Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five

"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five"
Single by Paul McCartney and Wings
from the album Band on the Run
A-side"Band on the Run"
Released28 June 1974
RecordedOctober 1973[1]
StudioAIR, London[1]
Genre
Length5:29
LabelApple
Songwriters
ProducerPaul McCartney
Wings singles chronology
"Jet"
(1974)		 "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five"
(1974)		 "Walking in the Park with Eloise"
(1974)
Official audio
"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" on YouTube
Band on the Run track listing
9 tracks
Side one
  1. "Band on the Run"
  2. "Jet"
  3. "Bluebird"
  4. "Mrs. Vandebilt"
  5. "Let Me Roll It"
Side two
  1. "Mamunia"
  2. "No Words"
  3. "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)"
  4. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five"

"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" (sometimes written as "1985") is a song by the British–American rock band Paul McCartney and Wings, released as the final track on their 1973 album Band on the Run.[2] It has been featured on the 2001 documentary DVD Wingspan and Paul McCartney and Wings' 1974 TV special One Hand Clapping. A 2016 remix of the song was nominated for a Grammy Award.[3] The song was referenced in Bret Easton Ellis’s novel Glamorama, driving a group of fictional supermodels to extreme terrorist acts.

Lyrics and music

Paul McCartney 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!

— Paul McCartney, Paul McCartney In His Own Words[4]

The 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.[5] Author Andrew Grant Jackson calls the lyrics "gibberish" and mere placeholders for the excitement and "cinematic purpose" of the music.[6]

The song has a grandiose ending with a full orchestra and the band. Other instrumentation includes mellotron, organ and horns.[6] The album version ends with an excerpt of the opening song's chorus.[6][7]

Ultimate Classic Rock critic Dave Swanson rated the song as McCartney's 8th most underrated song, saying that "A funky groove holds the song together as Paul delivers a gritty bluesy vocal."[8]

Other releases

"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" has been released on the compilation albums Pure McCartney (2016) and Wings.[7][9] It was also included on The 7" Singles Box in 2022.[10] A different live studio take, recorded on 29 August 1974 at EMI Studios in London,[11] was first released on the Paul McCartney Archive Collection edition of Band on the Run in 2010,[2] and later on One Hand Clapping in 2024.[12]

Personnel

According to Luca Perasi:[7]

Live performances

"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" was never performed live by Wings.[7] McCartney performed the song live for the first time during his 2010–2011 Up and Coming Tour. He played the song live again during his 2011–2012 On the Run Tour, his 2013–2015 Out There Tour, his 2016–2017 One on One Tour, his performance on 26 July 2018 in the Liverpool Cavern Club, his 2018–2019 Freshen Up tour, at 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief and on his 2022–2025 Got Back tour.[14] On 25 June 2022, a week after his 80th birthday, he performed the song as part of his Saturday night headline act, on the Pyramid stage, at the Glastonbury Festival.[15][16]

Cover versions

The Golden Dogs included a cover version on their 2006 album Big Eye Little Eye.

In 2016, German producer Timo Maas 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 at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.[3][17]

Tracklisting

Download single
  1. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" (Radio Edit) – 2:46
  2. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" – 6:01
  3. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" (Club Mix) – 5:07
Remix download single
  1. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" (Kerri Chandler Kaoz 623 Again Vocal Mix) – 7:25
  2. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" (Paul Woodford Rework) – 10:03
  3. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" (Tim Green Remix) – 8:49

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five (song)". The Paul McCartney project. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
  2. 1 2 Kozinn, Allan; Sinclair, Adrian (2024). The McCartney Legacy Volume 2: 1974–80. New York City: Deyst. pp. 679–680. ISBN 978-0-06-300075-9.
  3. 1 2 "Here Is the Complete List of Nominees for the 2017 Grammys". Billboard. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  4. ↑ Gambaccini, Paul (1976). Paul McCartney: In His Own Words. Flash. ISBN 9780825639104.
  5. ↑ Benitez, Vincent Perez, 1955- (2010). The words and music of Paul McCartney : the solo years. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger. p. 59. ISBN 9780313349706. OCLC 647914724.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. 1 2 3 Jackson, A.G. (2012). Still the Greatest: The Essential Solo Beatles Songs. Scarecrow Press. p. 122. ISBN 9780810882225.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Perasi, Luca (2023). Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970–1989. Milan: L.I.L.Y. Publishing. pp. 177–178. ISBN 978-88-909122-9-0.
  8. ↑ Swanson, Dave (18 June 2015). "Top 10 Underrated Paul McCartney Songs". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  9. ↑ Skinner, Tom (9 September 2025). "Wings announce self-titled anthology collection". NME. Archived from the original on 9 September 2025. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  10. ↑ "'The 7" Singles Box' – Out 2 December 2022". PaulMcCartney.com. 10 November 2022. Archived from the original on 25 May 2026. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  11. ↑ Kozinn, Allan; Sinclair, Adrian (2024). The McCartney Legacy Volume 2: 1974–80. New York City: Deyst. pp. 126–127. ISBN 978-0-06-300075-9.
  12. ↑ Dunworth, Liberty (23 April 2024). "Paul McCartney & Wings to release 1974 live studio album 'One Hand Clapping'". NME. Archived from the original on 17 May 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  13. ↑ Spizer, Bruce (2005). The Beatles Solo on Apple Records. Orleans, LA: 498 Productions. pp. 174–175. ISBN 0-9662649-5-9.
  14. ↑ Shriver, J. & Deutsch, L. (12 December 2012). "Springsteen, Kanye, Stones, McCartney rock Sandy relief". USA Today. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  15. ↑ "BBC Music - Glastonbury, 2022, Paul McCartney". BBC.
  16. ↑ "Watch Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen join Paul McCartney on stage at Glastonbury 2022". NME. 26 June 2022.
  17. ↑ "Grammys 2017: Complete list of winners and nominees". Los Angeles Times. 12 February 2017. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
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