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Paul McCartney & Wings — Band On the Run
Album: Band On the Run
Avg rating:
7.3

Your rating:
Total ratings: 459









Released: 1973
Length: 5:09
Plays (last 30 days): 0
(No lyric found)
Comments (75)add comment
Nol lyrics?

Stuck Inside These Four Walls,
Sent Inside Forever,
Never Seeing No One
Nice Again Like You,
Mama You, Mama You.

If I Ever Get Out Of Here,
Thought Of Giving It All Away
To A Registered Charity.
All I Need Is A Pint A Day
If I Ever Get Out Of Here.

Well, The Rain Exploded With A Mighty Crash
As We Fell Into The Sun,
And The First One Said To The Second One There
I Hope You're Having Fun.

Band On The Run, Band On The Run.
And The Jailer Man And Sailor Sam
Were Searching Every One
For The Band On The Run, Band On The Run
Band On The Run, Band On The Run.

Well, The Undertaker Drew A Heavy Sigh
Seeing No One Else Had Come,
And A Bell Was Ringing In The Village Square
For The Rabbits On The Run.

Band On The Run, Band On The Run.
And The Jailer Man And Sailor Sam
Were Searching Every One
For The Band On The Run, Band On The Run
Band On The Run, Band On The Run.

Well, The Night Was Falling As The Desert World
Began To Settle Down.
In The Town They're Searching For Us Every Where
But We Never W Ill Be Found.

Band On The Run, Band On The Run.
And The County Judge Who Held A Grudge
Will Search For Evermore
For The Band On The Run, Band On The Run
Band On The Run Band On The Run,
Okay, ya'll, so this ain't a 10. But it ain't that bad! Takes me back to the 70s.
I can't exactly understand why so many people seem to dislike this one. It may be overplayed but I think its excellent - well constructed, well produced and brilliantly performed. Good stuff!
Very disappointing.
I turned on RP and heard a few notes of this ring tone and raced back here to rate it -1- but I had already done so. 
Rats.
 
 Takes me back to a much earlier time...some great memories.
This is such a great song. McCartney doing his usual cramming of so many ideas into one tune. So many ideas he doesn't bother to spread them out over a half dozen songs with one good lick apiece.

This is a fantastic bookend with Nineteen Hundred Eighty Five, with the Band on the Run coda.

He's guilty of a lot of schmaltzy crap, absolutely. But this was an album that just rocked like a mofo. 
Don't forget Ram, the very best of him with his beloved wife Linda, where they tried to farm with sheep like anybody dreamed about at that time.
 Never cared for wings to much
As a young lad I was an early fan of the Beatles' more edgy material as it came out.
This is mainstream pop but still great pop music.  I have it rated 8.

Would personally be very disappointed if RP did not play some of Paul's material. 
 swart wrote:
Actually like this better than anything on Abbey Road. Burn me!
 
WHAT THE F#$#%!!!!
God help me....I'm almost starting to like this song.  Sentimentality hath no bounds.
 h8rhater wrote:
For a song that garners an overall 7.1 rating, this one sure invokes a lot of h8red from the unwashed.

 
The unwashed? As in the seething, aimless, and ignorant masses? 
A little presumptuous, to lump us all in that category, just because we haven't the wisdom to find the brilliance you see in this ... in this garage band dreck.
 
 grazie wrote:
This is so so bad. It's not that I don't care for this or any other Wings song, it's just goddam awful music.

 
It's lower-tier second-rate pop — 
About as musically creative as Ambrosia.
 
Such a great song. I can still hear the tinny sound of this blaring from my clock radio while getting ready for school.

When people comment on the "cheesy keyboard" sound, do they mean this song?

Sir Paul must had been too much in love with Linda to realize the crap of this album.   
 akdavey wrote:
Yayy!
Reminds me of driving around with my mother in her station wagon. As a child of the 70's, this was my soundtrack.

