Line #11 Music/BandOnTheRun


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/band_on_the_run.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''If I ever get out of here, thought of giving it all away\
3	To a registered charity; all I need is a pint a day'']]
4
5	->''"[[TitleDrop Band on the run]]\
6	Band on the run\
7	And the jailer man and Sailor Sam\
8	Were searching everyone\
9	For the band on the run\
10	For the band on the run..."''
11
12	''Band on the Run'' is the third studio album by Music/{{Wings\|Band}}, and Music/PaulMcCartney's fifth overall since leaving the [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]].
13
14	Released in December 1973, this was seen by Paul as an "all or nothing" effort to prove that he was a capable artist on his own. It worked: this album became the highest-selling of 1974 in the British and Australian markets, and went on to become one of [=McCartney=]'s most celebrated post-Beatles efforts.
15
16	----
17	!! Tracklist:
18	[[AC: Side One]]
19	# "Band on the Run" (5:12)
20	# "Jet" (4:09)
21	# "Bluebird" (3:23)
22	# "Mrs. Vandebilt" (4:40)
23	# "Let Me Roll It" (4:51)
24
25	[[AC: Side Two]]
26	[numlist:6]
27	# "Mamunia" (4:51)
28	# "No Words" (2:35)
29	# "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" (5:49)
30	# "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" (5:28)
31	[/numlist]
32
33	[[AC:Bonus tracks in the 1993 reissue]]
34	[numlist:10]
35	# "Helen Wheels" (3:44)[[note]]Track 8 in the US version of the original.[[/note]]
36	# "Country Dreamer" (3:07)
37	[/numlist]
38	----
39	!! Principal Members:
40	* Music/PaulMcCartney - vocals; acoustic, electric and bass guitars; piano; drums and percussion
41	* Linda [=McCartney=] - keyboards and vocals
42	* Denny Laine - vocals; acoustic, electric and bass guitars; keyboards; percussion
43
44	----
45	!! "Tropes on the run... Tropes on the run!"
46	* {{{Bookends}}: The closing track, "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five", finishes off with a brief reprise of the opening song, "Band on the Run".
47	* CallBack: "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" has short reprises of "Jet" at the middle and "Mrs. Vandebilt" at the end. Additionally, "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" ends with a reprise of the chorus to "Band on the Run".
48	* CanonImmigrant: "Helen Wheels" was originally a standalone single, but was added to the US version of the album.
49	* CentralTheme: Most of the songs on the album deal with the themes of flight, escape, and freedom. ''Band on the Run'' is sometimes described as a ConceptAlbum due to this, but [=McCartney=] described it as "a thread, but not a concept."
50	* DudeLooksLikeALady: Seen in "Jet":
51	-->''And Jet, I thought the Major\
52	Was a Lady Suffragette''
53	* FaceOnTheCover: In addition to the band members (Paul, third from left; Linda, crouching down to the right of him; Denny, kneeling at bottom right), there are cameos from friends of the band--interviewer/presenter Michael Parkinson (far left); singer Kenny Lynch[[note]]who had the distinction of releasing the first-ever CoverVersion of a Beatles song, when he recorded "Misery" in 1963[[/note]] (between Parkinson and Paul); Creator/JamesCoburn (standing at the back); Creator/ChristopherLee (middle right, staring directly at the camera); writer, comedian, presenter, politician and grandson of [[UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud a certain famous psychoanalyst]] Clement Freud (balding, above Linda); boxer John Conteh (far right, bent over).
54	* HappyRain: "Mamunia". Paul sings about how rain fills the rivers and seas, rain makes plants bloom, and it's fun sometimes to put your umbrellas down and go out in the rain to get soaked.
55	* InTheStyleOf: A major reason why this album was well-received compared to earlier [=McCartney=] projects is that it was so steeped in [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] styles, referencing both the group's recordings and Paul's ex-bandmates' solo material. "Bluebird" called to mind [[Music/TheWhiteAlbum "Blackbird"]] but also was similar to Music/JohnLennon's love songs. "Let Me Roll It", with the heavily-reverbed vocals and the EpicRiff, sounds like something from ''Music/JohnLennonPlasticOnoBand'', and it borrows its title phrase ("Let me roll it to you") from "I'd Have You Anytime", the opening track of ''Music/AllThingsMustPass''. "No Words" has the classic vocal harmony style of Beatle songs like [[Music/PastMasters "This Boy"]] and [[Music/AbbeyRoad "Because"]], along with Music/GeorgeHarrison-like guitar.
56	* InspectorJavert: "And the county judge/Who held a grudge/Will search forevermore/For the band on the run."
57	* ListingCities: "Helen Wheels" is about a road trip south from Scotland, mentioning Glasgow, Carlisle, Kendal, Liverpool, Birmingham and London.
58	* MoodWhiplash: In title track "Band on the Run". The singer starts off morose and depressed ("stuck inside these four walls/sent inside forever"), shifts to cranky and restless as he growls the "If I ever get out of here" part, then bursts into pure joy as the song shifts yet again to the main section where the singer (and apparently his band) have escaped to freedom.
59	* NeverGoingBackToPrison: "Band on the Run". In fact, the album itself is a metaphorical take on the idea, as Paul wanted to break from the idea that he wouldn't be successful without the Beatles.
60	-->''Well, the night was falling as the desert world\
61	Began to settle down\
62	In the town they're searching for us everywhere\
63	But we never will be found''
64	* RippedFromTheHeadlines: "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" was inspired by the actual Creator/PabloPicasso's death, which [=McCartney=] learned about while on vacation in Jamaica four months before recording started. The chorus quotes what were widely reported as Picasso's last words before he went to bed and died of a heart attack in his sleep at the age of 91.
65	* ShoutOut:
66	** In "Jet", the title character is referred to as both a major and a "lady suffragette" in quick succession, referencing the Music/DavidBowie songs "Music/SpaceOddity" (whose main character is named Major Tom) and "Suffragette City" (whose [[Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars parent album]] came out the year before this record).
67	** "Helen Wheels" contains one to the title track:
68	--->''Sailor Sam, he came from Birmingham, but he never will be found''
69	* SillyLoveSongs: "Let Me Roll It", about two and a half years before the TropeNamer.
70	-->''I can't tell you how I feel\
71	My heart is like a wheel\
72	Let me roll it\
73	Let me roll it to you''
74	** "Bluebird" may count as well, given how fluffy it is.
75	* ToAbsentFriends: Invoked in "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)":
76	-->''The grand old painter died last night\
77	His paintings on the wall\
78	Before he went he bade us well\
79	And said good night to us all\
80	"Drink to me, drink to my health\
81	You know I can't drink anymore."''
82	%%* WanderlustSong: "Helen Wheels".
83
84	----
85	->''"And the county judge\
86	Who held a grudge\
87	Will search forevermore\
88	For the band on the run\
89	The band on the run\
90	For the band on the run\
91	The band on the run..."''

Context Music / BandOnTheRun