Hear Paul McCartney and Wings’ Rare Songs From ‘Man on the Run’ LP

Two rare versions of songs Paul McCartney and Wings recorded in the Seventies are now available to stream on Amazon Music ahead of the release of the soundtrack for the documentary, Paul McCartney: Man on the Run. A rough mix of “Arrow Through Me” and “Live and Let Die (Rockshow)” are among the 12 songs that feature on Man on the Run – Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack, due Feb. 27.

The original version of “Arrow Through Me,” which appeared on Back to the Egg (1979), was a funky rock ballad with a bouncy analogue synth line and horns that echoed the work of one of McCartney’s friends, Stevie Wonder. The previously unreleased rough mix places McCartney’s voice to the forefront with echoey effects that weave his voice in and out of the mix, making his scatting a little more playful.

The live “Rockshow” version of “Live and Let Die,” captured in the mid-Seventies for the 1980 concert film Rockshow, opens with Linda McCartney introducing the tune as being “about a British secret agent, and it’s full of foreign intrigue.” The crowd cheers as McCartney starts singing the song, alone with piano, and then, of course, it explodes in the manner Wings fans have loved since 1973. The guitar solo at the end, played by Jimmy McCulloch who died in 1979 before the film’s release, sounds crisp and cutting.

A third rarity, “Gotta Sing Gotta Dance,” which appeared in the 1973 program The James Paul McCartney TV Special, will also feature on the album, which arrives the same day the film premieres. The picture focuses on how McCartney launched Wings from scratch after the dissolution of the Beatles. The film, directed by Morgan Neville, includes interviews with Paul, Linda, Mary and Stella McCartney, several Wings members, Sean Ono Lennon, Mick Jagger, Chrissie Hynde, and others. “When we started Wings, it was about freedom,” McCartney says in the film, as seen in the trailer. “We felt we’d finally arrived.”