A-side "Band on the Run" Format 7" single Genre Rock | Released 28 June 1974 Recorded September 1973 Length 5:29 | |
"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" (sometimes written as "1985") is a song by Paul McCartney and Wings. It has been featured on the 2001 documentary DVD Wingspan and Paul McCartney & Wings' 1974 TV special One Hand Clapping. A 2016 remix of the song was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Contents
Lyrics and music
Paul McCartney, the writer of "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five", has said that the song originated with just the first line.
"With a lot of songs I do, the first line is it. It's all in the first line, and then you have to go on and write the second line. With 'Eleanor Rigby' I had 'picks up the rice in the church where the wedding has been.' that was the one big line that started me off on it. With this one it was 'No one ever left alive in nineteen hundred and eighty-five. That's all I had of that song for months. No one ever left alive in nineteen hundred and eighty... six?' It wouldn't have worked!"
This tune is the climactic track from the album Band on the Run. It continues the album's theme of escape by describing the singer achieving artistic freedom through love. Author Andrew Grant Jackson calls the lyrics "gibberish" and mere placeholders for the excitement and "cinematic purpose" of the music."
The song has a grandiose ending with a full orchestra and the band. Other instrumentation includes mellotron, organ and horns. On the album Band on the Run, it ends the album with an excerpt of the opening song. This song is featured on several episodes of Trigger Happy TV. In its early life, it was simply titled "Piano Thing".
In 2016, German producer Timo Mass and Canadian DJ James Teej released a remix of the track with McCartney's approval. Their version received a Grammy nomination for best remixed recording, non-classical.
Personnel
Live performances
McCartney performed the song live for the first time ever during his 2010–11 Up and Coming Tour. He played the song live again during his 2011–12 On the Run Tour, his 2013–15 Out There Tour, his 2016 One on One tour and at 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief.