You Gave Me The Answer – Wings Special!

Wings have taken flight again in 2025, with the new WINGS collection now available to buy and stream, and Paul’s book Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run landing on bookshelves everywhere. The renaissance continues in 2026, with the exciting new film Man on the Run set to arrive globally on Prime Video in February!

Of course, Paul has spoken about his time in Wings at great length in the 50+ years since the band formed, including right here in this website Q&A series. So, we decided to rummage through the ‘You Gave Me the Answer’ online archives and revisit some of our favourite conversations about the band. Here are some of the interesting things we’ve learnt…

When we discovered Paul’s favourite ‘deep cut’ Wings song 

Aidan asks: My favourite song of yours is ‘Daytime Nightime Suffering’, and Linda
said it was one of her favourites! Do you have a favourite ‘deep cut’ Wings
song of your own? 

Paul: I agree! ‘Daytime Nightime Suffering’ is one of my favourites, as it was Linda’s. But another song I like a lot is ‘Arrow Through Me’.  It is lovely to see these songs reappear from time to time, mainly when they are used in a film or TV show. I think a lot of young people discover my songs this way. Thanks for listening!

When Paul revealed the Red Rose Speedway track he is most proud of 

PaulMcCartney.com: Listening back to the album today, are there any
specific songs that stand out?

Paul: I’m very proud of ‘My Love’. This was early days for me and Linda, so it’s a love song to her really. One of the things I was proud of, funnily enough, was that it charted. It sort of did very well. [The ‘My Love’ single reached number one in the US!]

When we learnt the inspiration behind the title track on Wild Life

Paul: ‘Wild Life’ was to do with me having gone on safari and actually seeing that sign that I sing about: ‘The animals have the right of way’. Which really impressed me. You just realise the sort of dignity and strength of wild animals because here they’ve got the right of way. Whereas we’re all so full of our own importance. It’s kind of nice, you know. You’re just a guy in a Land Rover. You don’t matter so much! So that was why I wrote that song. Man, you know, we’re the “top species”, and yet we’re the ones who eff it up, which is not right.

When Paul told us ‘Venus and Mars’ has a double meaning 

PaulMcCartney.com: Do you remember why the album was titled Venus and Mars?

Paul: Well, I wrote a song called ‘Venus and Mars’, and thought it was a good title. We only meant the planets, but then we had a great party on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, and somebody said, ‘Oh, hi Venus! Hi Mars!’ to Linda and me. So, it was a great observation from them: Venus is the female; Mars is the male. It made a lot of sense, really.

When we learned what the McCartney children thought of growing up on tour 

Paul: They joke about it now, saying they were hippy commune kids! But it was great for us, and I think it was great for them. It meant that we didn’t have to worry about them, because they were right there with us. And we figured if you want to know geography, actually going to all these places was helpful - it was part of their education. So yeah, it was interesting!

When Paul confirmed the inspiration for Wings’ pseudonym group, The Country Hams 

PaulMcCartney.com: You mentioned that ‘Walking in the Park with Eloise’ was recorded in Nashville. We’ve visited the Loveless Café there, where there’s a sign advertising ‘Country Hams’. Is this where the inspiration for the band name ‘The Country Hams’ came from?

Paul: Yeah, exactly. And that parking lot is where I met up with Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed. We went and ate there – I seem to remember the peach preserve was their speciality.

PM.com: What a nice piece of music history! There should be a little plaque in the car park.

Paul: ‘This is where Paul met Jerry and Chet!’

We’ve certainly enjoyed ‘Listen(ing) to What the Man Said’ in these Q&As! If you want to delve into the archives yourself, click the ‘You Gave Me the Answer’ tag at the top of the page or browse through them here.

The new album, WINGS – the definitive collection, personally curated by Paul – is out now. Listen here.

Paul’s new book, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, is also out now. Get your copy here.

The film Man on the Run will be released globally on Prime Video in February 2025. Check out the teaser trailer below!