The first performance from music legend Paul McCartney after The Beatles broke up had the songwriter play some of the band’s biggest hits.
Following the public fallout between the Fab Four members, McCartney, as well as John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison, would pursue solo careers with varying degrees of success. While his self-titled debut and follow-up, Ram, were initially poorly received, the songs have become much-loved parts of McCartney’s discography. A TV special which featured McCartney and his new band Wings also had members of the public cover some of his biggest hits with The Beatles. Not just McCartney songs either, with the likes of Yellow Submarine and A Hard Day’s Night featuring on the 1973 taping.
McCartney did perform his songs from Wings, though the ABC Network broadcast filled the rest of the hour with vox pop interviews, where members of the public were asked to sing the songs. It marks a baffling second half to the performance, following on from McCartney playing out Wings’ tracks for the first time on live TV after the break-up of his other band.
Viewers were thrilled by McCartney’s part in the hour-long special, with a full version of the show uploaded to YouTube. One comment reads: “What a voice! At the beginning of the special, where Linda is snapping photos, he is just playing the acoustic, you hear the beautiful soft tone of his voice and then skip to the end, he’s belting out Long Tall Sally in a rock and roll voice that cuts so clearly through the band and absolutely killing it so effortlessly!”
Another praised the performance, adding: “The pub scene is great. You can really see the amazing musical legacy that Liverpudlians bring forth to this day. All the Beatles talked about how everyone had a song to sing.” A full setlist for the show can be found below.
- Big Barn Bed
- Blackbird
- Michelle
- Heart of the Country
- Mary Had a Little Lamb
- Medley
- Little Woman Love
- C Moon
- Little Woman Love (Reprise)
- Uncle Albert
- Live and Let Die (promotional video)
- When I’m Sixty-Four
- A Hard Day’s Night
- Can’t Buy Me Love
- She Loves You
- Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
- Yesterday
- Yellow Submarine
- The Mess
- Maybe I’m Amazed
- Long Tall Sally
- Yesterday
Of the performances listed above, McCartney would perform Big Barn Bed, Blackbird, Michelle and Heart of the Country with an acoustic guitar. The latter half of the show would feature The Mess, Maybe I’m Amazed, Long Tall Sally, and Yesterday in a more traditional gig environment.
The performance released during a difficult critical period for McCartney. Fans of the performance and the Let It Be songwriter’s work of the time took to the r/PaulMcCartney subreddit and praised the performance.
One user wrote: “Times when, according to critics, Paul couldn’t do anything right essentially.” Another added: “And I am so glad he just kept at it, he basically told critics (and certain former bandmates) to sod off.” You can watch the full TV special below.
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