One of the biggest hits of all time on the UK charts never even made it into the American top 20 when it was released in 1977 (guess we were too busy doing disco at the time). The first time I heard it was in college in London in my junior year in the early 80s, a totally time-less song. After I finally tracked down a 45 record of it, I played it over and over. And over. There’s a report out today in The Times of London that it was at the Mull of Kintyre that Paul McCartney made the decision to leave the Beatles.
LATER: Just learned from The Papasan that the Mull of Kintyre is a very familiar place to him too, retired Cold War boomer captain that he is (when I was growing up and he came home from patrol, he often brought me back dolls from Scotland – which I still have). “The Mull of Kintyre is very familiar to Polaris sailors,” writes The Papasan. “It was one of the first pieces of land seen on return from patrol and the last seen going out. Our base was a tender in the middle of that one mile wide inlet. If you find Sandbank, we were right off it. We steamed from Holy Loch down the Clyde River and out to sea past the Mull. The lighthouse on the Mull was a very useful navigation aid.” Thanks, Dad!
BRAVA Mary!! Wow, I loved that song back in the day when the brain-dead bubblegum FM stations were grinding out <>“Disco Duck”.<>Thanks for putting the cherry oin top of a beautiful Sunday in Virginia.
I had completely forgotten about this song. I remember hearing it when I was stationed in England in the ’70s. Thanks.