Paul McCartney – Mull of Kintyre …Denny Laine

This song was a monster hit in the UK but did hardly anything in America. The reason I’m posting this today is because of Denny Laine. Laine, who co-wrote this song with Paul… passed away at the age of 79 on December 5th.

When you think about huge-selling singles of the 1970s…this one doesn’t come to mind unless you live in the UK.  It was the highest-selling single in the UK over the entire course of the ’70s.

When they were a beat group, Denny Laine was the original singer for the Moody Blues. Their first big hit had Laine on vocals with Go Now.

The song is a tribute to the Kintyre Peninsula in Scotland where Paul and his wife Linda had a farm. McCartney initially thought the song had no chance of becoming a hit. The duo wrote the song one afternoon as they looked at the beauty of the mull while drinking a bottle of Whiskey and letting the scenery write the song.

Wings then enlisted the local Campbelltown Pipe Band who added a sprinkling of Scottish sound to the track and suddenly Wings had their unconventional Christmas song. ‘Mull of Kintyre’ would remain the highest-selling UK single until 1984 when Band-Aid would knock it off the top spot.

The farm he had (and still does) gave Paul a lot of comfort after The Beatles ended. The citizens of Campbelltown were great to him and Linda as well. There was a huge spike in visitors to Kintyre in the wake of the songs’ release which not only boosted the local economy but filled the local residents with pride in their area. After the tranquillity Kintyre provided McCartney at his lowest point, this song allowed him to finally repay the area for helping him.

The song peaked at #1 in the UK, #33 on the Billboard 100, #1 in New Zealand, and #44 in Canada. It sold over 2 million in the UK which was a record at the time beating The Beatles She Loves You over a decade before. The B-side “Girls School” did better in America and Canada than the A-side.

Paul McCartney: “I am very saddened to hear that my ex-bandmate, Denny Laine, has died, “I have many fond memories of my time with Denny: from the early days when the Beatles toured with the Moody Blues. Our two bands had a lot of respect for each other and a lot of fun together. Denny joined Wings at the outset. He was an outstanding vocalist and guitar player. His most famous performance is probably ‘Go Now,’ an old Bessie Banks song which he would sing brilliantly. He and I wrote some songs together, the most successful being ‘Mull of Kintyre’ which was a big hit in the Seventies. We had drifted apart but in recent years managed to reestablish our friendship and share memories of our times together.”

Paul McCartney: “When we finished it, all the pipers said, ‘Aye, it’s got to be a single, that.’ It was up to them, really, to do it. I thought it was a little too specialized to bring out as a single, you would have to bring out something that has something with more mass appeal…but they kept saying, ‘Oh, the exiled Scots all over the world. It’ll be a big single for them.’ Yet I still thought, ‘Yeah, well, but there’s maybe not enough exiled Scots,’ but they kept telling me, after a few drinks.”

Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre

Far have I traveled and much have I seen
Darkest of mountains with valleys of green
Past painted deserts the sun sets on fire
As he carries me home to the Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre

Sweep through the heather like deer in the glen
Carry me back to the days I knew then
Nights when we sang like a heavenly choir
Of the life and the times of the Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre

Smiles in the sunshine and tears in the rain
Still take me back where my memories remain
Flickering embers go higher and higher
As they carry me back to the Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

71 thoughts on “Paul McCartney – Mull of Kintyre …Denny Laine”

  1. I have heard this, once or twice. Did Hans post this at one time? Somebody has blogged about it.

    I am a direct descendent of the Clan MacPherson, from my paternal side. I LOVE bagpipes and I wish I could see Scotland.

    I can see why that place would soothe him and his family. A seaside farm? YES, please.

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      4. Plus they had the damn things amplified as well… yea I would say they would. I wish I would have worse earl plugs…we played very loud and I am hard of hearing…in my left ear…where my amp was lol.

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      6. One day I will need one. When I use a phone….I have to have headphones in stereo or on speaker…damn old evil rock and roll.

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  2. I spent 7 weeks in Scotland and the first 4 weeks it rained every day. When the Sun finally came out, I saw 7 rainbows filling the sky and it was really beautiful. I knew why the Scotts drank so much, because it is depressing when there is no Sun.

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    3. We’re off there to see our grandson (and his parents of course) over Christmas. Done a Christmas in Scotland in 17/18. I became very familiar with scarves, gloves, balaclavas and the jolly smell of wet socks steaming before the open fire. Some of us just don’t learn fast.
      Aye well, that’s why they invented Drambuie!

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  5. It was the first time I consciously noticed how different music hits were around the world. Back then, I randomly heard some DJ mention it was the #1 song of the year in Britain and I’d never heard it – I wondered if it was a sub-title for ‘Silly Love Songs’ or something! When I finally did hear it, probably on their Greatest Hits I thought ‘well that’s highly underwhelming!’. I like it more now than back then but still seems so weird it was sucha monster hit there and outsold every Beatles single! Should have set Denny up for the rest of his life though, if he wasn’t already by that time.

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    1. I’m sure it helped Denny a lot…because yea…it had to bring in a lot.
      The more I hear it the more I like it. I think it was because not many could relate to it…it’s somewhere we never heard of. Even Paul didn’t think it was going to be a hit. I guess it was the right song at the right time.

