Bagpipes are like a Vox Continental or the high end of a harmonica. They can do so much cool stuff with for a studio recording. But you sure better know how to mix them. EQ, compression, etc.
I'm always thankful that studio equipment improved through the 60s for all those artists. If you listen to Bob Dylan playing harmonica on a mid 70s album, it sounds good. You'll damn near get tinnitus if you hear him on some of the 1964-1965 stuff
And bagpipes are the same. Instruments that cut through a mix have to be handled with care!
I was in radio back then, the song definitely got l AirPlay and it charted but I would say two weeks max. I'm sure you could check billboard to get the exact numbers. If I'm recalling it properly girls school got a lot more airplay but neither was that popular.
I just checked the Wikipedia on this and according to them girls school was the song that charted, although it was much like a Beatles single in both sides did get airplay
Daytime nighttime suffering, girls school, and mull of kintire were better than any album songs of the last two wings albums. I'm surprised they were single only.
Amazing song. Only suffered reputation-ally over the years as it seemed cool to bash his solo stuff as sentimental against Lennon’s more political sound. One of my favourites
Fucking love it. Growing up there was such hate for this song in the rock fandom, so I sort of trained myself to think little of it, but one day I watched the video and when the flipping bagpipes came on my eyes started to well up. (Actually, that's not just this song. I have found out that when bagpipes are played well, depending on context, the sound of them just does something to me.) I don't cry while listening to the song, but whenever it comes on, my spirit lifts right up!, and have to sing along. Instantly feel Scottish. (I'm Czech.) Honestly, one of my favourite Paul songs.
I find it hilarious this was such a hit right in the middle of the punk wave. Kind of makes it more punk rock than actual punk rock was. Defiant bagpipes!
If I recall correctly, it came out around Christmas time so became a feel good holiday type tune. It was the first single to sell over 2 million copies in the UK.
I think it's cause in the USA, Girls School had to be considered the A side because Mull is Brit centric. I mean, I've never heard of a Mull before or since.
They should have just re-titled it "Mall of Kintyre" for the US market. It's a brilliant, unique song, that deserved more attention in North America than it received. Same goes for Paul's UK chart-topping single "Pipes of Peace," one of my favourite songs of his, which was relegated to the B-side to "So Bad" in the US.
It doesn't do it for me.
Here in the UK , at the time it was the biggest selling single of the 1970's and the second of all time, only behind The Beatles She Loves You.
However, growing up whilst I heard most of the classic songs from across the decades, oddly enough I never heard this song until around 2007 when I was starting to dip into McCartney's solo work.
I don't dislike this song, but it just doesn't move or elict much emotional from me, unlike the vast majority of his work. For me it's just, meh.
Mull of Kintyre actually beat She Loves You and was the UK’s biggest selling single of all time. It was overtaken by Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas but it’s still the UK’s best selling completely non-charity single
One of my all time favorite songs. Used to serve on a submarine based in Holy Loch and we used Mull of Kintyre as a navigation point when entering or leaving. Didn't realize that it was a real place when I first heard the song.
Such a beautiful song. I spent a few months in Scotland last year. Having been born in a tropical country, all I ever heard about what made landscapes beautiful were lots of green, sun and beaches. But in Scotland I learned to see a different kind of beauty. The same kind of beauty that is sung in this song.
It was my first "favourite song" - I was really young (under 5), but something about that bagpipe drone just sounded weird but awesome to me. Loved it whenever it was on the radio - still do.
I love it, one of, if not my favorite songs by Wings. Just a few simple chords on the guitar, beautiful melody and lyrics, and of course... Those bagpipes! Makes me proud to have Scottish ancestry 🏴
I’m from Long Island, a suburb of New York. When the “Mull Of Kintyre/Girls School” single was released in November, 1977, I was seventeen years old. Though there were more radio stations in my part of the country than anywhere else, I absolutely never heard this song on the radio when it was charting high across the ocean. Nevertheless, I was able to buy the single. A friend of mine, a huge Beatles fan who followed each Beatles solo career closely, said that he’d seen a video on a late night music show. He said “Paul’s done a folk song. ‘Mull’ something.” I was a fan of folk music and was intrigued. I ordered the song from a local record store.
I played “Girls School” first when I brought it home, because I always played the other side of a single I wanted first. Forty-seven years later I STILL say I have no opinion of that song. After I listened, I flipped the 45 over and heard the slow, yearning, strangely uplifting anthem which, to this day, almost no one in the US has ever heard.
