Editing Back to the Egg (section)

==Songs==
{{quote box|quote= The new wave thing was happening and&nbsp;... I sort of realized, "Well, so what's wrong with us doing an uptempo [album]?"&nbsp;... ''Back to the Egg'' was influenced just as what I had wanted to do at the time, the direction I felt I hadn't been in for a while&nbsp;...<ref name=Band192/>|source= – Paul McCartney, on his musical influences while making the album|width=25%|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}
Although ''London Town'' had featured a significant level of contribution from Laine as a songwriter,<ref name="Woffinden p 120">Woffinden, p. 120</ref><ref name="Rodriguez p 223">Rodriguez, p. 223</ref> all but one of the songs on ''Back to the Egg'' are credited to McCartney alone.<ref name=W&M90 /> The album was originally planned around a loose conceptual theme,<ref>Rodriguez, pp. 269, 391</ref> about which authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter write in their book ''Eight Arms to Hold You'': "The idea was to have a theme of a working band, getting back on the road&nbsp;... or 'back to the egg' (or protective shell) of touring."<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 240" /> In the original [[LP record|LP]] format, the two album sides were labelled with the egg-related titles "Sunny Side Up" and "Over Easy".<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 599" />

==="Sunny Side Up"===
The album's opening song is "Reception", an instrumental, in which McCartney attempted to capture the effect of turning a radio dial and finding "about four stations at once".<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 241">Madinger and Easter, p. 241</ref> The track features a guitar-controlled [[synthesizer]] (played by Juber) over a [[funk]]-inspired [[bassline]], and spoken voices, including a reading of part of "The Poodle and the Pug", from [[Vivian Ellis]]'s opera ''Big Ben'' (1946).<ref name=W&M88-89>Benitez, pp. 88–89</ref> A brief segment from the track "The Broadcast", which appears later on ''Back to the Egg'', is previewed in this opening piece.<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 241" /> The next three songs – "[[Getting Closer (song)|Getting Closer]]", "We're Open Tonight" and "Spin It On" – adhere to the proposed album-wide concept.<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 240" /> Writing in ''[[Melody Maker]]'' in June 1979, Mark Williams interpreted "Reception" as representing a radio being tuned in a car, whereby "the occupant is on his way to a gig, hence 'Getting Closer' [to the venue] and, upon arrival, 'We're Open Tonight'".<ref name="Williams/MM">Williams, Mark (16 June 1979). "Wings: Taking off at Last". ''[[Melody Maker]]''. Available at [http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/wings-taking-off-at-last Rock's Backpages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140312224730/http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/wings-taking-off-at-last |date=12 March 2014 }} (''subscription required'').</ref> The notion of live performance is then reflected in the sequencing of what Madinger and Easter term "heavier rock tracks such as 'Spin It On'".<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 240" />

[[File:SexPistolsNorway1977.jpg|thumbnail|right|185px|The [[Sex Pistols]] (pictured in concert in 1977), part of the punk and new-wave phenomenon that inspired some songs on ''Back to the Egg'']]
McCartney had recorded a piano [[Demo (music)|demo]] for "Getting Closer" in 1974, at which point the song had a slower [[tempo]].<ref name=W&M89>Benitez, p. 89</ref> Author and ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]'' contributor Tom Doyle describes Wings' version as "power-popping" and reminiscent of the English band [[Squeeze (band)|Squeeze]].<ref name="Doyle p 174">Doyle, p. 174</ref> The mellow "We're Open Tonight" was written at the McCartneys' farm in [[Campbeltown]], Scotland, and was the album's title track until Linda suggested ''Back to the Egg''.<ref name="Madinger & Easter pp 240, 242">Madinger and Easter, pp. 240, 242</ref>

Another song composed in Scotland,<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 242" /> the fast-tempo<ref name="Williams/MM" /> "Spin It On" was an obvious acknowledgment of punk and new wave;<ref name="Sounes p 345" /> author Vincent Benitez terms it "McCartney-esque whimsy on punk steroids".<ref name=W&M90 /> Laine's composition "Again and Again and Again" similarly has "echoes of [[the Clash]]", according to McCartney biographer [[Howard Sounes]].<ref name="Sounes p 345">Sounes, p. 345</ref> This song was originally two separate pieces, which Laine combined on McCartney's recommendation.<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 242">Madinger and Easter, p. 242</ref>