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  6. I’m sitting here smiling away. 🙂
    It’s weird how so many people (o good random sample) on here hadn’t heard this before. We just assume the WORLD knows it!
    I remember it was Christmas 1977. My pal and I were listening to this with our girlfriends and were so ‘proud’ of the Scottish sound getting so much publicity. Ok – it was cheesy as hell and were were both heavily into our Punk sounds but for a while it was actually pretty welcome.
    Then – as would happen with Bryan Adams @ 14 years later, it became so tedious! I couldn’t stand it. Aaaargh!

    (Now though – the occasional play is all we get, and it’s back to being enjoyable again. ) 🙂

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    1. I hate when a ballad blows up like that…you gave a perfect example with Bryan Adams.
      Yea for the US…it wasn’t known hardly at all. So when I hear it…it’s probably only the 8th or 9th time I’ve heard it…and I’m a McCartney fan! It never gets played over here…
      I was telling Stewart at UK #1’s last night…it’s like Slade’s Christmas song that you guys are burnt out on…but we don’t hear it.

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    1. Oh wow…that is really cool…and rare for him to play it over here.
      I told someone else in the comments that the only time I heard bagpipes live is when Nazareth’s lead singer played them during Hair of the Dog…

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  8. Pingback: Paul McCartney – Mull of Kintyre …Denny Laine – Jamal Brown

  9. AC/DC use the Haggispipes on ‘Long Way To The Top.’ I think this song was a hit hereabouts exactly because it was out of the mainstream. It was played a lot, and yet I still enjoy it.
    I recall my Mum saying there were an inordinate amount of Scots in Canada too. It IS a lovely country to visit but I couldn’t live there, though my daughter and her husband love it. Summer is two weeks in July, In winter It starts to darken at 3 in the afternoon… the shadows of the grey tenements begin to close in, the pubs start to fill, the predominant drizzle becomes a torrent, you’re two miles from home and the busses have gone on strike…
    I think I’ll see if the Scottish Tourist Board want me to write a promotion for ’em.

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    1. Lol… the Canada part is probably the reason he played the song there. I read where it’s rare that he plays it here if at all.
      I can’t imagine it getting dark at 3… wow. Yea I would want more than a two week summer.

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      5. LOL.. oh…Lisa…I heard a song this week that I’m going to post. It’s right up….uh our shared dark streaks…it will be the first one I post Saturday morning…it might be too dark for either one of us…but it’s written so well.

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      9. I’m an idiot…I meant the Nick Cave song…why I didn’t say that…I don’t know… but yes she does fall into that but it does have a good ending. Like I said before…you know more about George than you did before.

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      13. She also has a youtube channel….she hasn’t posted in a while but she tells you other stories with just her and a camera. Very interesting lady and trail blazing.

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  11. Until I read obituaries about Danny Laine, I had not been aware “Mull of Kintyre” was such a massive single in the UK. It’s a lovely song that isn’t necessarily among Paul’s best post-Beatles. That said, I’m glad for both Paul and Danny it turned out to be such a big success that even helped stimulate Kintyre’s local economy!

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    1. I know Christian…I was shocked that it was so dang popular because over here…it wasn’t played. I’m sure it helped Denny a lot through the years…the money that came from it.

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      1. I’m sure it helped Denny and evidently the inhabitants of Kintyre, which is great. I well recall frequently hearing the song on the radio back in Germany. Based on Wikipedia, it got to number 1 there as well.

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  13. I’m sure I mentioned this when I wrote my post on it, but I’m a Scot who’s not a huge fan of the bagpipes… They do work here… Just about. I loved Denny Laine’s voice on ‘Go Now’ – it really suits the song.

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    1. It’s a song…that doesn’t sound like a hit…but it was. It’s not super catchy but stays with you. Yea I like the bagpipes…I couldn’t listen to them all of the time but once in a while.

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  15. This lovely, lovely song. It got some airplay in our Kansas town for a short time. I loved hearing it, even when my little teenage friends made fun of me for it. 🙂 It was very sad losing Denny. I saw him do a show in KC in 2015. He and his band, The Cryers, did a very entertaining show with Moody Blues and Wings hits, and a lot of great stories. They did a wonderful performance of Mull of Kintyre. I was glad to see him get an RRHOF induction.

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    1. I never heard this song until way later on. The more I hear it the more I like it. It’s odd to think it was that massive a hit in the UK and not as much over here.
      Knowing the Hall of Fame…I was surprised they added him but I’m sure happy they did….he deserved it.
      I bet that was a really good show!

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      1. I had no idea this song was so big over there, until 10 or so years ago. It’s surprising that Wings aren’t in the HOF. Denny would surely be inducted with them as well. Maybe that will happen before long.

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      2. Yes now that our mutual friend is gone from the board! I’m so happy he is out of that. I’m hoping the Monkees now can get also.
        The song grew on me through the years…now I like it much better. It doesn’t have that “hit” sound…but there is nothing wrong with that. It’s a beautiful song.

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      4. Well he stepped over the line recently and got nailed for it. His opinion on women and blacks got him into a lot of hot water. From what I understand…he is off the Hall of Fame board…deservedly so.

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      6. Yea…I HATE that word and concept…but for him I’ll make an exception…just this once. Caught in something he helped create.

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    1. The only thing that surprised me is…it just didn’t sound like a hit…the more I heard it the more I liked it. Most of Paul’s hits…do sound like hits whether I like them or not.

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