"Jenny Wren" | ||||
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Single by Paul McCartney | ||||
from the album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard | ||||
B-side | "Summer of '59" (7") "I Want You to Fly" (CD) "This Loving Game" (Maxi-CD) | |||
Released | 21 November 2005 [1] | |||
Recorded | October 2004 | |||
Studio | Ocean Way, Los Angeles | |||
Genre | ||||
Length |
| |||
Label | Parlophone | |||
Songwriter(s) | Paul McCartney | |||
Producer(s) | Nigel Godrich | |||
Paul McCartney singles chronology | ||||
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"Jenny Wren" is a song by Paul McCartney from his 2005 album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard . It was also released, in the United Kingdom on 21 November 2005, as the second single from the album.
"Jenny Wren" was written in Los Angeles, and is about an extraordinary character of the same name from Charles Dickens' 1865 novel Our Mutual Friend , a handicapped, mis-shapen young seamstress girl who is wise beyond her years, has an uncanny ability to see deeply into the character of others, and frequently speaks using metaphor and with a musical syntax. It also refers to a bird known as the wren, which is reported to be McCartney's favourite. McCartney wrote the tune in the same sort of finger picking style found in "Blackbird", "Mother Nature's Son" ( The Beatles ) and "Calico Skies" ( Flaming Pie ). The song earned a nomination for the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance category.
The solo is played on an Armenian woodwind instrument, called a duduk—a first in pop music history—played by Venezuelan-born world winds specialist and multi-instrumentalist Pedro Eustache. The guitar is tuned down a whole step for the song, providing a unique sound that reflects McCartney's earlier works.
As to who Jenny Wren is, McCartney said:
A wren is one of my favourite birds, little English bird, it’s the smallest English bird and I always feel very privileged to see a wren because they’re very shy and it’s just, Ah! So a combination of all of that. It’s a favourite bird for me, and then instead of making it a bird, again like ‘Blackbird,’ only more definitely this time I made it a woman, you know, a girl. [2]
The song was recorded in October 2004, with duduk overdub added in a separate session on 25th of the same month. [3]
The song has been covered by several artists, such as the Norwegian jazz trio SOLID! who recorded an instrumental version on their 2008 release Happy Accidents (AIM Records).
Chart (2005) | Peak position |
---|---|
Denmark (Tracklisten) [4] | 17 |
Netherlands (Single Top 100) [5] | 58 |
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [6] | 40 |
UK Singles (OCC) [7] | 22 |
UK Physical Singles Chart [8] | 18 |
Personnel per booklet. [9]
"Get Back" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Beatles and Billy Preston, written by Paul McCartney, and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. It was originally released as a single on 11 April 1969 and credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston". The song is one of the few examples of John Lennon featuring prominently as lead guitarist. The album version of this song contains a different mix that features a studio chat between Paul McCartney and John Lennon at the beginning, which lasts for 20 seconds before the song begins, also omitting the coda featured in the single version, and with a final dialogue taken from the Beatles' rooftop concert. This version became the closing track of Let It Be (1970), which was released just after the group split up. The single version was later issued on the compilation albums 1967–1970, 20 Greatest Hits, Past Masters, and 1.
"Yesterday" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was first released on the album Help! in August 1965, except in the United States, where it was issued as a single in September. The song reached number one on the US charts. It subsequently appeared on the UK EP Yesterday in March 1966 and made its US album debut on Yesterday and Today, in June 1966.
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Run Devil Run is the eleventh solo studio album by Paul McCartney, released in 1999. It features mostly covers of both familiar and obscure 1950s rock and roll songs, along with three original McCartney compositions written in the same style, including the title track, making it the second McCartney covers album, after his Russian cover album. As his first project following first wife Linda's death in 1998, McCartney felt the need to get back to his roots and perform some of the music he loved as a teenager. On 14 December 1999, McCartney returned to the Cavern Club stage to play a set publicising the new album.
The Beatles Ballads is a compilation album featuring a selection of ballad songs by the English rock band the Beatles. The album was not released in the United States, but in Mexico, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Italy, Spain, India, Japan, South Korea and Australia. In Australia, the album was a big success, spending seven weeks at number one. It reached number 17 in the UK.
Flaming Pie is the tenth solo studio album by English musician Paul McCartney, released on 5 May 1997 by Parlophone in the UK and Capitol Records in the US. His first studio album in over four years, it was mostly recorded after McCartney's involvement in the highly successful Beatles Anthology project. The album was recorded in several locations over two years, between 1995 and 1997, featuring two songs dating from 1992.
"Real Love" is a song written by the English musician John Lennon, formerly of the Beatles. He recorded six demos of the song in 1979 and 1980 with "Real Life", a different song that merged with "Real Love". In 1988, the sixth take was posthumously released for the documentary soundtrack Imagine: John Lennon. In 1995, his demo was completed by his former Beatles bandmates as part of the Beatles Anthology project, along with "Free as a Bird".
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Chaos and Creation in the Backyard is the thirteenth solo studio album by Paul McCartney, released on 12 and 13 September, 2005. Some 18 months in the making, the album was produced by Radiohead and Beck collaborator Nigel Godrich at George Martin's suggestion.
"I Saw Her Standing There" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It is the opening track on the band's 1963 debut UK album Please Please Me and their debut US album Introducing... The Beatles.
"Fine Line" is a song from Paul McCartney's 2005 album, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. McCartney plays a majority of the instruments on the song including drums, bass, and piano. It was released 29 August 2005 as the first single from the album in the UK. It reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart, McCartney's last top 20 solo single in the UK as of 2019, and number 31 on the US Adult Contemporary chart. The cover art is a drawing by British artist and frequent McCartney collaborator Brian Clarke.
"Free as a Bird" is a single released in December 1995 by English rock band the Beatles. The song was originally written and recorded in 1977 as a home demo by John Lennon. In 1995, 25 years after their break-up and 15 years after Lennon's murder, his then surviving bandmates Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr released a studio version incorporating the demo.
"This Never Happened Before" is a song from Paul McCartney's 2005 album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. It was released to radio stations in the United States in 2006, peaking at #27 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. It was included in the soundtrack of the movie The Lake House (2006).
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Sir James Paul McCartney is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One of the most successful composers and performers of all time, McCartney is known for his melodic approach to bass-playing, versatile and wide tenor vocal range, and musical eclecticism, exploring genres ranging from pre–rock and roll pop to classical, ballads, and electronica. His songwriting partnership with Lennon is the most successful in modern music history.
The US Tour was Paul McCartney's second North American concert tour of the 21st century to promote his 2005 album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. The tour began on 16 September 2005 in Miami, Florida, and concluded on 30 November 2005 in Los Angeles, California. It was a commercial success, grossing $77 million from 37 shows across North America and selling over 565,000 tickets. Rusty Anderson, Brian Ray, Paul "Wix" Wickens, and Abe Laboriel Jr. returned as the backing band, the first to fully remain intact for more than one solo McCartney tour, following the previous year's summer jaunt in the UK. McCartney's then-wife Heather Mills and their daughter, Beatrice, accompanied him on the tour and were in the audience every night.
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The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present is a book released in November 2021 by the English musician Paul McCartney and the Irish poet Paul Muldoon. It is published by Penguin Books Ltd in the United Kingdom, W.W. Norton/Liveright in the United States of America and C.H. Beck in Germany.
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