Paul McCartney's "Mull of Kintyre"

Cafe Society
21

It can also be found on Wingspan , the 2-CD greatest hits collection released a couple of years ago. And, bagpipes or not, it’s one of my favorite McCartney songs.

22

I’d never heard it before I acquired Wings Greatest, but it’s now one of my favorites, too. And the bagpipes are just a bonus (seriously).

23

Mull of Kintyre was a hit in 1977 and 1978. Let’s look at what other songs were “hits” in that period.

1977 Top Ten

  1. Undercover Angel - Allen O’Day
  2. Torn Between Two Lovers - Mary MacGregor
  3. Angel In Your Arms - Hot
  4. Don’t Leave Me This Way - Thelma Houston
  5. I Like Dreamin’ - Kenny Nolan
  6. You Don’t Have To Be A Star - Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr.
  7. Evergreen (Theme from “A Star Is Born”) - Barbra Streisand
  8. Best Of My Love - Emotions
  9. Tonight’s The Night - Rod Stewart
  10. I Want To Be Your Everything - Andy Gibb

1978 Top Ten

  1. Three Times A Lady - Commodores
  2. Boogie Oogie Oogie - Taste of Honey
  3. Love Is Thicker Than Water - Andy Gibb
  4. Baby Come Back - Player
  5. How Deep Is Your Love - Bee Gees
  6. Kiss You All Over - Exile
  7. Stayin’ Alive - Bee Gees
  8. You Light Up My Life - Debby Boone
  9. Night Fever - Bee Gees
  10. Shadow Dancin’ - Andy Gibb

Now, those are the USA charts for the period that “Mull of Kintyre” was on the UK charts. I’m not sure when it was on the USA charts. But you can see that it hit during the musical void that was toward the end of both Disco and Classic Rock, but towards the beginning of the “New Music” era.

So, to answer the question, why was it such a big hit – look what it was up against.

24

Good point. Man, that list gave me a serious bad-music flashback [shudder]

25

That was some nasty shit, all right. But even speaking as a Paul McCartney fan, I don’t have much of a soft spot for “Mulligan’s Tire.” I agree with the conventional wisdom that the flip side, the relatively hard-rockin’ “Girls’ School,” blows it away.