"Jet" | ||||
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Single by Paul McCartney and Wings | ||||
from the album Band on the Run | ||||
B-side |
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Released |
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Recorded | September 1973 | |||
Studio | Abbey Road, London | |||
Genre | Glam rock, [1] power pop [2] | |||
Length | 4:07 | |||
Label | Apple | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Paul McCartney | |||
Wings singles chronology | ||||
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Alternative covers | ||||
Official audio | ||||
"Jet" (Remastered 2010) on YouTube |
"Jet" is a song by Paul McCartney and Wings from their third studio album Band on the Run (1973). It was the first British and American single to be released from the album.
The song peaked at number 7 on both the British and American charts on 30 March 1974,also charting in multiple countries in Europe. It has since been released on numerous compilation albums,and has since become one of the band's best-known tracks.
Reviewers have reported that the song's title was inspired by the McCartneys' Labrador Retriever dog named "Jet". [3] [4] McCartney has substantiated this claim:
We've got a Labrador puppy who is a runt, the runt of a litter. We bought her along a roadside in a little pet shop, out in the country one day. She was a bit of a wild dog, a wild girl who wouldn't stay in. We have a big wall around our house in London, and she wouldn't stay in, she always used to jump the wall. She'd go out on the town for the evening, like Lady and the Tramp . She must have met up with some big black Labrador or something. She came back one day pregnant. She proceeded to walk into the garage and have this litter ... Seven little black puppies, perfect little black Labradors, and she's not black, she's tan. So we worked out it must have been a black Labrador. What we do is if either of the dogs we have has a litter, we try to keep them for the puppy stage, so we get the best bit of them, and then when they get a bit unmanageable we ask people if they want to have a puppy. So Jet was one of the puppies. We give them all names. We've had some great names, there was one puppy called Golden Molasses. I rather like that. Then there was one called Brown Megs, named after a Capitol executive. They've all gone now. The people change the names if they don't like them. [5]
Also confirmed by an interview with Paul Gambaccini, broadcast on BBC Radio in December 1978, [6]
However, in a 2010 interview on the UK television channel ITV1 for the programme Wings: Band on the Run (to promote the November 2010 CD/DVD re-release of the album) McCartney said that Jet was the name of a pony he had owned, although many of the lyrics bore little relation to the subject; indeed, the true meaning of the lyrics has defied all attempts at decryption. [7]
I make up so much stuff. It means something to me when I do it, and it means something to the record buyer, but if I'm asked to analyze it I can't really explain what it is. 'Suffragette' was crazy enough to work. It sounded silly, so I liked it.
— –Paul McCartney, Paul McCartney: In His Own Words. [5]
In a 2017 interview on Australian radio station Triple J for the segment Take 5, McCartney said that the song was actually about his experience meeting Linda's father:
There’s no telling where you'll get ideas from and we happened to name this little black puppy Jet. Again I was noodling around, looking for an idea and thought that's a good word 'Jet'. So, I wrote the song about that. Not about the puppy, just using the name. And now it's transformed into a sort of girl. It was kind of –a little bit about the experiences I'd had in marrying Linda. Her dad was a little old fashioned and I thought I was a little bit intimidated, as a lot of young guys can be meeting the father figure. And if the dad's really easy-going, it makes it easy. It wasn't bad but I was a bit intimidated, probably my fault as much as his. Anyway, the song starts to be about the sergeant major and it was basically my experience, roughly translated. I never do a song with the actual words that actually happen, because then that's like a news story. Oh Linda, I was going to see your dad and he was intimidating. A bit boring. So, I mask it and mould it into a song, something you can sing reasonably. [8]
Whereas most of the Band on the Run album was recorded in Lagos, Nigeria, "Jet" was recorded entirely at Abbey Road Studios in London after the group's return (according to engineer Geoff Emerick in his book Here There and Everywhere). Instrumentation used in the song includes electric guitars, bass, Moog, drums, piano, horns and strings. A closer listening reveals the Moog is used for the bass line during the verse and is simply Linda holding the root note. [9]
"Jet" was released as the debut single from Band on the Run in January 1974 (although in some countries, the non-UK/US single "Mrs. Vandebilt" was released first). The single was backed with "Let Me Roll It" in Britain. When first released in America, the single's B-side was "Mamunia," another track from Band on the Run, but it was soon replaced with the British B-side.
