# Mysteries of Music #1: How did the dull song "Mull of Kintyre" become megapopular in Britain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2013, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473 "2013-12-16T16:16:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/21 "2013-12-17T00:34:42Z")
I love Long and Winding Road. It’s to be played at my funeral. Mull of Kintyre is one of my top ten favorite songs of all time, I adore bagpipes. And waltzes. I am wondering now if I should switch songs for my funeral (I would love to be sent off at the cemetary with MoK playing.) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/22 "2013-12-17T01:41:01Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Laurie Anderson’s [“O Superman”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VIqA3i2zQw) made #2 in the UK charts in 1981, and I don’t think anyone knows how that happened. 😃 That was back when you had to sell quite a lot of records too. I have never heard that, but think it is quite possibly the most annoying song I have heard in my life; it’s like Kraftwork on valium. I love Mull of Kintyre BTW. When I first heard it I assumed it was an old Scottish folk song Sir Paul had resurrected. I was born in Scotland, my dad played the pipes, and I was weaned on that kind of music though,. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/23 "2013-12-17T02:55:04Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Laurie Anderson’s [“O Superman”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VIqA3i2zQw) made #2 in the UK charts in 1981, and I don’t think anyone knows how that happened. 😃 That was back when you had to sell quite a lot of records too. That’s absolutely stunning. A creepy sounding 8 minute spoken word record with no hooks, no chorus, and hard to follow lyrics? How on earth did that become a hit? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/24 "2013-12-17T04:44:57Z")
I dunno, can you explain “Barret’s Privateers”? And it’s still sung, regularly at last call in many a bar on the East Coast. Every damn drunk knows all the friggin words! Never was a Barrett, nor an Antelope, Marques, staggers and jags, the average Canadian doesn’t have the faintest idea what any of that means, I’d wager. Still, something about this song gets them going. Or, it could be all the beer! ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/25 "2013-12-17T23:21:33Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Laurie Anderson’s [“O Superman”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VIqA3i2zQw) made #2 in the UK charts in 1981, and I don’t think anyone knows how that happened. 😃 That was back when you had to sell quite a lot of records too. The people who bought it mistook it for [Them](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVDJS-z32k0) by Neil Innes? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/26 "2013-12-18T01:27:13Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Bagpipes on American Top 40 radio in 1977? Nope, not gonna fly. Bagpipes. Rock/Pop song. AC/DC of course. https://www.youtube.com/embed/bJwZhqU0QL4?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque One of the Legendary songs of Oz Rock. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/27 "2013-12-18T01:36:02Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > Bagpipes. Rock/Pop song. AC/DC of course. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJwZhqU0QL4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJwZhqU0QL4) > > One of the Legendary songs of Oz Rock. Perfection. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/28 "2013-12-18T01:55:07Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Not just for 1977, it’s simply _very_ British. (And I use the term to include the whole of the British Isles, not specifically England.) Yeah, don’t do that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/29 "2013-12-18T06:08:29Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Bagpipes on American Top 40 radio in 1977? Nope, not gonna fly. It was 1978 and mostly on FM radio, but [Steppin’](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e95VidlrvkU) had them. Not only did it have bagpipes, it also had jazz and funk. Quite a nice combo for the time. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/30 "2013-12-19T09:56:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > “Mull of Kintyre” was an appeal to nostalgia and it’s not surprising Americans didn’t take to it - it wasn’t about our past so there’s no reason we’d feel the emotional connection with it. I am not sure what you mean by this. It is not about Britain’s past either. It is just Paul getting sentimental about his vacation home. Also, despite having been a big hit, I would not describe it as “mega popular” in Britain. Indeed, it is (and was at the time) much hated, even by many people (such as myself) who are not on board with generalized Paul hate, or even Wings hate. It is “rock” music (or, at any rate, music by a well certified rock icon) for people who don’t like rock music. I think it was bought mostly by the older generation because it was music in a style they liked by someone who (so they assumed) the young hip kids liked, so they could feel a bit hip without having to listen to sounds detestable to them. Note also that it was a Christmas hit. This helps to account for its very large sales. There is (or was in the age of 45rpm singles - not sure if this still applies in the age of iTunes) a big tradition of mega-selling Xmas Number Ones’s in the British charts, and they are often very quirky and quite unlike the things that fill the charts through the rest of the year. Also, one song, probably for quite contingent reasons, will become a fad that people buy because everyone else is buying it. This, I suppose, is because Xmastime singles are/were mainly bought by people who simply do/did not buy songs in the rest of the year, and have little clue about what most regular music buyers like, or why. Occasionally this leads to emergence of interesting, quirky material (Jonah Lewie’s “Stop the Cavalry” might be an example), but more often to the elevation of horrible novelty songs. There have been many much worse British Xmas number ones than Mull of Kintyre. (But most of them were so bad they were not even worth hating. Those of us who cared expected much better of Paul. - Though, mind you “Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time”, is much worse, for being catchy and earwormish.) In the case of “Mull of Kintyre” I suspect the fad began with grandma or grandpa buying a record for their grandkids because they actually did not hate it themselves, but also thought that, because of who it was, the grandkids would appreciate it. They were probably wrong about that, but as the fad built momentum (the pop charts were widely reported on in those days) other non (pop) music lovers probably started buying it for themselves or as presents for others of the older non-music-buying generation. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/31 "2013-12-19T10:28:17Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Bagpipes on American Top 40 radio in 1977? Nope, not gonna fly. … I’m not proud to know this, but in 1974 Glen Campbell had a pretty good go with [Bonaparte’s Retreat](http://youtu.be/_Lt57tM-4LE)- according to his wikipedia discography - No 3 on US Country charts, just misses out at No 42 on Adult contemporary, and Bag Fat #1 on the Canadian charts. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/32 "2013-12-19T10:56:15Z")
Wow, I had never heard it or of it. What a shit song. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/33 "2013-12-19T11:46:18Z")
It was the exact opposite of punk rock. Nessary in order to restore balance to the force. Speaking of which, here’s Laurie Anderson with bagpipes… [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDuDwlbP_UM) ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/34 "2013-12-19T14:48:50Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > …but more often to the elevation of horrible novelty songs. There have been many much worse British Xmas number ones than Mull of Kintyre. Like [this chart topper from 1980](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9r1cFJZW7E)? (Kept John Lennon out of number one that Christmas.) ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/35 "2013-12-19T14:50:27Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > Bagpipes. Rock/Pop song. AC/DC of course. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJwZhqU0QL4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJwZhqU0QL4) > > One of the Legendary songs of Oz Rock. I thought the same thing reading this thread but it apparently didn’t make the top charts in the US at all; it went to #9 in Australia though. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/36 "2013-12-19T15:27:51Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > I thought the same thing reading this thread but it apparently didn’t make the top charts in the US at all. Yep, I thought that, too, and looked it up. No sign of it at all on the US charts. I don’t think there’s anything about bagpipe in the mid-70s that would have kept it off Top 40 radio if used well. (And, as we can see, we had a completely bagpipe-centric tune almost crack the Top 10 just five years previous.) I’d actually probably argue that it was more likely in the 70s than, say, now. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/37 "2013-12-19T16:03:33Z")
The B-side “Girl’s School” did make the Top 40, but was still pretty obscure. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/38 "2013-12-19T23:36:29Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I am not sure what you mean by this. It is not about Britain’s past either. It is just Paul getting sentimental about his vacation home. It’s definitely nostalgic. There are lines like _“Carry me back to the days I knew then”_ and _“Smiles in the sunshine and tears in the rain still take me back to where my memories remain”_. And while it’s not about Britain’s past it is about a past that took place specifically in Britain. The typical American isn’t going to have idealized memories of listening to the bagpipes down by the loch. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/39 "2013-12-20T01:21:42Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > That’s absolutely stunning. A creepy sounding 8 minute spoken word record with no hooks, no chorus, and hard to follow lyrics? How on earth did that become a hit? Possibly because it’s hypnotically brilliant and makes one think…otherwise, I got nuttin’. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473/40 "2013-12-20T02:51:33Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s definitely nostalgic. There are lines like _“Carry me back to the days I knew then”_ and _“Smiles in the sunshine and tears in the rain still take me back to where my memories remain”_. And while it’s not about Britain’s past it is about a past that took place specifically in Britain. The typical American isn’t going to have idealized memories of listening to the bagpipes down by the loch. Sure its nostalgic, but it is _personal_ nostalgia: Paul’s. Very few British people have ever been to the Mull of Kintyre, and most of those that have been there probably have no reason to feel sentimental about it. It means no more to the British in general than it does to Americans, or Botswanans come to that. (Incidentally, it is not on a loch either; it is by the sea, as the song says.) Anyway, the fact that Gerry and the Pacemakers’ “[Ferry 'Cross the Mersey](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferry_Cross_the_Mersey#Chart_performance)” is entirely and very explicitly about nostalgia for a place in Britain did not stop it from reaching #6 (higher than it actually reached in Britain) in the US Billboard charts. Likewise, many songs about places in America have charted in the UK. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-of-music-1-how-did-the-dull-song-mull-of-kintyre-become-megapopular-in-britain/676473.md?page=3)