The drummer on Wings’ 1973 album ‘Band on the Run’ was none other than Paul McCartney. Paul and his wife Linda were bored with recording in the UK, and decided they wanted to try a studio in a different locale. From a list of EMI’s international recording studios, they chose Lagos in Nigeria as the place to record the ‘Band on the Run’ album. In addition to the McCartneys, guitarist/pianist/vocalist Denny Laine, lead guitarist Henry McCullough and drummer Denny Seiwell were scheduled for the trip. However, a few weeks before departing, McCullough quit Wings in Scotland and Seiwell quit the night before the departure. This left only the core members, Paul, Linda and Denny Laine, to go to Lagos and record the album as a trio. Without a drummer, McCartney took it upon himself to handle the drumming duties.
This was by no means the first time Paul had played drums on a recording. He played all of the drums on his 1970 ‘McCartney’ solo album as well as on a few Beatles songs including “The Ballad of John & Yoko”, “Back in the USSR”, and “Dear Prudence”.
September 13th, 2009 at 8:07 am
Interesting picture of The Mac, He is playing the drums right handed.
Cheers,
Mick (the left handed drummer)
November 9th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Ringo is left handed too, and he plays the drums right-handed.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
@Ellie, that’s true. It’s mentioned in this post http://beatlestrivia.com/which-of-the-beatles-were-left-handed . Everyone, thanks for the comments.
July 1st, 2010 at 3:30 pm
I read in a book once that said the only “Paul” song on the “White Album” that Ringo played drums on was “O bla di, O bla da”. All the other “Paul” songs he (Paul) played his own percussion. This lead to Ringo being the first to quit the band and also why Paul had his drumset decked out with flowers when Ringo agreed to return. Both of them let the rest of the world think that Paul only played drums on USSR, Ballad of J&Y and Prudence. Go back & listen close and you’ll hear that’s not Ringo on songs like “Birthday”, “Martha My Dear” or “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road”.
February 13th, 2011 at 5:22 am
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June 8th, 2011 at 9:42 am
Robert, where did you read that? I’ve never heard that claim before.
November 2nd, 2011 at 7:59 am
You shouldn’t believe everything you read Robert. Listen closely instead. “Birthday” is most definitely Ringo. Martha My Dear could be Paul. WDWDIITR is Paul. Dear Prudence, I think is the most offensive Beatles myth out there because not only is it Ringo, it’s one of his best performances. Paul COULD NOT have done that.