The single was a Top 10 hit for Paul McCartney and Wings. It peaked at number 7 on both the British and American charts on 30 March 1974, and charted in multiple countries in Europe. [10] [11] "Jet" has since been released on multiple compilation albums, including Wings Greatest (1978), All the Best! (1987), Wingspan: Hits and History (2001) and Pure McCartney (2016).
Prominent music critic Dave Marsh named the song number 793 in his list of the 1001 greatest singles ever made. He referred to it as a "grand pop confection" that represented the only time McCartney approached the "drive and density" of his tenure with the Beatles. [12] Writer Graham Reid has described it as a power pop "gem." [2] Billboard said that the "guitar energy" and vocal performances generate "an outstanding production." [13] Cash Box called it a "catchy number" with "distinctive guitar riffs," a "straightforward rock beat" and "provocative lyrics." [14] Record World called it "an overpowering smash both vocally and instrumentally." [15]
Paul McCartney was quoted in Clash magazine that the soft rock duo The Carpenters were fans of "Jet":
I remember Richard and Karen Carpenter ringing me up to tell me about 'Jet' – they were like the last people on Earth I thought who’d like 'Jet'! But they were like, 'Oh, great record, man!' So, you know, it was actually resonating with people. [16]
The Australian rock band Jet drew their name from the song title. [17]
Japanese pop power trio Shonen Knife's cover of this song is the last track on their 2008 album Super Group . Group member Naoko Yamano said that she picked the song since she is a longtime fan of McCartney. [18] [ importance? ]
The song was also covered live by American rock band Jellyfish, and the recording was included in their 1991 EP Jellyfish Comes Alive .
(Jet One Hand Clapping)
(Jet Wings Over America)
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Paul McCartney and Wings, often billed simply as Wings, were an English-American rock band formed in 1971 in London by former Beatles bassist and singer Paul McCartney, his wife Linda McCartney on keyboards, session drummer Denny Seiwell, and former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine. Wings were noted for their commercial successes, musical eclecticism and frequent personnel changes; going through three lead guitarists and four drummers. However, the core trio of the McCartneys and Laine remained intact throughout the group's existence.
Band on the Run is the third studio album by the British–American rock band Paul McCartney and Wings, released by Apple on 30 November 1973. It was McCartney's fifth album after leaving the Beatles in April 1970. Although sales were modest initially, its commercial performance was aided by two hit singles – "Jet" and "Band on the Run" – such that it became the top-selling studio album of 1974 in the United Kingdom and Australia, in addition to revitalising McCartney's critical standing. It remains McCartney's most successful album and the most celebrated of his post-Beatles works.
Red Rose Speedway is the second studio album by the English-American rock band Wings, although credited to "Paul McCartney and Wings". It was released through Apple Records on 5 May 1973, preceded by its lead single, the ballad "My Love". By including McCartney's name in the artist credit, the single and album broke with the tradition of Wings' previous records. The change was made in the belief that the public's unfamiliarity with the band had been responsible for the weak commercial performance of the group's 1971 debut album Wild Life.
"Coming Up" is a song written and performed by the English rock musician Paul McCartney, released as the opening track on his second solo studio album McCartney II (1980). Like other songs on the album, the song has a synthesised sound, featuring sped-up vocals created by using a vari-speed tape machine. McCartney played all instruments.
"Mull of Kintyre" is a song by the British-American rock band Wings. It was written by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine in tribute to the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll and Bute in the south-west of Scotland and its headland, the Mull of Kintyre, where McCartney has owned High Park Farm since 1966.
"Helen Wheels" is a song by the English-American rock band Paul McCartney and Wings. The song was named after Paul and Linda McCartney's Land Rover, which they nicknamed "Hell on Wheels".
