| "With a Little Luck" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Wings | ||||
| from the album London Town | ||||
| B-side | "Backwards Traveller"/"Cuff Link" | |||
| Released | 20 March 1978 | |||
| Recorded | 10 May - November 1977 [1] | |||
| Genre | Synth-pop, yacht rock [2] | |||
| Length | 5:45 (full-length version) 3:13 (radio edit version) | |||
| Label | Parlophone (UK) Capitol (US) | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Paul McCartney | |||
| Producer(s) | Paul McCartney | |||
| Wings singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"With a Little Luck" is a single by the band Wings from their 1978 album London Town .
"With a Little Luck" was written in Scotland and was Wings' follow-up single to the then best-selling UK Single of all time, "Mull of Kintyre." It was recorded in May 1977 in the Virgin Islands aboard the boat Fair Carol, which had been fitted with a 24-track studio, for the album London Town . The album, which had the working title Water Wings was released in March 1978 as the band's seventh album. [3] During these recordings, Wings' lead guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Joe English had recorded tracks but had left, returning the band to the three-piece line-up which had recorded Band on the Run in 1973. McCartney played electric piano, bass and synthesiser in the song; English was likely on drums, while Denny Laine and Linda McCartney helped with some keyboards. [4]
"With a Little Luck" was released in March 1978 as the first single from the album and reached No. 1 in the United States [5] and Canada, [6] and No. 5 in the UK. [5] [7] While it was at the top of the charts in the US, McCartney announced the new Wings line up featuring lead guitarist Laurence Juber and drummer Steve Holley.
The single's b-side consists of the segue of two short tracks, "Backward Traveller"/"Cuff Link", also on the album, the first of which is a song and the second an instrumental that features a heavily synthesised guitar theme.
Billboard described "With a Little Luck" as an "optimistic and celebrative" midtempo pop song that it expected to be one of McCartney's most commercially successful songs. [8] Cash Box said that "the lead vocals and harmonies are smooth and soothing" and praised the hooks. [9] Record World called it "a light, whimsical song about life's mysteries." [10] Chris Ingham praised the song as one of the best on the album, stating it was "full of the most sensitive pop synthesizer touches." [11] Tom Waseleski of the Beaver County Times regarded "With a Little Luck" as having "more substance" than McCartney's other soft rock tracks. [12]
The song's music video, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, aired in the UK on 9 May 1978, as part of Granada Television's Paul, a music show hosted by Paul Nicholas. [13]
 | This section needs additional citations for verification .(January 2018) |
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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"With a Little Luck" was included on the compilation album Wings Greatest (1978) and the Paul McCartney compilation albums All the Best! (1987), Wingspan: Hits and History (2001) and Pure McCartney (2016). There are two versions of the song: the full-length version, which runs 5:45, and a promotional radio edit version, which runs 3:13 (as it cuts out, among other things, the entire instrumental interlude). The full-length version is included on Wings Greatest and the UK & Canada version of All the Best!, while the radio edit version appears on Wingspan, Pure McCartney and the US version of All the Best!
The song was featured in the closing credits of the 1979 film Sunburn starring Farrah Fawcett, Charles Grodin and Art Carney.
"All Those Years Ago" is a song by the English rock musician George Harrison, released in May 1981 as a single from his ninth studio album Somewhere in England. Having previously recorded the music for the song, Harrison tailored the lyrics to serve as a personal tribute to his former Beatles bandmate John Lennon, following the latter's murder in 1980. Ringo Starr is featured on drums, and Paul McCartney overdubbed backing vocals onto the basic track. The single spent three weeks at number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, behind "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes, and it peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. It also topped Canada's RPM singles chart and spent one week at number 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary listings.
"You're All I Need to Get By" is a song recorded by the American R&B/soul duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell and released on Motown Records' Tamla label in 1968. It was the basis for the 1995 single "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By" from Method Man and Mary J. Blige.
"Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" is a 1968 single released by American R&B/soul duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, on the Tamla label in 1968. The B-side of the single is "Little Ole Boy, Little Ole Girl" from the duo's United LP. The first release off the duo's second album: You're All I Need, the song—written and produced by regular Gaye/Terrell collaborators Ashford & Simpson—became a hit within weeks of release eventually peaking at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot Soul Singles chart, the first of the duo's two number-one R&B hits. In the UK "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" reached number 34.
London Town is the sixth studio album by the British–American rock group Wings. It was released in March 1978, two years after its predecessor, Wings at the Speed of Sound. The album had a long and tumultuous gestation during which the band's tour plans for 1977 were cancelled, due to Linda McCartney becoming pregnant with her and Paul McCartney's fourth child and two members of Wings having departed, leaving the band as a trio comprising Paul, Linda and Denny Laine. Recording sessions were held intermittently over a period of a year, mainly at Abbey Road Studios in London and aboard a luxury yacht in the Virgin Islands.
"Gimme Little Sign" is a 1967 soul song, originally performed by Brenton Wood and written by Wood, Joe Hooven and Jerry Winn. The charted versions were Wood's, Peter Andre's, the Sattalites', and Danielle Brisebois's.
"No More Lonely Nights" is a song written and performed by Paul McCartney, first released on 24 September 1984 on the album Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984).
"You're Sixteen" is a song written by the Sherman Brothers. It was first performed by American rockabilly singer Johnny Burnette, whose version peaked at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100 in December 1960 and number 3 in the UK in 1961. The song was covered by Ringo Starr in 1973 and this version reached number one in the US.
"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.
"Silly Love Songs" is a song by the British–American rock band Wings that was written by Paul and Linda McCartney. The song first appeared in March 1976 on the album Wings at the Speed of Sound, then it was released as a single backed with "Cook of the House" on 1 April in the US, and 30 April in the UK. The song, which features disco overtones, was written in response to music critics accusing McCartney of predominantly writing "silly love songs" and "sentimental slush"; however, McCartney has since clarified that the song was actually directed to John Lennon who accused him of writing such songs.
"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.
"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.
"Let 'Em In" is a song by Wings from their 1976 album Wings at the Speed of Sound. It was written and sung by Paul McCartney and reached the top 3 in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. It was a No. 2 hit in the UK; in the U.S. it was a No. 3 pop hit and No. 1 easy listening hit. In Canada, the song was No. 3 for three weeks on the pop chart and No. 1 for three weeks on the MOR chart of RPM magazine. The single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over one million copies. It can also be found on McCartney's 1987 compilation album, All the Best! A demo of the song, featuring Denny Laine on lead vocal, was included as a bonus track on the Archive Collection reissue of Wings at the Speed of Sound.
"I've Had Enough" is a song by the British–American rock band Wings, released as a single from their 1978 album London Town. It reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, No. 24 in Canada and No. 42 in the UK as well as reached No. 11 in Ireland. In the Netherlands, the 2-sided single "I've Had Enough" combined with its B-side "Deliver Your Children" reached No. 13.
"Goodnight Tonight" is a song by the British–American rock band Wings. Written and produced by Paul McCartney, it was released as a non-album single on 23 March 1979 by Parlophone in the UK and Columbia Records in the US. It was recorded during the sessions for the band's 1979 album Back to the Egg and is notable for its disco-inflected sound and spirited flamenco guitar break.
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Cash Box magazine.
