ON THIS DATE (39 YEARS AGO) October 27, 1975 – Wings: Venus And Mars/Rockshow b/w Magneto And Titanium Man (Capitol 4175) 45 single is released in the US. Venus and Mars/Rock Show is a a medley of two songs written by Paul and Linda McCartney and originally performed by Wings that make up the first two songs of the album Venus and Mars. The B-side is Magneto and Titanium Man, another track from the album. The single version is considerably shorter than the album version of the songs; in the single Rock Show is cut by more than 3 minutes and Venus and Mars is cut by a few seconds. Venus and Mars/Rock Show peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, but failed to chart on the UK singles chart. In the book The Rough Guide to the Beatles, Chris Ingham praised both songs, describing Venus and Mars as atmospheric and Rock Show as barnstorming. Venus and Mars is an acoustic, folk-like song representing the perspective of a concertgoer waiting for the show to start. Originally when the song was released fans believed the title referred to Paul and Linda. Paul has denied this, stating that the song is about an imaginary friend whos got a girlfriend whos the kind of person who asks what your sign is before they say hello. Thats it: A good friend of mine studies the stars. In fact, in the first verse its a good friend of mine follows the stars, so it could be ambiguous: a groupie or an astrologer. Rock Show is a harder rock song. The chorus of Rock Show mentions concerts at Amsterdams Concertgebouw, New Yorks Madison Square Garden, and Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl. The verses include musical references such as Silly Willy with the Philly band and Jimmy Pages guitar. In addition to the normal Wings line-up, Allen Toussaint played piano on this song. Paul McCartney The Beatles
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 17:10:00 +0000