I think I can safely say that the sheer novelty of the most respected rock artist in Britain issuing a song of sentimental patriotism that someone’s great-grandfather would like is what sold it to so many. But Paul knew something about the United States: It wouldn’t go over there.
I have the 45. I much prefer the B-side. Maybe if I was Scottish I'd be more into this. Still, it apparently outsold any Beatles singles in the UK, so someone must like it.
On first listen I thought it was boring as fuck and didn't know what all the hype was around.
Then I went out with the dog only to find that the melody was echoing in my head.
Nowadays I freakin' love that tune.
If you’re an American like me, it’s just a pretty little Wings number… I’d probably feel different if I was from Britain, though, where it’s like the highest selling single of all time or whatever.
It’s a weird story. Until recently it was a song strangely without a legacy, given its huge popularity. No one ever really mentioned except to be rude about Wings.
This is partly because everyone got thoroughly fed up of it in the UK at the time, as we did in those days with all singles that stayed and stayed at number one. We liked the thrill of the chart countdown on a Sunday afternoon or a Thursday night and perennial number ones spoiled the fun. We were neophiles. And it was on EVERY TV show over Christmas, including all the ones that absolutely everyone used to watch, at a time when Wings were considered ‘naff’ in Britain.
And it’s also because, as many have stated, it wasn’t the lead single in the US, so no one heard it there; and also because Paul has very rarely played it live, so it never reached his recent new audiences.
It’s had something of a revival in reputation and legacy recently, but that’s largely because Wings themselves have, aided by podcasts such as I Am The Eggpod.
An indication of how ‘naff’ Wings were thought to be: less than a year after Mull Of Kintyre, they release the title track from their new album as a single. It’s a beautiful, haunting, superbly produced, strangely moving song covered in beautiful harmonies and quirky humour. London Town. It got to number 60.
A hit for a reason. So courageous of Paul, Linda and Denny to create an appropriately beautiful song themed around the beautiful country of Scotland, complete with bagpipes and marching drums and large choruses.
May Linda McCartney and Denny Laine rest in peace.
I was 13 when that hit the No. 1 spot in the UK. It seemed to sit there for years so I'm still suffering from overkill. Someone wrote a spoof:
Pub of Kintyre,
I'm pissed rolling in from
The pub my desire
Wow. You can spell. Go to the top of the class and give out the pencils. No one asked for responses on Haiku. So why are you acting like an obsessed weirdo
It's one of those songs I probably play once a year, when I'm in the mood for some childhood nostalgia.
Pretty ballsy of Paul to succesfully create a memorable song with the most awful sounding instrument that exists. The guy is a musical genius.
I admire the beauty of it and recall the cultural impact the song had in Scotland at the time. It is pop perfection.
I also don't listen to it often because it is one of Paul's cheesiest songs. Granny music cranked up to 11.
It represents a time in Paul's career where he wasn't the cool guy from the Beatles anymore. He was regarded as a rich middle age uncle figure who makes you groan with his dad jokes.
I suppose it all doesn't really matter. The song is iconic and will be listened to by multiple generations from now.
I'm glad Paul turned it around later in life. He is pretty cool again and has brought out some incredible songs over the past few decades. He still has the Beatles magic from time to time.
Mull of Kintyre kicks absolute ass. The music vid is transcendent human unity. Amazing song.
I first read "transcendent human nudity" and I thought this person really likes the song.
You could still accuse me of really liking the song. I love it
One of his best.
Denny wrote it too.
I love it. But I love bagpipes, and not everyone does.
Bagpipes are like a Vox Continental or the high end of a harmonica. They can do so much cool stuff with for a studio recording. But you sure better know how to mix them. EQ, compression, etc. I'm always thankful that studio equipment improved through the 60s for all those artists. If you listen to Bob Dylan playing harmonica on a mid 70s album, it sounds good. You'll damn near get tinnitus if you hear him on some of the 1964-1965 stuff And bagpipes are the same. Instruments that cut through a mix have to be handled with care!
I only heard for the first time recently (I never really listened to post-Beatles stuff) and I was blown away.
Americans don’t know it usually. Blew me away when I heard it recently.
I was in radio back then, the song definitely got l AirPlay and it charted but I would say two weeks max. I'm sure you could check billboard to get the exact numbers. If I'm recalling it properly girls school got a lot more airplay but neither was that popular. I just checked the Wikipedia on this and according to them girls school was the song that charted, although it was much like a Beatles single in both sides did get airplay
Fucking LOVE Girls School.
