Wings Future Question
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How much longer do you think Wings would have lasted if Paul had not been busted and briefly sent to prison for marijuana possession in January 1980?
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Just finished reading Leslie-Ann Jones FLY AWAY PAUL subtitled something like how Paul McCartney Left the Beatles and found his Wings. She believes he was worn out with Wings and really didn’t want to keep it going, thus the bust/cancellation might have always happened due to unexpressed desire to have the whole thing end. That view is supported by his cooking up McCartney II during the summer of 1979. Interesting that the song “Wonderful Christmastime” came out for Christmas of that year and was credited to Paul McCartney. Meanwhile, on stage, he was doing that song as part of his Wings UK tour.
So it appears Wings was falling apart, a process helped along by cancelling the 1980 Japan Tour. -
Just rereading my hasty post and should not have used the word “always” when I meant almost as in her making the case that the demise of the Wings Japan was almost the result of an unexpressed of Sir Paul’s desire to end things with Wings as he subsequently did.
I remember thinking prior to the 1989 tour that the murder of John Lennon had permanently removed him from the road; i.e., touring. His doing the movie”Broad Street” seemed to reinforce and justify that view. Glad I was proven eventually wrong.
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The Japan bust wasn't really the end of Wings since there were tentative plans to tour the U.S. in the fall, depending on how McCartney II did. Had Denny not quit/been fired and Columbia hadn't rejected Wings' Cold Cuts album in 1981, I think Wings may have continued in some form, maybe without Juber and Holly since there didn't appear to be any touring plans. Paul didn't actually acknowledge the end of Wings until Tug of War came out in 1982.
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The Jones book on page 240 says that, in hindsight, “it’s hard to see Wings as anything more than an elaborate, self-indulgent experiment that facilitated his transition from Beatle to solo artist.” He wasn’t Icarus in that Paul ascended carefully and got rid of his Wings when he didn’t need them.
Tug of War evolved out of George Martin’s desire to work with Paul. Paul, in turn, invited Denny Laine to Martin’s Montserrat studio but without Wings members Steve Holley and Laurence Juber. When Laine returned home to England, word arrived that former 10cc star Eric Stewart was now working with Paul. Juber later said Paul wanted to work with Martin, and Martin with him but not within the context of Wings. Juber accepted the news in a more realistic fashion than Laine. -
Following the release of the disappointing Back to the Egg I'm not surprised he dissolved Wings.