Written by: McCartney
Recorded: December 1969
Producer: Paul McCartney
Released: 17 April 1970 (UK), 20 April 1970 (US)
Paul McCartney: vocals, guitar, bass guitar, hand percussion
Available on:
McCartney
Working Classical
The first song recorded for Paul McCartney's début solo album, The Lovely Linda was a brief tribute to his wife lasting less than a minute.
When the Studer 4 track was installed at home, this was the first song I recorded, to test the machine. On the first track was vocal and guitar, second – another acoustic guitar – then overdubbed hand slaps on a book, and finally bass. Written in Scotland, the song is a trailer to the full song which will be recorded in the future.
It was recorded just before Christmas 1969 at 7 Cavendish Avenue, McCartney's home in St John's Wood, London.
It was very hands-on, primitive way of working. In the opening track, The Lovely Linda, you can hear the door squeak as Linda came in while I was recording. It was a good take, so we left it in.
Wingspan
Although in the press release issued with promotional copies of the album McCartney claimed a fuller song would be recorded and issued at a later date, nothing was ever released. When interviewed in 2001, however, he explained his original plans for the song.
I was always going to finish it, and I had another bit that went into a Spanish song, almost mariachi, but it just appeared as a fragment and was quite nice for that reason.
A reworking of The Lovely Linda was the final tune on McCartney's 1999 orchestral album Working Classical.
