226 Hello Wings - Give Ireland Back To The Irish

Chart  entered : 26  February  1972

Chart  peak : 16

Number  of  hits : 21

In  the  middle  of  1971   Paul  McCartney  decided  that  he  now  wanted  to  work  from  within  a  group  once  again. Whether  this  was  a  response  to  the  critical  mauling  of  his  second  album  "Ram"  or  the  poor  performance  of  his  second  single  "Back  Seat  Of  My  Car"   in  the  charts  isn't  clear. He  would  be  the  undisputed  leader  and  his  under-talented  wife  Linda, an  irremovable  fixture  but  they  would  operate  as  a  proper  group  both  in  the  studio  and  on  tour.

His  first  recruit  was  New  York  session  drummer  Denny  Seiwell  who  had  played  on  "Ram". Guitarist  Hugh  McCracken  had  also  played  on  Ram  but  declined  the  invitation  upon  which Paul  got  on  the  phone  to  Denny  Laine.

Denny  L.  had  quit  The  Moody  Blues  in  October  1966  , frustrated  that  the  band  had  failed  to  capitalise  on  the  success  of  "Go  Now". He  formed  an  outfit  The  Electric String  Band  with  Move  guitarist  Trevor  Burton  and  drummer  Viv  Prince. The  name  came  from  their  use  of  amplified  string  instruments, a  move  that  did  not  go  un-noticed  by  colleagues  in  Burton's  main  band. Because  of  Burton's  contractual  commitments  the singles  had  to  come  out  under  Denny's  name.

The  first  "Say  You  Don't  Mind"  in  April  1967  is  a  neat  bit  of  Beatles-influenced  pop  with  Denny  now  sporting  round  spectacles  and  a  moustache. Denny  Cordell  produced  it  in  rather  grandiose  fashion. It's  better  known  in  Colin  Blunstone's  hit  version  with  an  acoustic  string  quartet  and  you  have  to  say  that's  the  better  version. The  follow-up  "Too  Much  In  Love"  in  January  1968  is  also  quite  interesting  sounding  like  Cat  Stevens  singing  with  The  Rolling  Stones  with  a  percussion  track  similar  to  Sympathy  For  The  Devil.

When  Trevor  left  The  Move  in  1969  he  and  Denny  formed  a  new  band  , stupidly  named Balls , with  guitarist  Steve  Gibbons. To  make  it  even  harder  for  themselves  their  only  single "Fight  For  My  Country"  , written  by  Burton,  was  six  minutes  long  and  sounds  like  a  harder-edged  Chicory  Tip  with  that  primitive  Moog  sound   running  through  it.

By  the  time  it  was  released  in  January 1971   the  band  had  already  dissolved  and  Denny  was  working  on  solo  material   when  he  got  the  phone  call  from  Macca. However  he  wasn't  stupid  and  grasped  the  opportunity  with  both  hands.

Paul  announced  the  formation  of  his  new  band  in  August  although  he  didn't  come  up  with  the  name  Wings  for  it  until  October. He  rushed  the  others  into  Abbey  Road  to  record  the  album  in  one  week  to  achieve  a  Dylan-esque  rawness  and  vitality  although  the  fact  that  three  of  the  eight  songs  are  over  five  minutes  in  length  suggests  that  aim  got  lost  somewhere  along  the  line. If  Paul  was  hoping  for  a  more  favourable  reception from  the  critics  he  was  to  be  sorely  disappointed. The  reviews  were  even  worse  than  those  for  "Ram".  And  deservedly  so; much  of  it  is  aimless  drivel. The  first  two  tracks  "Mumbo"  and  "Bip  Bap"  are  as  bad  as  anything  he's  recorded   and  the  pointless  reggae  cover  of  "Love  Is  Strange"  is  torpedoed  by  Mrs  Macca's  fingernail-down -a-blackboard  vocal  contribution. "Wild  Life"  has  a  good  guitar  solo  and  isn't  too  far  away  from  what  Pink  Floyd  were  doing  at  the  time  and  the  olive  branch  to  Lennon  "Dear  Friend"  predicates  The  Korgis'   Everybody's  Got  To  Learn  Sometimes  but  both  go  on   for   too  long. Disappointing   sales  which  saw  the  album   fall  just  short  of  the  Top 10  in  December  1971  persuaded   Paul to  abort  the  release   of  "Love  Is  Strange"  as  a  single.