"Band on the Run" is a song by the British–American rock band Paul McCartney and Wings, the title track to their 1973 album Band on the Run.
"Junior's Farm" is a song written by Paul McCartney and performed by Paul McCartney and Wings. It was issued as a non-album single by Apple Records in October 1974; it peaked at No. 3 in the United States and No. 16 in the United Kingdom.
"Listen to What the Man Said" is a hit single from Wings' 1975 album Venus and Mars. The song featured new member Joe English on drums, with guest musicians Dave Mason on guitar and Tom Scott on soprano saxophone. It was a number 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US the week of July 19, 1975 and reached number 1 in Canada on the RPM National Top Singles Chart. It also reached number 6 in the UK, and reached the top ten in Norway and New Zealand and the top twenty in the Netherlands. The single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over one million copies.
"Venus and Mars"/"Rock Show" is a medley of two songs written by Paul and Linda McCartney and originally performed by Wings that make up the first two songs of the album Venus and Mars. The single was released in the United States on 27 October 1975 and in the United Kingdom on 28 November 1975. The B-side is "Magneto and Titanium Man", another track from the album. The single version is considerably shorter than the album version of the songs; in the single "Rock Show" is cut by more than 3 minutes and "Venus and Mars" is cut by a few seconds. "Venus and Mars/Rock Show" peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, but did not chart on the UK singles chart, the first McCartney penned single to do so. In the book The Rough Guide to the Beatles, Chris Ingham praised both songs, describing "Venus and Mars" as "atmospheric" and "Rock Show" as "barnstorming".
"With a Little Luck" is a single by the band Wings from their 1978 album London Town.
"Getting Closer" is a rock song from the British rock band Wings, Paul McCartney's post-Beatles band. The song was released on the album Back to the Egg.
"Mrs. Vandebilt" is a song by the British–American rock band Paul McCartney and Wings from the album Band on the Run. The track was not issued as a single in the UK or US, but was a single in Continental Europe and Australia.
The Wings Over the World tour was a series of concerts in 1975 and 1976 by the British–American rock band Wings performed in Britain, Australia, Europe, the United States and Canada. The North American leg constituted band leader Paul McCartney's first live performances there since the Beatles' final tour, in 1966, and the only time Wings would perform live in the US and Canada. The world tour was well-attended and critically acclaimed, and resulted in a triple live album, Wings over America, which Capitol Records released in December 1976. In addition, the tour was documented in the television film Wings Over the World (1979) and a cinema release, Rockshow (1980).
"Let Me Roll It" is a song by the British–American rock band Paul McCartney and Wings, released on their 1973 album Band on the Run. The song was also released as the B-side to "Jet" in early 1974, and has remained a staple of McCartney's live concerts since it was first released.
In 1993, Paul McCartney and his band embarked upon The New World Tour, spanning almost the entire year and almost the entire globe. This tour featured a controversial pre-concert film, which was shown before all of the concerts and had graphic animal test footage in the film. The tour incorporated painted stage sets, projections, and promotional material designed by a regular McCartney collaborator, the artist Brian Clarke.
"Seaside Woman" is a 1977 single by Wings released under the pseudonym Suzy and the Red Stripes. It charted at number 59 in the US and in the UK at number 90 in 1986.
"Little Woman Love" is a Wings song released as the B-side of the non album single "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on 12 May 1972 by Apple Records.
"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" is a song by the British–American rock band Paul McCartney and Wings, released as the final track on their 1973 album Band on the Run. It has been featured on the 2001 documentary DVD Wingspan and Paul McCartney and Wings' 1974 TV special One Hand Clapping. A 2016 remix of the song was nominated for a Grammy Award. The song was referenced in Brett Easton Ellis’s novel Glamorama, driving a group of fictional supermodels to extreme terrorist acts.
"Mamunia" is a song written by Paul and Linda McCartney that first appeared on Wings' 1973 album Band on the Run. It was also released as the B-side of the "Jet" single in the US, but was replaced by "Let Me Roll It" when "Mamunia" was being considered as a possible future A-side.
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