Friday, January 7, 2011

Paul McCartney & Wings: Sally G

Late post today as we were moving into our new digs. Being that it is the first Friday of the new year, our new feature for the beginning of the weekend is Friday Flipsides. Some of the flipsides we will feature were double sided hits, some actually out positioned the “A” side, and some are just really great songs.

In 1974, Paul McCartney and Wings travelled to Nashville to cut a few tunes. This session produced the single “Junior’s Farm” and its flipside “Sally G.” While “Junior’s Farm” peaked at #3, “Sally G” garnered enough airplay to place at #17 on the Hot 100 and #51 on the country charts. It was written after Paul McCartney had gone out to hear some country music in Nashville. Feeling inspired, he quickly penned our feature tune.

It is obviously very heavily influenced by country music and several well known Nashville session musicians play on this cut including Lloyd Green on peddle steel guitar and Vassar Clements and Johnny Gimble on the twin fiddles. I always preferred this side to “Junior’s Farm.”

Issued as Apple 1875, it was McCartney’s last single for The Beatles’ own record label. His follow-up single, “Walking through the Park with Eloise” under the name of The Country Hams was on the EMI label and the subsequent Wings’ single, “Listen to what the Man Said” was released by Capitol Records. For 19 years, “Sally G” was only available as the single release. It did not appear on an album until 1993.




1 comment:

  1. Sally G. is a fantastic song. Its counterpart, in both subject matter and musically, is the equally fantastic b-side to 1979s "Goodnight Tonight" - "Daytime Nighttime Suffering" - which Paul has singled out as one of his personal favorites.

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