In  January  1972  guitarist  Henry  McCullough  from  Northern  Ireland  was  added  to  the  line  up. Henry  had  played  guitar  in  bands  in  Northern  Ireland  as  a  teenager, the  last  of  which  was  called  The  People. They  relocated  to  London  in  1967  to  work  with  Chas  Chandler  who  renamed  them  The  Eire  Apparent.  In  January  1968  he  produced  their  debut  single  "Follow  Me"  and  it  does  owe  something  to  The  Animals  at  their  most  raucous  with  Henry's  guitar  slashes  almost  punk  in  their  attack  and  singer  Ernie  Graham   sounding  like  Eric  Burdon  minus  his  ability  to  sing  in  tune. The  A-side  was  written  by  members  of  the  Ivy  League  but  Henry  co-wrote  the  B side. His  time  in  the  band  ended  abruptly  just  months  later  when  he  was  deported  from  Canada  where  they  were  supporting Eric  Burdon  and  the  Animals  for  marijuana  possession. He  had  a  brief  spell  back  in  Ireland  with  the  folk  rock  group  Sweeney's  Men though  I  don't  think  he's  on  any  of  their  singles  before  returning  to  England  to  play  in  Joe  Cocker's  Grease  Band. He  played  with  Cocker  at  Woodstock. He  also  played  on  the  original  recording  of  Jesus  Christ  Superstar.

When  Cocker  dispensed  with  their  services , Henry  took  over  as  the  band's  vocalist  as  well  on  their  eponymous  1971  album  for  which  he  wrote  half  the  tracks. I  haven't  heard  the  full  album  but  what  I  have  is  competent  but  uninspiring  blues  rock  with  Henry's  whiney  voice  a  negative  factor. It  made  little  impression  making  it  an  easy  decision  for  Henry  to  jump ship  ( though  he  was  back  in  time  for  their  second  and  final  album  in  1975 ).  Wings  immediately  went  out  on  a  university  tour  with  a  set  that  included  no  Beatles  songs.

On  30  January  1972  British  troops  shot  and  killed  fourteen  innocent  people  who  were  attending  a  civil  rights  march  in  Derry  in  the  event   known  as  Bloody  Sunday, the  single  most  effective  recruiting  tool  for  the  IRA  over  the  next  two  decades. Within  two  days  Paul  had  written  "Give  Ireland  Back  To  The  Irish"  as  a  response.

Many  factors  probably  came  into  play  besides  genuine  shock  and  revulsion  to  a  man  of  Irish  descent. McCulloch  of  course  was  from  the  province  although  there's  no  credit  or  other  evidence  that  he  influenced  its  composition.  Wings  needed  an  "event   single"  after  the  underwhelming  performance  of  their  debut  album.  Such  a  politically  controversial  single  would  also   be  an  effective  rebuttal  to  a  certain  Mr  Lennon's  criticism  that  Paul  only  wrote  sentimental  slush. (Lennon  had  joined  a  London  protest  march  about  the  deployment  of  British  soldiers  in  August  1971 ) Perhaps  he   wanted  to  test  the  limits  of  his  status, see  if  the  BBC  would  dare  to  put  a  ban  on  someone  of  his  stature; the  Beatles  had  sailed  close  to  the  wind  on  a  few  occasions  but  had  never  had  a  record  blacklisted.  He  was  probably  also  mindful  of  the  example  set  by  Crosby, Stills, Nash  and  Young  whose  "Ohio"  single  in  response  to  the  Kent  State  shootings  of  1970  still  sizzles  with  incandescent  fury  nearly  45  years  after  the  event.

It  has  to  be  said  that  "Give  Ireland  Back  To  The  Irish"  shrivels  and  dies  next  to  that  one. Firstly  the  lyrics  are  woolly-headed  tripe  that  a  twelve  year  old  could  have  written, with  zero  awareness  of  the  complexities  of  the  situation. The  fact  that  Paul's  never  returned  to the  subject  in  word  or  deed  since  hasn't  helped  its  reputation. Secondly  there's  another  grating  contribution  from  Linda  on  the  chorus  to  navigate. Otherwise it's  not  bad  musically  with  Henry's  choppy  guitar  giving  them  a  bite  that  was  missing  from  the  songs  on  "Wild  Life"  and  set  something  of  a  pattern  for  their  music  of  upfront  rocky  choruses  and   minor  key  melodic  verses. The  BBC  did  ban  it  and  I've  still  never  heard  it  on  the  radio.