"My Love" is a song by the British–American band Paul McCartney and Wings that was first released as the lead single from their 1973 album Red Rose Speedway. It was written by Paul McCartney as a love song to his wife and Wings bandmate Linda. The single marked the first time that McCartney`s name appeared in the artist credit for a Wings record, after their previous releases had been credited to Wings alone. Released on 23 March 1973, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US for four weeks and peaked at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart. The single was viewed as Wings` first significant success in the US and helped Red Rose Speedway achieve commercial success.

Wings recorded "My Love" at Abbey Road Studios in London in January 1973. The song is a piano ballad and features an orchestral arrangement by Richard Hewson that was recorded live with the main track. The recording also includes a guitar solo by Henry McCullough that some commentators view as a highlight of the track. In his improvised playing, McCullough imposed his own style on a Wings song for the first time, countering the more regimented approach favoured by McCartney.

Despite its commercial success, "My Love" was given an unfavourable reception by many music critics, some of whom considered it overly sentimental and lyrically inconsequential. A live version of the song was included on Wings` 1976 album Wings over America, and McCartney has continued to perform it in concert as a tribute to Linda following her death in 1998. He included the song in the musical programme for Linda`s memorial services in London and New York City, where it was performed by a string quartet. Tony Bennett, Nancy Wilson, Brenda Lee, Andy Williams and Harry Connick Jr are among the many artists who have covered the song.

Background and composition

Paul McCartney began writing "My Love" on piano as a love song to his wife Linda.[5][6] He said he wrote it early on in their relationship; McCartney biographer Luca Perasi dates the composition to 1969 or 1970.[7] The song is a piano ballad in the style of McCartney`s Beatles song "The Long and Winding Road".[8][9]

After forming the band Wings with Linda in the summer of 1971,[10] McCartney included "My Love" in the set lists for the group`s two concert tours in 1972.[11][12] When they performed it at Nottingham University on 9 February for Wings` public debut, the song included Linda singing lines in response to McCartney`s lead vocal. According to Perasi, the performance was otherwise "almost identical" to the version that the band subsequently recorded for official release.[13]

The song is in the key of F major.[14] It opens with an extended ambient note before the vocal enters.[9] The composition has an AABAA structure followed by an outro, with the A sections comprising verse-choruses and the B section containing a bridge.[14] According to musicologist Vincent Benitez, the verses establish a "sense of instability" through lyrics such as "And when I go away" and "And when the cupboard`s bare", implying distance and material emptiness, respectively, and this mood is supported by the inclusion of chords such as B♭maj7 and D9 that suggest a departure from the home key. He says the choruses and the bridge then convey the emotional security provided by the singer`s lover – lyrically, and through the incorporation of a plagal progression (in the chorus) and other chords that correspond with F major.[14] The outro consists of the first part of the bridge;[14] McCartney sings "Only my love does it good" before pausing and then returning with a prolonged vocalisation of the word "to" then resolving to "me".[15]

Recording

McCartney invited Richard Hewson, with whom he had worked before while with the Beatles, to arrange the orchestral accompaniment for "My Love".[16] The song was recorded live at Abbey Road Studios in London[17] with a 50-piece orchestra accompanying the band.[18] The session took place in January 1973, late in the recording for Wings` second album, Red Rose Speedway.[19] McCartney played Fender Rhodes electric piano on the track,[20] while Denny Laine substituted for McCartney on bass guitar. The idea to tape the basic track and the orchestral arrangement simultaneously went against music industry convention, since the session musicians were paid by the hour.[21] Hewson recalled that he recruited "the best jazz musicians I knew ... They had this particular warm sound" and that the reason for the live recording was because McCartney wanted to capture "a certain feeling".[9] In music journalist Tom Breihan`s description, although the song appears to lack a formal structure, "It chugs and twinkles with the slow confidence of an old torch song, while the orchestra ... swells and contracts."[18]