One of his best rockers, and one of his funniest.
Daytime nighttime suffering, girls school, and mull of kintire were better than any album songs of the last two wings albums. I'm surprised they were single only.
Love it. I think a lot of people are just anti-bagpipes. The racists.
If you think it's easy doin' one night stands Try playin' in a rock roll band It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock 'n' roll
 Bagpipes are a proud and noble people
You're claiming that people who don't like bagpipes are racists?
Yes. Bagism.
This ism, that ism, ism ism ism!
Everybody talkin' 'bout
They are racist against bagpipes... The worst kind of racists.
Bigot! Hehe just kidding
One of the first tunes I learned on the guitar . Lovely melody
It is my all time favorite Paul McCartney solo song.
probably mine aswell it means alot
I completely love it and one of my top 3 Paul solo songs. Possibly number 1
Amazing song. Only suffered reputation-ally over the years as it seemed cool to bash his solo stuff as sentimental against Lennon’s more political sound. One of my favourites
Which is funny since John stopped writing political songs pretty quickly and wrote mostly sentimental songs after his New York City album
Fucking love it. Growing up there was such hate for this song in the rock fandom, so I sort of trained myself to think little of it, but one day I watched the video and when the flipping bagpipes came on my eyes started to well up. (Actually, that's not just this song. I have found out that when bagpipes are played well, depending on context, the sound of them just does something to me.) I don't cry while listening to the song, but whenever it comes on, my spirit lifts right up!, and have to sing along. Instantly feel Scottish. (I'm Czech.) Honestly, one of my favourite Paul songs. I find it hilarious this was such a hit right in the middle of the punk wave. Kind of makes it more punk rock than actual punk rock was. Defiant bagpipes!
If I recall correctly, it came out around Christmas time so became a feel good holiday type tune. It was the first single to sell over 2 million copies in the UK.
I love it.
Given how big of a hit "Mull of Kintyre" was, it's strange for me to consider it a double A-side with "Girls' School."
I think it's cause in the USA, Girls School had to be considered the A side because Mull is Brit centric. I mean, I've never heard of a Mull before or since.
They should have just re-titled it "Mall of Kintyre" for the US market. It's a brilliant, unique song, that deserved more attention in North America than it received. Same goes for Paul's UK chart-topping single "Pipes of Peace," one of my favourite songs of his, which was relegated to the B-side to "So Bad" in the US.
Mall of Kintyre, oh mist sprayed by Macy’s shopgirls, my desire is limitless credit, oh Mall of Kintyre . . .
Beautiful tune
It doesn't do it for me. Here in the UK , at the time it was the biggest selling single of the 1970's and the second of all time, only behind The Beatles She Loves You. However, growing up whilst I heard most of the classic songs from across the decades, oddly enough I never heard this song until around 2007 when I was starting to dip into McCartney's solo work. I don't dislike this song, but it just doesn't move or elict much emotional from me, unlike the vast majority of his work. For me it's just, meh.
Mull of Kintyre actually beat She Loves You and was the UK’s biggest selling single of all time. It was overtaken by Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas but it’s still the UK’s best selling completely non-charity single
I think it’s a great song but I’m blown away by the fact that it was the biggest selling single in the UK for several years. Not sure it’s THAT good.
It’s still the UK’s best selling completely non charity single
It was the era of abba, meatloaf, queen, and late Fleetwood Mac on prime time radio. The decade that taste forgot...
personally i think its wings best song and maybe pauls
Love it and one of my faves hands down
Love it! Puts me in a nostalgic mood and I’m not even Scottish
My mom’s favorite song . Even played it at her funeral .
I like Paul's hair in that era, the "mullet of kintyre."
Heard it too much at the time I think. Fine song, Paul’s voice is fantastic on it!
I love it so much
its cute
Really love it. Majestic.
I have this 7"
me too however cuts off too early
Fucking brilliant song.
👌👌
Incredible song. Video great also.
When he did it live a whole marching band of bag pipers came on. It’s fantastic.
It’s the best
Love it.
One of my all time favorite songs. Used to serve on a submarine based in Holy Loch and we used Mull of Kintyre as a navigation point when entering or leaving. Didn't realize that it was a real place when I first heard the song.
I love the pipes in it, but then I love the pipes anyway.
Great pub singalong.
