London Town (Wings song)

"London Town"
Single by Wings
from the album London Town
B-side "I'm Carrying"
Released 26 August 1978
Format 7"
Recorded February – March 1977
Genre Soft rock
Length 4:10
Label Parlophone/EMI (UK)
Capitol (US)
Songwriter(s) Paul McCartney
Denny Laine
Producer(s) Paul McCartney
Wings singles chronology
"I've Had Enough"
(1978)		 "London Town"
(1978)		 "Goodnight Tonight"
(1979)

"I've Had Enough"
(1978)		 "London Town"
(1978)		 "Goodnight Tonight"
(1979)

"London Town" is the title and opener track from Wings' 1978 album London Town. It was the third of three single releases from the LP.

Writing, recording and release

The song was written by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine in Perth, Australia, in late 1975 during the Wings Over the World tour. The recording features a lead vocal by Paul McCartney and backing vocals by Linda McCartney and Laine. A top 40 hit in the United States (number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100), the single peaked at number 43 in Canada and number 60 in the UK.[1][2][3] "London Town" also reached number 17 on the U.S. Easy Listening chart.[4]

Author Chris Ingham praised "London Town" as one of the best tracks on the album, stating that it was "full of the most sensitive pop synthesizer touches".[5] McCartney biographer Peter Ames Carlin called it "a pleasantly spaced-out perspective on city life".[6] Tom Waseleski of the Beaver County Times recognised the song as having "more substance" than other of McCartney's soft rock tracks.[7] Author Tim Riley calls it "willfully sulky".[8] Beatles biographers Roy Carr and Tony Tyler regard "London Town" as an "anachronism", with several Beatle-esque touches, including opening chords that sound like "Blackbird" and a chord progression similar to that in "The Fool on the Hill".[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Paul McCartney singles". allmusic. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
  2. ↑ "RPM 100 Singles". Library and Archives Canada. October 28, 1978. Retrieved 2013-12-11.
  3. ↑ "Official Charts: Paul McCartney". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 2011-10-13.
  4. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 157.
  5. ↑ Ingham, C. (2009). The Rough Guide to the Beatles (3rd ed.). Penguin. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-4053-8445-2.
  6. ↑ Carlin, P.A. (2010). Paul McCartney: A Life. Touchstone. p. 249. ISBN 1-4165-6210-9.
  7. ↑ Waseleski, T. (April 12, 1978). "Paul McCartney: His Return to Basics is Perfect". Beaver County Times. p. B-14. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
  8. ↑ Riley, T. (2002). Tell Me Why: The Beatles: Album By Album, Song By Song, The Sixties And After. Da Capo. p. 361. ISBN 978-0-306-81120-3.
  9. ↑ Carr, Roy & Tyler, Tony (1981). The Beatles: An Illustrated Record. Harmony Books. p. 125. ISBN 0-517-54493-8.
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