How The Rolling Stones inspired Paul McCartney and Wings to record Venus and Mars in America

The Rolling Stones were instrumental in the decision for Wings to record Venus and Mars in America.

Wings frontman and Beatles member Paul McCartney confirmed that the Mick Jagger-fronted group’s influence was part of his reason for recording in the United States. McCartney noted the “fashion” of the times was to record in other countries, as The Rolling Stones had done with their albums Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. Wings recorded Band on the Run in Nigeria and followed up their seminal hit with Venus and Mars, which was recorded in the United States. Venus and Mars celebrates its fiftieth year of release, and as part of a remaster of the album, McCartney shared why the band chose to record in the United States.

He said: “Up until a certain point, everyone had just recorded in their home country. Basically, if you’re American, you record in America. If you’re British, you record in the UK and so on. So, with The Beatles and early days of Wings that meant London. But then there started to be a little bit of a fashion where people were recording elsewhere. I think The Rolling Stones went to the South of France, and we saw it as exotic and thought it was a good idea.

“We knew there was a studio in New Orleans that Allen Toussaint had with his friend Marshall Sehorn, called Sea-Saint. It was a great little studio! I was choosing somewhere where I liked the local music: there was African music in Nigeria, for example, and although it didn’t really find its way onto Band on the Run, it was in the air while we were recording.

When we got down to New Orleans it was around carnival time, so we could get dressed up. We had the kids with us too, so that was nice for them! It’s a very musical city, so we were really trying to soak up an atmosphere. We did do one piece, My Carnival, because of the Creole feel in the city, but generally speaking we did songs I’d written anyway that could have been recorded anywhere.

“We were just enjoying the buzz of being in a great place. You would run into local people like The Meters, and Professor Longhair, and it was inspiring to go and see them play.”

It comes as McCartney also shared the origins of the Venus and Mars title, saying he picked it upa t a party he and Linda McCartney had attended. He said: “Well, I wrote a song called Venus and Mars, and thought it was a good title.

“We only meant the planets, but then we had a great party on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, and somebody said, ‘Oh, hi Venus! Hi Mars!’ to Linda and me. So, it was a great observation from them: Venus is the female; Mars is the male. It made a lot of sense, really.”