And Let Die so the film's producers Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli and Harry Saltzman asked McCartney to write the theme song. McCartney had previously been asked to write the theme for 1971's Diamonds Are Forever, but it failed to happen.

George Martin was also hired to write the score for the Live And Let Die film, and McCartney instinctively knew that he was the right arranger and producer to bring the theme song's cinematic scope to life.

I wouldn't have liked it if my music was going to replace John Barry's, that great James Bond theme. I know I'd miss that. I go to see him turn round and fire down the gun barrel. Our bit comes after he's done that and after the three killings at the beginning. I'm good at writing to order with things like that. I'd like to write jingles really, I'm pretty fair at that, a craftsman. It keeps me a bit tight, like writing to a deadline, knowing I've got two minutes three seconds with a definitive story theme.

The producers had intended for another performer to record McCartney's song. McCartney and Martin, however, had other ideas. They recorded a full studio version at George Martin's AIR Studios in London in a single day, recorded in a handful of takes simultaneously with the orchestra. Martin then took it to the Caribbean location where filming was taking place.

The film producers found a record player. After the record had finished they said to George, 'That's great, a wonderful demo. Now when are you going to make the real track, and who shall we get to sing it?' And George said, 'What? This is the real track!'

Assuming the McCartney recording was a mere demo, Harry Saltzman allegedly proposed that Thelma Houston should record the song. Once the producers accepted Martin's insistence that it was strong enough to use, it was incorporated into the film. Another recording, by Brenda J Arnau, also appears in the film's soundtrack.

The release

Live And Let Die was released in the UK on 1 June 1973 as Apple R 5987. It spent 14 weeks on the single chart, peaking at number nine.

In the US it was issued on 18 June as Apple 1863, and topped the chart. The b-side on both occasions was I Lie Around, written by McCartney but sung by Denny Laine, and recorded during the Red Rose Speedway sessions. It was Laine's only lead vocal on a Wings single.

Although Wings' early releases had received mixed critical and commercial responses, Live And Let Die established the band as a potent force, able to compete against rock's premier league of performers. Although they subsequently underwent personnel changes, by the end of 1973 Wings had released Band On The Run, their most commercially successful album.

Live And Let Die is the only song to have appeared on each of Paul McCartney's live albums, with the exception of Unplugged (The Official Bootleg).

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