 
Sort of my experience too, except Mom's car was a Pinto {...shudders...}.  Hey, we all do the best we can.  I wasn't a child of the '70's I was just a child in the '70's.
One of the major songs to prove that John Lennon was the major artistic resource for the Beatles.
For a song that garners an overall 7.1 rating, this one sure invokes a lot of h8red from the unwashed.
Actually like this better than anything on Abbey Road. Burn me!
 akdavey wrote:
Yayy!
Reminds me of driving around with my mother in her station wagon. As a child of the 70's, this was my soundtrack.

 

Poor boy {#Cry}
gaaaaa! I no sooner send $$$ and now I hear this ridiculous 'song'
just ain't right.
Bill, why can't you please everyone?!     
Yayy!
Reminds me of driving around with my mother in her station wagon. As a child of the 70's, this was my soundtrack.
 I totally agree! 

This is so so bad. It's not that I don't care for this or any other Wings song, it's just goddam awful music.
 
 


If it weren't enough with the Beatles, now, the Wings! OMG!
apparently, i'm in the minority in this one. i like this tune.
This is so so bad. It's not that I don't care for this or any other Wings song, it's just goddam awful music.
 fredriley wrote:

Yep. I hated it then, and still hate it now. I didn't mind Wings the band - in one ear and out the other, to be honest, such was their blandness - but this song was played to death and back, and is regularly exhumed as a zombie on FM stations.

McCartney's coupon these days is a testament to the finest plastic surgery and dentistry that serious money can buy. If he has another facelift he'll develop a curly beard... Better to grow old disgracefully like Mick Jagger, IMO.

 
"Blandness?" You're being very generous.
Love it! Catchy as hell and from the best Wings album.
Everybody in my mushrooming multitude of homeless camps loves this song, and this very groovy album...  we love sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll...
Barf  ... psd
 aelfheld wrote:
This song sucked wind in 1973.

Venerability does not reduce its horridness.

 
Yep. I hated it then, and still hate it now. I didn't mind Wings the band - in one ear and out the other, to be honest, such was their blandness - but this song was played to death and back, and is regularly exhumed as a zombie on FM stations.

McCartney's coupon these days is a testament to the finest plastic surgery and dentistry that serious money can buy. If he has another facelift he'll develop a curly beard... Better to grow old disgracefully like Mick Jagger, IMO.
 janac13 wrote:
Every time I hear this I am taken back to high school....

Along with "Rubber Bullets" by 10CC 
 
Yes! Not exactly high school for me but I know what you mean. Both McCartney and 10CC were very good at sketching outlines of back stories into their catchy pop songs. Both were very conscious of appealing to large audiences. McCartney seemed (seems still?) to frame his work with the rules of a pop song. I think that's why songs like this just don't rise to greatness: there's not much of an individual voice and they tend to pander. That's why John Lennon snarked at McCartney with "How Do You Sleep."

Lennon went too far in the other direction, just dumping his personal angst and political views into songs. I get tired pretty quickly of solo John: it was all about him and he indulged himself quite a bit. It really is a shame that they couldn't put their personal squabbles aside and work together again, even if only occasionally. 
 ThePoose wrote:
Hooky and melodious--but otherwise, why play this, Bill?

 
That's all the reason anyone needs to play a song.
One of the first albums I bought on my own...
I like it.  Very 70s.
{#Bananapiano}{#Bananapiano}{#Bananapiano} ........... is a 10
 aelfheld wrote:
This song sucked wind in 1973.

Venerability does not reduce its horridness.

 
Indubitably
I realize I'm the minority here with this opinion...but this song always seemed a bit disjointed and like two separate tunes. Almost as if it were filler for a band of this caliber. It's ok. But that's about it...ok.
Hooky and melodious--but otherwise, why play this, Bill?
An old favorite from 8th and 9th grade. 
 
My 2nd wife played this for breakfast lunch and dinner..that tells the story of that marriage..
Long time ago in a land far far away..
Still a 10, the song not the ex. 
Every time I hear this I am taken back to high school....

