1979 single by Wings

"Arrow Through Me" is a song by the British–American rock band Wings, released on their 1979 album Back to the Egg.[5]

Background

"Arrow Through Me", unlike most songs on Back to the Egg, is more pop-oriented than rock-oriented.[6]

"Arrow Through Me", harmonically it is almost like Duke Ellington could have written it.

— Laurence Juber, Daytrippin`[7]

Ultimate Classic Rock contributor Nick DeRiso compared the keyboard bass line to those of Stevie Wonder and also praised the "inventive undulating polyrhythm" played by drummer Steve Holley.[8] DeRiso rated "Arrow Through Me" to be Wings` 8th greatest song.[8] Billboard described it as "a light and bouncy midtempo tune with sparse orchestration."[9] Cash Box called the song "a slightly quirky tune" and said that the instrumentation creates a "somber but light backing for the pleading vocals.[10] Record World called it a "unique and throroghly refreshing McCartney effort" whose rhythm "struts while the keyboards ring and bold horn charts inject energy."[11]

Personnel

• Paul McCartney – vocals, keyboard bass, electric piano, clavinet[12]
• Steve Holley – drums, Flexatone, drum machine
• Howie Casey – horns
• Tony Dorsey – horns
• Steve Howard – horns
• Thaddeus Richard – horns

Release

It was the A-side of the second US single released from Back to the Egg and peaked at number 29. The B-side was "Old Siam, Sir", which was the A-side of the first UK single.

Other

The song was used with the opening credits of, and as a main melody line through, the 1980 movie Oh! Heavenly Dog, starring Chevy Chase, Jane Seymour and Benji. In 2010, neo-soul artist Erykah Badu sampled "Arrow Through Me" on an album track called "Gone Baby, Don`t Be Long" on her CD New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh). It also appeared in the WKRP in Cincinnati episode "God Talks to Johnny" (1979).[13]

In 2020, the song appeared in episode 2 (track 2) of Hulu`s TV series adaptation of Nick Hornbys novel High Fidelity starring Zoë Kravitz.[14]

Chart history