Shortly after the Band On The Run album was released, McCartney told Melody Maker: "The basic idea about the band on the run is a kind of prison escape. At the beginning of the album the guy is stuck inside four walls, and eventually breaks out. There is a thread, but it's not a concept album."
Asked if this was a reference to Wings escaping from The Beatles, he replied: "Sort of – yeah. I think most bands on tour are on the run."
Paul McCartney combined pieces of different songs to make this one. The Beatles did a lot of this on their Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road albums, since it provided a way to use unfinished songs. "A Day In The Life" is a good example of two Beatles songs combined to make one.
During a lengthy meeting with executives at The Beatles' Apple Records, George Harrison complained, "If I ever get out of this house." McCartney remembered the line and used it years later in this song. (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England)
McCartney recorded the album in Lagos, Nigeria along with his wife Linda and guitarist Denny Laine. The other Wings decided not to make the trip, which worked out fine in the end: McCartney considers the album his best post-Beatles work. He told Word in 2005: "I was on drums and guitar a lot, mainly because the drummer decided to leave the group the night before and one of the guitar players decided not to come! So we got that solo element into an otherwise 'produced' album."
This song was used to nice effect in the movie The Killing Fields, where a young woman with a transistor radio listens to this in the wake of a brutal US bombing of a Cambodian village when suspected rebels are being rounded up and shot. The song exemplified the contrast between the sort of druggy, frivolous Pop culture of the 1970s West and the stark realities of the Third World at the same time.
"R U Mine?" • "Shepherd of Fire" • "Something from Nothing" • "Back to the Shack" • "Rize of the Fenix" • "I Still Believe" • "Divide" • "Run for Cover" • "Throne" • "Mona Lisa" • "The Reflex" • "Move Over" • "Would You Still Be There" • "Sugar, You" • "Cowboys From Hell (Live from Monsters in Moscow Festival)" • "Summertime Boy" • "What If I Was Nothing" • "High Road" • "September" • "Backwards Company" • "One Big Holiday" • "Jane" • "Gimme Chocolate!!" • "King for a Day" • "Rebellion" • "All the Rage Back Home" • "The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles" • "My Own Eyes" • "Don't Wanna Fight" • "Failure" • "Trainwreck 1979" • "Follow Me Down" • "Cryin" • "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)" • "Eat The Rich" • "Love In An Elevator" • "Seasons of Wither" • "Rats in the Cellar" • "People Are People" • "What You Need" • "Always Something There To Remind Me" • "Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress)" • "Lust for Life" • "Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)" • "Like A Stone" • "Awake" • "Lying From You" • "Sing" • "Riptide" • "Shut Up and Dance" • "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love" • "Runnin' With The Devil" • "Hot For Teacher" • Dance The Night Away" • "And The Cradle Will Rock..." • "Unchained" • "Dreams" • "Electric Love" • "Cocoon" • "First" • "Renegades" • "The Coma Machine" • "Heir Apparent" • "Nevermore" • "Ex's and Oh's" • "Irresistible" • "Stitches" • "Different Colors" • "Can't Feel My Face" • "Adventure of a Lifetime" • "On My Mind" • "What Do You mean?" • "Drag Me Down" • "Leave The Night On" • "Thank God for Girls"
"The Vengeful One" • "Immortalized" • "Warrior" • "My Wave" • "Wicked Garden" • "Hunger Strike" • "Get Lucky" • "Heartbeat Song" • "Hey Ya!" • "Locked Out of Heaven" • "Treasure" • "Dancing With Myself" • "Love Stinks" • "I Hate Myself For Loving You" • "speed fighter" • "Still The One" • "Got Your Six" • "Thunder & Lightning" • "Figure It Out" • "Chicken Fried" • "Homegrown" • "The Wind" • "What Makes You Beautiful" • "Never Enough" • "Best Song Ever" • "Story of My Life" • "Zombie" • "Dreams" • "Ode To My Family" • "She Looks So Perfect" • "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)" • "Everybody Talks" • "Blown Away" • "That's My Kind Of Night" • "House Party" • "Day Late Dollar Short" • "Lodger" • "The Heist" • "Blink" • "Signs" • "What's Your Favorite Dinosaur?" • "Synthesized (Inside Your Mind Mix)" • "No Mercy" • "Seven" • "Cake By The Ocean" • "Stressed Out" • "The Hills" • "Sorry" • "Boyfriend" • "Love Yourself" • "Redneck" • "What I Like About You" • "Dope Noise" • "Don't Do Me Like That" • "Learning To Fly" • "Breakfast At Tiffany's" • "Take Me To Church" • "Found Out About You" • "Hey Jealousy" • "We're Not Gonna Take It" • "Cherry Pie" • "Hook" • "Famous Last Words" • "All These Things That I've Done" • "Africa" • "Lips Of An Angel" • "Where Is My Mind?" • "Rock This Town" • "Jumper" • "Uptown Girl" • "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" • "Pompeii" • "I Gotta Feeling" • "Mr. Jones" • "Blurred Lines" • "Heaven Is A Place on Earth" • "Bad Catholics" • "If You Could Only See" • "Everything You Want" • "I'm Yours" • "Starships" • "What About Love?" • "Seventeen" • "Dirt Road Anthem" • "All