Band on the Run (song)

"Band on the Run"
Front cover of the Denmark single
Single by Paul McCartney and Wings
from the album Band on the Run
B-side	"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" (US) "Zoo Gang" (UK)
Released	8 April 1974
Recorded	September 1973
Studio	EMI, Lagos, Nigeria AIR, London
Genre	Rock
Length	5:09 (album version) 3:50 (radio edit)
Label	Apple
Songwriter(s)	Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney
Producer(s)	Paul McCartney
Wings singles chronology
"Jet" (1974) "Band on the Run" (1974) "Walking in the Park with Eloise" (1974)
Alternative cover
Spanish cover with "Zoo Gang" on the B-side
Official audio
"Band On The Run" on YouTube

"Band on the Run" is a song by the British–American rock band Paul McCartney and Wings, the title track to their 1973 album Band on the Run.

Released as a single in April 1974 in the US and in June 1974 in the UK, it topped the charts and sold over a million copies in 1974 in the United States, and reached number 3 in the United Kingdom.^[1][2] An international success, it has become one of the band's most famous songs.

A medley of three distinct musical passages that vary in style, "Band on the Run" is one of McCartney's longest singles at 5:09. The song was partly inspired by a comment that George Harrison had made during a meeting of the Beatles' Apple record label. The song-wide theme is one of freedom and escape, and its creation coincided with Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr having parted with manager Allen Klein in March 1973, leading to improved relations between McCartney and his fellow ex-Beatles.

The original demos for this and other tracks on Band on the Run were stolen shortly after Wings arrived in Lagos, Nigeria, to begin recording the album. With the band reduced to a trio consisting of McCartney, his wife Linda, and Denny Laine, "Band on the Run" was recorded at EMI's Lagos studio and completed at AIR Studios in London.