Along with "Rubber Bullets" by 10CC 
the first part of this song is soooooooooo bad

as jack black said in "high fidelity"


 Barry: Rob, top five musical crimes perpetuated by Stevie Wonder in the '80s and '90s. Go. Sub-question: is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins, is it better to burn out or fade away?
14 again {#Dance}  Big ten!
Yep, always liked it, always will.
 lily34 wrote:
i love love love this. takes me back to early childhood.

 
Agreed!
i love love love this. takes me back to early childhood.
Brings back memories of being at a friend's house and hearing the record for the first time in its entirety, maybe a few months after this one and "Jet" were all over the radio...his parents had got it for him as a present...we were just 11 or 12; the killer bass really rocked our world! We loved -- and I still feel this way -- how this thing had so many changes, so many cool shifts...and a movie-like interesting story. A gem!
 westslope wrote:

Lennon was mediocre?    Wash your mouth out with a bar of soap young man!  

Do love George's material.



 
Yes he was mostly. He was also a bit up his own ass...white piano, imagine that.
"And the jailer man and Sailor Sam were searching every one."
I hate to judge his Knightship's work, but this is just plain stupid music.
Alright, it has a good hook: Rating: 2
 johnjconn wrote:
must be a new one, never heard it before

 
Good one...
 ottojschlosser wrote:
40 years of overplay and counting

 
I hope you're having fun!
40 years of overplay and counting
 aelfheld wrote:
This song sucked wind in 1973.

Venerability does not reduce its horridness.

 
Agree 100%
Awful in 1973 - Awful in 2013
I hope youre having fun ! Great song, thanks RP !
 
 Lazarus wrote:

Everybody in my church loves this song...


 


Everybody in my church loves this song...

Nice to hear this on RP.  I know it's overplayed on Classic Rock Radio - but I never listen to commercial radio anymore.

This song, and this entire album, are soooo good for the ears...
 




 Johray63 wrote:

They all have done more or less what could be expected, when you listen to the Beatles, in which they also did things apart from each-other. But together they were unbeatable. They also had the roaring 60s on their side. I think they only could've reach those kind of commercial and artistically heights in that era. 
 
I think inovative things has to be considered always in the context of time. Maybe the Beatles today would have the same success when inventing something totally new and using the most recently developed techniques...?? It has nothing to do with the 60s in particular!

Please play more McCartney!
 GT66 wrote:
It's funny how as separate entities the members of one of the greatest bands at the time were all fairly mediocre to awful. George was the only one that maintained a decent level of quality on par with his work in the Beatles (IMO).
 
They all have done more or less what could be expected, when you listen to the Beatles, in which they also did things apart from each-other. But together they were unbeatable. They also had the roaring 60s on their side. I think they only could've reach those kind of commercial and artistically heights in that era. 
40 years!! still a great song... love it like Abbey Road medley
 GT66 wrote:
It's funny how as separate entities the members of one of the greatest bands at the time were all fairly mediocre to awful. George was the only one that maintained a decent level of quality on par with his work in the Beatles (IMO).
 

Lennon was mediocre?    Wash your mouth out with a bar of soap young man!  

Do love George's material.


 natural_tools wrote:
Was this pieced together from three or four different song ideas? I never understood this one.
 
Typical McCartney of the era...think 'Live and Let Die' too.
10 all the way....
It's funny how as separate entities the members of one of the greatest bands at the time were all fairly mediocre to awful. George was the only one that maintained a decent level of quality on par with his work in the Beatles (IMO).

One of Wings' best songs.

I like Abba, and Coldplay.  So digging this isn't a big stretch.

 

Besides Sir Paul is such a class act and so generous to his audiences and fans.  


It seems sort of odd hearing this tune on RP - not necessarily a bad thing, though I still hear it on terrestrial radio pretty often during the ride home from work.
Was this pieced together from three or four different song ideas? I never understood this one.
To think this has a lower rating than that horrendous Suzanne Vega song I just heard is a true mind bender.
10 all the way.
{#Bananapiano}
Brings back memories of being 10 and getting the album.  Good stuff.
This song sucked wind in 1973.

Venerability does not reduce its horridness.
Great song.