Mull Of Kintyre

Year: 1977

Written By: Paul McCartney, Denny Laine

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'Mull of Kintyre' was written by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine. After being written, it was performed by Wings. To date, it is Wings' biggest hit in the UK, holding the Christmas number one position. It made history, by being the first single to sell over two million copies in the UK. The song was recorded in August 1977 and later released on November 11, 1977

The song is a tribute to the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland. The idea of the song possibly came from the fact that McCartney has owned High Park Farm since 1966, and its headland or Mull of Kintyre. Dedication to the beauty of Kintyre can be seen in the lyrics where it says, 'My desire is always to be here oh Mull of Kintyre.

McCartney later explained and confirmed why the song was written, he said he 'came up with a song about where we were living; an area called Mull of Kintyre. It was a love song really, about how I enjoyed being there'.

'Mull of Kintyre' was a massive success in the UK achieving both Christmas number one and in total spending nine weeks as the UK number one. The song also had a lot of international success, being number one in Australia, Austria, Holland, Germany and Switzerland.   Although a hit in these countries, it was not quite as successful in the United States, it did still however, reach number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100. The performance this song had in the U.S charts is possibly the reason for why Paul McCartney has never played the song on any of his concert tours in America. It to date, still remains the UK's best-selling non-charity single (Although, Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" has sold more in its two releases, but the profits of the 1991 release went to charity.)

The popularity of the song has led to it being adopted by several football clubs in the UK and led to it being slightly adapted by the club. For example Nottingham Forest F.C adapted it with their own line being, 'City Ground, Oh mist rolling in from the Trent, my desire, is always to be here, oh City Ground'. A parody of 'Mull of Kintyre' has also been made; it was done by Frank Sidebottom and called 'Mull of Timperley'.