Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run

Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Ted Widmer

Before reading this book, I didn't know much about Wings. I knew McCartney's post-Beatles band sang "Live and Let Die". I could also hum the corus for "Band on the Run". That was about it. This story is somewhere between an oral history and a narrative book. It starts with Paul and his wife retreating to the countryside to escape the limelight at the end of the Beatles era. However, the music bug will just not die. Paul does some work with studio musicians and then Wings came about as a relatively stable thing. There was a time there where they would do a "pop up tour" - going from city to city and playing a show with minimal advanced warning. I have trouble fathoming how there would not be crazy support for an ex-Beatle showing up in town. This would only have been possible in the days before cell phones and social media. Later they evolved to more traditional tours. These were always family affairs, with mom and dad in the band and the kids coming along from city to city. Wings got more popular. Then things came crashing down when Paul was busted for marijuana possession in Japan. The Beatles were a 60s band. Wings were a 70s band. Both pretty much ended as their representative decade ended. I found the story compelling even though I knew little about the band.