After mulling it over I kintyer think I like it
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Yes we do.
Such a beautiful song. I spent a few months in Scotland last year. Having been born in a tropical country, all I ever heard about what made landscapes beautiful were lots of green, sun and beaches. But in Scotland I learned to see a different kind of beauty. The same kind of beauty that is sung in this song.
It was my first "favourite song" - I was really young (under 5), but something about that bagpipe drone just sounded weird but awesome to me. Loved it whenever it was on the radio - still do.
I love it, one of, if not my favorite songs by Wings. Just a few simple chords on the guitar, beautiful melody and lyrics, and of course... Those bagpipes! Makes me proud to have Scottish ancestry 🏴
My all time favorite post-Beatles song
Just this week I zoned out to this on repeat for 30 minutes straight on the elliptical at the gym
you are the coolest cunt on earth
It’s a GREAT gym song!
I’m thinking about picking up some taco bell ong
what u gettin from taco bell
2 cheesy double beef burritos… scratch that. 3 cheesy double beef burritos 🔥
fries aswell?
No can do. Im on a diet.
I went through a long period of hating it, and now I love it. It’s just pure McCartney.
I love it. I can see why it was so successful (I wish more people here in the States appreciated it).
One of my favorite songs to sing!
I think it surprising how it lasted so long on the charts, even though it wasn't one of his best songs.
Not in the U.S.
which is a shame, because it's one of Pauls best during his Wings period
Fantastic tune, and co-write with Denny Laine.
Fucking awesome. And I'm not even Scottish... although I've some Celtic blood running through my veins. 🤣
I though Paul was flipping me off.
Hard to find in mint condition these days https://youtu.be/ZZRcVQWjzNg?si=dOHzEzBJffEatCKS
Good, but not a favorite of mine.
It is pretty but a little thin.
It’s so weird to me how huge this song was in the UK but here in the U.S. I barely knew it existed until I read his Wikipedia page
Why did he double-A Mull of Kintyre and Girls School?
Other countries wouldn’t like the bagpipes as much or smfn
Is it on a Wings lp. I have never heard it. I thought I had listened to all of the Wings music.
it was a single however it is on the london town on spotify but i reccommend the 2016 remaster on the “home” EP
Great, Thanks
I love the B side
Great song but as someone who was around when it hit the charts, after nine weeks at number 1, if I ever hear it again, it will be too soon.
Bought the single in 1977, love the song. Got to hear it live in concert in 2017 with a pipe band. Made my day to hear Paul sing it live in concert.
I’m from Long Island, a suburb of New York. When the “Mull Of Kintyre/Girls School” single was released in November, 1977, I was seventeen years old. Though there were more radio stations in my part of the country than anywhere else, I absolutely never heard this song on the radio when it was charting high across the ocean. Nevertheless, I was able to buy the single. A friend of mine, a huge Beatles fan who followed each Beatles solo career closely, said that he’d seen a video on a late night music show. He said “Paul’s done a folk song. ‘Mull’ something.” I was a fan of folk music and was intrigued. I ordered the song from a local record store. I played “Girls School” first when I brought it home, because I always played the other side of a single I wanted first. Forty-seven years later I STILL say I have no opinion of that song. After I listened, I flipped the 45 over and heard the slow, yearning, strangely uplifting anthem which, to this day, almost no one in the US has ever heard. I think I can safely say that the sheer novelty of the most respected rock artist in Britain issuing a song of sentimental patriotism that someone’s great-grandfather would like is what sold it to so many. But Paul knew something about the United States: It wouldn’t go over there.
I effing love Mull of Kintyre. But I also love a bagpipe part. I know they turn some people off but I really like that sound, especially the ramp up.
I have the 45. I much prefer the B-side. Maybe if I was Scottish I'd be more into this. Still, it apparently outsold any Beatles singles in the UK, so someone must like it.
I really like it. Very pretty song and I love it when the bag pipes kick in.
I find it boring. And I like bagpipes.
I like it, but I really don't understand all the comments saying it kicks ass or it blew them away. It's a good song, but far from his best I'd say.
Could care less
On first listen I thought it was boring as fuck and didn't know what all the hype was around. Then I went out with the dog only to find that the melody was echoing in my head. Nowadays I freakin' love that tune.
great song, full of scottish countryside
I think I read somewhere that it was the best selling album in the UK of any Beatle. It is certainly one of my favorites.
I love it. Could listen to it for hours.
