|
Register Now!
|
|
Register now for vtap for the fastest and easiest way to watch web video on your mobile device!
|
|
"Mull of Kintyre" is a popular 1977 song by former Beatle Paul McCartney and his band Wings. The song was penned by McCartney and bandmate Denny Laine in tribute to the picturesque Kintyre peninsula in Argyll, Scotland, where McCartney had owned a home and recording studio since the late 1960s.
The lyrics are an ode to the area's natural beauty and sense of home: :Oh mist rolling in from the sea, :Oh Mull of Kintyre
McCartney explained how the song came into being:
The song was recorded in August 1977 as part of the sessions for what would become the London Town album. Bagpipes from Kintyre's local Campbeltown Pipe Band were a prominent part of the recording. The advancement of Linda McCartney's pregnancy brought a halt to the overall sessions, and "Mull of Kintyre", backed with Double A-side "Girls School", was released as a single on 11 November 1977 independently of any album.
Its broad appeal was maximised by the pre-Christmas release and it became a Christmas number one single in the UK, spending 9 weeks at the top. It also became a massive international hit, dominating the charts in Australia and many other countries over the holiday period. It went on to become the first single to sell over two million copies in the UK, earning McCartney the first ever 'rhodium disc' and becoming the UK's best-selling single of all-time (eclipsing The Beatles' own "She Loves You") until overtaken by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas" in 1984 (which also featured Paul on the B-Side). The song remains the UK's best-selling completely non-charity single. (Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" has sold more in its two releases, but the profits of the 1991 release went to charity.) blank">http://ukcharts.20m.com/bestsell.html
One place where it was not a major hit was the _United States, where it only managed to make it to #33 in the Billboard Hot 100, and that was as "Girls School", not Mull Of Kintyre. As a consequence, McCartney has not played "Mull of Kintyre" during his subsequent concert tours of America, only adding it back on forays into Canada. The millionth copy of the disk sold in the UK included a special certificate. It was sold to David Ackroyd, who was presented with a gold disk of the single by Denny Laine.
The song has been parodied by Frank Sidebottom as "Mull of Timperley".
It was adopted soon after release by fans of popular football clubs in the United Kingdom.






