Released 20 March 1978 Recorded May 1977 | Format 7-inch single Genre Synthpop, soft rock | |
B-side "Backwards Traveller"/"Cuff Link" Length 5:45 (full version)
3:13 (radio edit) | ||
"With a Little Luck" is a single by the band Wings from their 1978 album London Town.
Contents
Writing, recording and release
Written in Scotland, "With a Little Luck" would become Wings' follow-up single to the then best-selling UK Single of all time, "Mull of Kintyre."
Recorded in May 1977 aboard the boat Fair Carol, which had been fitted with a 24-track studio, in the Virgin Islands for the proposed album, working title Water Wings, which was released in 1978 as the band's seventh album, London Town. During these recordings, Wings' lead guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Joe English had recorded tracks but had left, returning the band to the three-piece line-up which had recorded Band on the Run in 1973. McCartney played electric piano, bass and synthesizer in the song; probably English was on drums, while Denny Laine and Linda McCartney helped with some keyboards.
Released in March 1978, the first single from the album, "With a Little Luck" hit No.1 in the United States and No.5 in the UK. While it was at the top of the charts in the USA, McCartney announced the new Wings line up featuring lead guitarist Laurence Juber and drummer Steve Holly.
The single's b-side consists of the segue of two short tracks, "Backward Travellers"/"Cuff Link", also on the album, the first of which is a song and the second an instrumental that features a heavily synthesized guitar theme.
Author Chris Ingham praised the song as one of the best on the album, stating it was "full of the most sensitive pop synthesizer touches." Tom Waseleski of the Beaver County Times regarded "With a Little Luck" as having "more substance" than other of McCartney's soft rock tracks.
The song's music video, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, aired in the UK on 9 May 1978, as part of Granada Television's Paul TV show.
Later release
"With a Little Luck" was also included on the compilation album Wings Greatest (1978), and the Paul McCartney compilation albums All the Best! (1987) and Wingspan: Hits and History (2001). There were two versions of the song: the full version which runs 5:45, and a promotional single version which only runs 3:13 (as it cuts out, among other things, the entire instrumental interlude). The album version was included on Wings Greatest and the UK & Canada version of All the Best!, while the single version appears on Wingspan and in the US version of All the Best!.
It was featured in the closing credits of the 1979 film Sunburn starring Farrah Fawcett, Charles Grodin and Art Carney.