Was Paul McCartney's song Band On The Run actually a medley of three songs?

[Hawkee]

I was listening to Paul McCartney's song Band On The Run and I noticed that in the intro it starts with a rock ballad then as the song continues a rock song starts with the lyrics "If I ever get out of here gonna give it all away to registered charity" and then Band On The Run officially starts and so it makes me think that Paul McCartney wrote the song's intro as a medley. Band On The Run is one of my favorite Paul McCartney songs and it's such a cool song with a wonderful beat
Besie

[ABlairican Pie]

I have just read that the song "Band On the Run" was in fact a three-part medley involving several musical styles. The song touches on the theme of rock bands being "desperados" and being treated as such for things like drugs and other activities.

The song fits well in with the recordings The Beatles did later in their tenure as on "Abbey Road", where songs would be recorded with snippets of songs ideas strung together to form a medley. It worked with many prog-rock bands of the late 60's and all through the 70's.

[Babalu]

The short instrumental when the tempo changes is the band escaping from jail. If you listen just before that, to the last, "If we ever get out of here," you hear John Lennon sing the line with Paul, the only time John ever appeared on a Wings song.

[PhoenixAcres]

Originally Posted by Babalu

If you listen just before that, to the last, "If we ever get out of here," you hear John Lennon sing the line with Paul, the only time John ever appeared on a Wings song.

I remember reading this when it posted back in 2018 and thought it was really cool. Unfortunately a few weeks ago I did some further research and found it was just a common misconception.

https://www.quora.com/Is-John-Lennon...ounds-like-him

While John Lennon was a fan of “Band on the Run”—and even performed it with his band from time to time—the voice you’re hearing is not his. Rather that is the voice of long time 3rd wheel to Paul and Linda in Wings, Denny Laine. Laine was a great guitarist and prominent vocalist on many Wings tracks—taking lead and background vocal roles over their tenure together.

[AKA]

Originally Posted by Babalu

The short instrumental when the tempo changes is the band escaping from jail. If you listen just before that, to the last, "If we ever get out of here," you hear John Lennon sing the line with Paul, the only time John ever appeared on a Wings song.

The only known time John and Paul played together after the breakup of The Beatles was in 1974, during John’s “lost weekend” period in Los Angeles.

John was producing Harry Nilsson’s ***** Cats album, and Paul and Linda dropped in to visit for a few days. It culminated in a sloppy, coked-up jam session in the studio featuring John, Paul, Stevie Wonder, Nilsson, Jesse Ed Davis and Bobby Keys.

The session was rumored about for a few decades and became the stuff of legends. It was finally released in the ‘90s on the bootleg A Toot and a Snore in ‘74, and it’s terrible. Everyone, especially John who was leading the jam, was high as a kite and probably also drunk.



Here’s a picture from that weekend. It’s the last known photo of John and Paul together, but not the last time they were together: