With a Little Luck

"With a Little Luck" is a single by the band Wings from their 1978 album London Town.

Not to be confused with With a Little Luck (T'Pau song).

"With a Little Luck"
Single by Wings
from the album London Town
B-side"Backwards Traveller"/"Cuff Link"
Released20 March 1978
RecordedMay 1977
Genre
Length5:45 (full version)
3:13 (radio edit)
LabelParlophone (UK)
Capitol (US)
Songwriter(s)Paul McCartney
Producer(s)Paul McCartney
Wings singles chronology
"Mull of Kintyre"
(1977)		 "With a Little Luck"
(1978)		 "I've Had Enough"
(1978)

Writing, recording and release

"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.[1] 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; probably English was on drums, while Denny Laine and Linda McCartney helped with some keyboards.[2]

"With a Little Luck" was released in March 1978 as the first single from the album and reached No. 1 in the United States[3] and No. 5 in the UK.[3][4] 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 Magazine 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.[5] Author Chris Ingham praised the song as one of the best on the album, stating it was "full of the most sensitive pop synthesizer touches."[6] Tom Waseleski of the Beaver County Times regarded "With a Little Luck" as having "more substance" than McCartney's other soft rock tracks.[7]

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.[8]

Personnel

Chart performance

Later release

"With a Little Luck" was included on the compilation album Wings Greatest (1978) and the Paul McCartney compilation albums All the Best! (1987) and Wingspan: Hits and History (2001). There are two versions of the song: the full 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 appears on Wingspan 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.

References
  1. Bowen, Mark (2009). McCartney Solo: See You Next Time (1st ed.). Lulu.com. p. 83. ISBN 978-140-929879-3.
  2. Luca Perasi, Paul McCartney: Recording Sessions (1969-2013), L.I.L.Y. Publishing, 2013, ISBN 978-88-909122-1-4, pp.157-8.
  3. "Paul McCartney singles". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 August 2010.
  4. "Official Charts: Paul McCartney". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
  5. "Top Single Picks" (PDF). Billboard Magazine. 1 April 1978. p. 87. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  6. Ingham, C. (2009). The Rough Guide to the Beatles (3rd ed.). Penguin. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-4053-8445-2.
  7. Waseleski, T. (12 April 1978). "Paul McCartney: His Return to Basics is Perfect". Beaver County Times. p. B-14. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  8. Miles, Barry; Badman, Keith, eds. (2001). The Beatles Diary After the Break-Up: 1970-2001 (reprint ed.). London: Music Sales Group. ISBN 9780711983076.
  9. "Wings Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  10. "Adult Contemporary Music Chart". Billboard. 27 May 1978. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  11. "Cash Box Top 100 Singles – Week ending May 20, 1978". Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2018.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Cash Box magazine.
  12. "Australian Chart Book". Austchartbook.com.au. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  13. "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  14. "Top 100 1978 - UK Music Charts". uk-charts.top-source.info. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  15. "Pop Singles" Billboard December 23, 1978: TIA-18
  16. "Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles". Cash Box. 30 December 1978. Archived from the original on 27 October 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
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