For You" • "Dystopia" • "Road To Nowhere" • "The Devil In I" • "The Sound Of Silence" • "HandClap" • "Happy Song" • "Safe and Sound" • "Save Tonight" • "Sweater Wheater" • "Little Talks" • "Happy" • "Chandelier" • "Feel Invincible" • "King of the World" • "Hold My Hand" • "Only Wanna Be With You" • "Let Her Cry" • "Lovesong" • "Time After Time" • "She Drives Me Crazy" • "Complicated" • "My Happy Ending" • "What The Hell" • "24K Magic" • "Hymn for the Weekend" • "Still Breathing" • "Heathens" • "Ride" • "Royals" • "All About That Bass" • "The Greatest" • "Shadow" • "Bethany" • "Black Streak" • "I Recognize" • "Never Let 'Em Hold Ya Back" • "True Confessional" • "Mean Girls" • "Hours of Rats" • "Pain Killer" • "Closer, Closer" • "Constant Disaster" • "Black Corridor" • "Angel" • "Crazy" • "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" • "Janie's Got A Gun" • "Livin' On The Edge" • "Rag Doll"
"R U Mine?" • "Shepherd of Fire" • "Something from Nothing" • "Back to the Shack" • "Rize of the Fenix" • "I Still Believe" • "Divide" • "Run for Cover" • "Throne" • "Mona Lisa" • "The Reflex" • "Move Over" • "Would You Still Be There" • "Sugar, You" • "Cowboys From Hell (Live from Monsters in Moscow Festival)" • "Summertime Boy" • "What If I Was Nothing" • "High Road" • "September" • "Backwards Company" • "One Big Holiday" • "Jane" • "Gimme Chocolate!!" • "King for a Day" • "Rebellion" • "All the Rage Back Home" • "The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles" • "My Own Eyes" • "Don't Wanna Fight" • "Failure" • "Trainwreck 1979" • "Follow Me Down" • "Cryin" • "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)" • "Eat The Rich" • "Love In An Elevator" • "Seasons of Wither" • "Rats in the Cellar" • "People Are People" • "What You Need" • "Always Something There To Remind Me" • "Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress)" • "Lust for Life" • "Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)" • "Like A Stone" • "Awake" • "Lying From You" • "Sing" • "Riptide" • "Shut Up and Dance" • "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love" • "Runnin' With The Devil" • "Hot For Teacher" • Dance The Night Away" • "And The Cradle Will Rock..." • "Unchained" • "Dreams" • "Electric Love" • "Cocoon" • "First" • "Renegades" • "The Coma Machine" • "Heir Apparent" • "Nevermore" • "Ex's and Oh's" • "Irresistible" • "Stitches" • "Different Colors" • "Can't Feel My Face" • "Adventure of a Lifetime" • "On My Mind" • "What Do You mean?" • "Drag Me Down" • "Leave The Night On" • "Thank God for Girls"
"The Vengeful One" • "Immortalized" • "Warrior" • "My Wave" • "Wicked Garden" • "Hunger Strike" • "Get Lucky" • "Heartbeat Song" • "Hey Ya!" • "Locked Out of Heaven" • "Treasure" • "Dancing With Myself" • "Love Stinks" • "I Hate Myself For Loving You" • "speed fighter" • "Still The One" • "Got Your Six" • "Thunder & Lightning" • "Figure It Out" • "Chicken Fried" • "Homegrown" • "The Wind" • "What Makes You Beautiful" • "Never Enough" • "Best Song Ever" • "Story of My Life" • "Zombie" • "Dreams" • "Ode To My Family" • "She Looks So Perfect" • "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)" • "Everybody Talks" • "Blown Away" • "That's My Kind Of Night" • "House Party" • "Day Late Dollar Short" • "Lodger" • "The Heist" • "Blink" • "Signs" • "What's Your Favorite Dinosaur?" • "Synthesized (Inside Your Mind Mix)" • "No Mercy" • "Seven" • "Cake By The Ocean" • "Stressed Out" • "The Hills" • "Sorry" • "Boyfriend" • "Love Yourself" • "Redneck" • "What I Like About You" • "Dope Noise" • "Don't Do Me Like That" • "Learning To Fly" • "Breakfast At Tiffany's" • "Take Me To Church" • "Found Out About You" • "Hey Jealousy" • "We're Not Gonna Take It" • "Cherry Pie" • "Hook" • "Famous Last Words" • "All These Things That I've Done" • "Africa" • "Lips Of An Angel" • "Where Is My Mind?" • "Rock This Town" • "Jumper" • "Uptown Girl" • "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" • "Pompeii" • "I Gotta Feeling" • "Mr. Jones" • "Blurred Lines" • "Heaven Is A Place on Earth" • "Bad Catholics" • "If You Could Only See" • "Everything You Want" • "I'm Yours" • "Starships" • "What About Love?" • "Seventeen" • "Dirt Road Anthem" • "All For You" • "Dystopia" • "Road To Nowhere" • "The Devil In I" • "The Sound Of Silence" • "HandClap" • "Happy Song" • "Safe and Sound" • "Save Tonight" • "Sweater Wheater" • "Little Talks" • "Happy" • "Chandelier" • "Feel Invincible" • "King of the World" • "Hold My Hand" • "Only Wanna Be With You" • "Let Her Cry" • "Lovesong" • "Time After Time" • "She Drives Me Crazy" • "Complicated" • "My Happy Ending" • "What The Hell" • "24K Magic" • "Hymn for the Weekend" • "Still Breathing" • "Heathens" • "Ride" • "Royals" • "All About That Bass" • "The Greatest" • "Shadow" • "Bethany" • "Black Streak" • "I Recognize" • "Never Let 'Em Hold Ya Back" • "True Confessional" • "Mean Girls" • "Hours of Rats" • "Pain Killer" • "Closer, Closer" • "Constant Disaster" • "Black Corridor" • "Angel" • "Crazy" • "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" • "Janie's Got A Gun" • "Livin' On The Edge" • "Rag Doll"
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