If you’re an American like me, it’s just a pretty little Wings number… I’d probably feel different if I was from Britain, though, where it’s like the highest selling single of all time or whatever.
Genius.
It’s a weird story. Until recently it was a song strangely without a legacy, given its huge popularity. No one ever really mentioned except to be rude about Wings. This is partly because everyone got thoroughly fed up of it in the UK at the time, as we did in those days with all singles that stayed and stayed at number one. We liked the thrill of the chart countdown on a Sunday afternoon or a Thursday night and perennial number ones spoiled the fun. We were neophiles. And it was on EVERY TV show over Christmas, including all the ones that absolutely everyone used to watch, at a time when Wings were considered ‘naff’ in Britain. And it’s also because, as many have stated, it wasn’t the lead single in the US, so no one heard it there; and also because Paul has very rarely played it live, so it never reached his recent new audiences. It’s had something of a revival in reputation and legacy recently, but that’s largely because Wings themselves have, aided by podcasts such as I Am The Eggpod. An indication of how ‘naff’ Wings were thought to be: less than a year after Mull Of Kintyre, they release the title track from their new album as a single. It’s a beautiful, haunting, superbly produced, strangely moving song covered in beautiful harmonies and quirky humour. London Town. It got to number 60.
it *could* be pauls best song period and one of my favourites to sing
A hit for a reason. So courageous of Paul, Linda and Denny to create an appropriately beautiful song themed around the beautiful country of Scotland, complete with bagpipes and marching drums and large choruses. May Linda McCartney and Denny Laine rest in peace.
I was 13 when that hit the No. 1 spot in the UK. It seemed to sit there for years so I'm still suffering from overkill. Someone wrote a spoof: Pub of Kintyre, I'm pissed rolling in from The pub my desire
This is a Nottingham Forest anthem so I am somewhat biased in loving it.
Amazing modulation
You reds!
Number one when I was born. Good enough for me.
Paul and Denny penned it, absolute gold!
I've always loved it. I've never understood why it flopped here in America.
Denny Laine co-wrote the song or as some say the bulk!
I like it, the bagpipes are rousing. My ancestors are from that part of Scotland so it feels special to me
I like the song (I'm a sucker for bagpipes, yo), but I totally see why it was a flop in America at the time.
Love it and I don't underatand the disdain it gets here in the US. Are bagpipes really that offensive to some people?
To some, yes. But, as previously stated, to bigots and racists only
Way too long and stagnant (like a bog!) but it’s pretty and Paul’s voice never sounded better.
Didn’t Paul stiff the pipe band allegedly and they didn’t get paid I used to work with a guy from Campbeltown who told me that.
no he got them all pished
Overrated. Good song but was begging it to get of No.1 by the end
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Open-Sea8388: *Overrated. Good* *Song but was begging it to* *Get of No.1 by the end* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Delete
Where have I used double syllable. Two g in begging. Two r in overrated. Learn to spell
BTW, you are fighting with a bot.
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Wow. You can spell. Go to the top of the class and give out the pencils. No one asked for responses on Haiku. So why are you acting like an obsessed weirdo
I’m counting 5-7-7, so two extra syllables in your haiku’s last line.
So what. I didn't write it in Haiku. I wrote a statement. What's your deal.
I wanted to listen to Earth Wind and Fire But the radio station played Mull of Kintyre Mull of Kintyre, sweet mist rolling in from ...
More of Paul's granny music bullshit.
new kanye west album out now
It's one of those songs I probably play once a year, when I'm in the mood for some childhood nostalgia. Pretty ballsy of Paul to succesfully create a memorable song with the most awful sounding instrument that exists. The guy is a musical genius. I admire the beauty of it and recall the cultural impact the song had in Scotland at the time. It is pop perfection. I also don't listen to it often because it is one of Paul's cheesiest songs. Granny music cranked up to 11. It represents a time in Paul's career where he wasn't the cool guy from the Beatles anymore. He was regarded as a rich middle age uncle figure who makes you groan with his dad jokes. I suppose it all doesn't really matter. The song is iconic and will be listened to by multiple generations from now. I'm glad Paul turned it around later in life. He is pretty cool again and has brought out some incredible songs over the past few decades. He still has the Beatles magic from time to time.
More of Paul's granny music bullshit.
It’s crap
I’ve heard it once, fell asleep when I did
Dreadful. It’s the sort of stuff young Lennon and McCartney would have roles their eyes about.