Although credited to McCartney alone, "[[Old Siam, Sir]]" marked "the most collective band involvement" as regards songwriting, Madinger and Easter suggest.<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 242" /> Similar in style to "Spin It On", the song features a keyboard [[riff]] written by Linda<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 242" /> and a Holley-composed [[middle eight]];<ref name="Rodriguez p 219">Rodriguez, p. 219</ref> in addition, Laine helped McCartney complete the composition,<ref name=W&M90>Benitez, p. 90</ref> an early version of which the previous incarnation of Wings had demoed in July 1976.<ref>Madinger and Easter, pp. 223–24</ref>{{refn|Laine and Holley each claimed to have written the main guitar riff to "Old Siam, Sir".<ref name=Band123/> On the day that Wings recorded the song, a disagreement over this issue almost led to a physical confrontation between the two musicians.<ref name=Band123/>|group="nb"}} "[[Arrow Through Me]]", a track more in keeping with McCartney's melodic pop style,<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 243">Madinger and Easter, p. 243</ref> is a song written from the perspective of a rejected lover.<ref name=W&M91>Benitez, p. 91</ref> With a musical arrangement that eschews guitar backing for synthesizer, [[Fender Rhodes piano]] and horns, Benitez views it as "reminiscent of the techno-pop style of [[Stevie Wonder]]".<ref name=W&M90 />

==="Over Easy"===
Opening side two, "[[Rockestra Theme]]" was a composition that McCartney had first recorded in 1974, on the same piano demo tape as "Getting Closer".<ref>Madinger and Easter, pp. 193–94, 599</ref> "Rockestra Theme" is an instrumental – except for the shouted line "''Why haven't I had any dinner?''", which author Robert Rodriguez describes as a "deliberate evocation" of [[Glenn Miller]]'s 1940 single "[[Pennsylvania 6-5000 (song)|Pennsylvania 6-5000]]".<ref name="Rodriguez p 376"/> Another rock track,<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 244">Madinger and Easter, p. 244</ref> "To You" includes a lyric aimed at a lover who has wronged the singer.<ref name=W&M92>Benitez, p. 92</ref> The guitar solo on the recording provides an unusual aspect for a Wings song,<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 244" /> in that Juber played the part through an [[Eventide, Inc.|Eventide]] [[harmonizer]] while McCartney simultaneously altered the harmonizer's settings from the studio's control room.<ref name=W&M92-93>Benitez, pp. 92–93</ref>

McCartney deemed the two [[Gospel music|gospel]]-influenced pieces making up "After the Ball/Million Miles" as being of insufficient quality to merit inclusion as separate tracks;<ref name=W&M93>Benitez, p. 93</ref> "After the Ball" ends with a guitar solo,<ref name=W&M93/> edited from parts played by McCartney, Laine and Juber, after which "Million Miles" consists of a performance by McCartney alone, on [[concertina]].<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 245">Madinger and Easter, p. 245</ref> This is followed by another [[medley (music)|medley]], "Winter Rose/Love Awake", both portions of which McCartney had demoed at Rude Studio, his home studio at Campbeltown, in 1977.<ref name=W&M94>Benitez, p. 94</ref>{{refn|"Million Miles" was another older song of McCartney's, dating from the 1974 demo session, which Madinger and Easter suggest was recorded in Los Angeles.<ref>Madinger and Easter, pp. 193–94</ref>|group="nb"}}

"The Broadcast" is another instrumental,<ref name=W&M95>Benitez, p. 95</ref> designed to give the impression of several radio signals interlaced, and bringing full-circle the concept established in the album's opening track, "Reception".<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 245" /> Over a musical backing of piano, [[mellotron]] and [[gizmotron]],<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 245" /> it features readings taken from the plays ''[[The Sport of Kings (play)|The Sport of Kings]]'' by [[Ian Hay]] and ''The Little Man'' by [[John Galsworthy]].<ref name="Woffinden p 121">Woffinden, p. 121</ref> As a return to the proposed working-band concept, "So Glad to See You Here", Rodriguez writes, "[evokes] the anticipation of a live act guaranteed to 'knock 'em dead'" and so recalls Wings' 1975–76 show-opening medley "[[Venus and Mars/Rock Show]]".<ref>Rodriguez, pp. 62–63, 269, 376</ref> During the outro, the band reprise a line from "We're Open Tonight".<ref name=W&M92/> The album ends with a [[jazz]]-inflected<ref name="Sounes p 345" /> ballad, "Baby's Request", which McCartney wrote for American vocal group [[the Mills Brothers]], after seeing them perform in the [[South of France]] during the summer of 1978.<ref name="Madinger & Easter p 245" />