Writers: Paul and Linda McCartney
Producer: Paul McCartney
Recorded: January-February 1976 at Abbey Road Studios, London
Released: March 1976
| Players: | Paul McCartney — vocals, bass Linda McCartney — vocals, keyboards Denny Laine — guitar Jimmy McCulloch — guitar Joe English — drums Tony Dorsey — trombone Thaddeus Richard — saxophone Steve Howard — trumpet Howie Casey — saxophone |
| Album: | Wings At The Speed Of Sound (Capitol, 1976) |
One of Paul McCartney's most controversial post-Beatles hits, “Silly Love Songs” made a quick trip to Number One on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for five weeks. It subsequently reached Number One on the British pop chart as well.
“Silly Love Songs” wound up being the top single of 1976, according to Billboard.
The song and its rather simple, straightforward sentiment–“You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs”–earned a substantial amount of criticism, all of which McCartney rebuffed. “I'm a fan of old-fashioned writing,” he said. “I do like rhyme, when it comes off. I hate silly rhymes, but when they work, they're the greatest little things in songwriting.”
In fact, “Silly Love Songs” was McCartney's response to general criticism that his writing had become lightweight since the breakup of the Beatles–including a jibe in a song by former Beatle mate John Lennon, who referred to McCartney's music as “muzak” in his own song, “How Do You Sleep?”
McCartney insisted that he liked Lennon's song, but he also acknowledged that the slams do get to him. “I listen to people, and I just get crackers. All someone has to say is, 'A bit poppy,' or, 'That was a bit sickly, that one,' and I expect the song to flop. Someone says, 'It's a bit too cute.' Well, I know that. What do you think goes through my mind when I'm writing a song about silly love songs? I'm flashing on all this.”
Wings At The Speed Of Sound was McCartney's fourth consecutive Number One album with Wings. The album stayed at the top of the Billboard 200 for seven weeks and sold more than a million copies.
Unlike its predecessors, Wings At The Speed Of Sound was a more democratic effort, with McCartney sharing writing and vocal responsibilities with the rest of the band. Critics at the time were divided about whether this was a good idea.
Wings supported the album with its first and only tour of North America, the Wings Over America jaunt in the spring and summer of 1976.