According to Hewson, around 20 takes were performed over three hours, leaving the musicians tired and having to assure McCartney that their playing could not be improved on.[9] The song contains a guitar solo by Northern Irish guitarist Henry McCullough,[22] who took the opportunity to express himself in his playing[23] and depart from what he saw as McCartney`s regimented approach to recording.[24] McCullough later said, "it had got to the point where I achingly wanted to be the guitar player in the band", rather than a sideman playing lines dictated by McCartney.[24] McCartney recalled in a 2010 interview:[25]

I`d sort of written the solo, as I often did write our solos. And he walked up to me right before the take and said, "Hey, would it be alright if I try something else?" And I said, "Er ... yeah." It was like, "Do I believe in this guy?" And he played the solo on "My Love", which came right out of the blue. And I just thought, Fucking great. And so there were plenty of moments like that where somebody`s skill or feeling would overtake my wishes.[26]

According to McCullough, it was the first time that anyone in Wings had challenged McCartney, and it was an approach that others in the band encouraged, in an effort to make Wings a genuine band and improve McCartney`s image.[27] He described the result on "My Love" as "a stroke of luck, a gift from God really, and you get that in music".[28][nb 1]

Release

Apple Records issued "My Love" as a single on 23 March 1973, with the US release following on 9 April.[30][31] The B-side was "The Mess",[32] recorded live at the Netherlands Congresgebouw in The Hague on 21 August 1972.[33][34][nb 2] For the first time in the group`s career, the release was credited to "Paul McCartney & Wings", rather than Wings alone.[36] The name change was made in the belief that the disappointing sales of Wings` 1971 debut, Wild Life, were due to the public being unaware of McCartney`s involvement.[37][38] Red Rose Speedway was released on 30 April 1973[39] and was similarly credited to Paul McCartney & Wings.[40][41] "My Love" was sequenced as the album`s second track, between "Big Barn Bed" and "Get on the Right Thing".[42]

The single`s release marked the start of a highly active period for Wings.[43][44] The band filmed a promotional clip for the song, which used an alternate McCartney lead vocal.[45] They also promoted the single on the James Paul McCartney TV special.[9] McCartney had agreed to do the special in return for Lew Grade, whose company ATV owned the Northern Songs publishing catalogue,[8] dropping his legal objections to Linda being credited as a co-writer on many of his songs since 1971.[46][47] The band filmed a performance of "My Love" for Top of the Pops, which was shown on the 4 and 11 April editions of the show.[48] Immediately after completing this performance, McCullough vomited on the stage;[49] drunk beforehand,[28][50] he had become nauseated by the studio smoke effects.[51] The incident had an adverse effect on his already fractious relationship with McCartney.[28][49] Wings played "My Love" throughout their 1973 UK tour.[52] These live performances were the source of frustration for McCullough, who was denied the freedom to improvise when playing the solo.[37] Adhering to a populist approach over McCullough`s blues sensibilities, McCartney insisted that he reproduce the solo exactly as heard on the studio recording.[45][53]

The single topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks[36] and peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart.[54] The song also went to number one on Billboard`s Easy Listening chart for three weeks.[55] On the Billboard Hot 100, it was demoted by George Harrison`s "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" in late June,[37][56] marking the first time since 25 April 1964 that the Beatles had occupied the top two positions on the chart,[57] and the only occasion that any of its former members have done so as solo artists.[58] The popularity of "My Love" also contributed to the commercial success of Red Rose Speedway,[44] which became the first of five consecutive Wings albums to top the Billboard LPs chart;[59] according to author Bruce Spizer, it was "the song that sold the album".[60] The single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on 9 July,[61] for sales of over one million copies.[62] Billboard ranked "My Love" at number five on its Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1973 chart.[63]

The song was subsequently included on the 1978 Wings compilation album Wings Greatest.[64] It has also appeared on the McCartney compilations All the Best! (1987), Wingspan: Hits and History (2001),[9] Pure McCartney (2016)[65] and on the 2022 box set