It was the summer of 1982. I was ten years old, and my family was car tripping for our summer holidays. We were actually driving northward alongside my mom’s sister’s family, intending to visit them for a bit after a period of them having visited us. The tape that was playing in the car throughout that summer was Tug of War. It was a tape that everybody in the family could agree on, and it was my first in-depth encounter with Paul McCartney.
Tug of War became the soundtrack to the summer – not only in the car, but at our final destination as they had the LP there as well. I grew to love every song on it. They make me remember people, places, things that happened, and is a time machine back to those days. My cousin Heidi’s favourite song was Wanderlust. I guess she latched onto the inherent romanticism in the song, as well as the incredibly strong melody. And who wouldn’t? I loved it, too.
Tug of War (released 26 April 1982) was McCartney’s 11th album since the break-up of the Beatles. It was hailed as a huge return to form, with high chart placements and hit singles all over the world. It was produced by former Beatles producer George Martin, and that partnership likely has everything to do with the quality of the results.
What the post-Beatles period had made clear, was that it is hard for any incoming producer or collaborator to give McCartney frank feedback – especially that material could be better, and you wanted to push him. Macca is more successful and skilled than most people who have been in a position to give him that feedback. By that same token, McCartney has not always been willing to accept that kind of feedback from just anyone – certainly not back then.
He did have that partnership and level of trust with John Lennon, who always pushed each other to be better. The same partnership was there with George Martin.
With Martin back in the fold, McCartney was now told in no uncertain terms if things were not exactly right. George Martin was a hard, but fair taskmaster. This meant that some songs were put aside, while Paul took others back to the drawing board to work on them a bit more. The result is a focused album with quality material from start to finish.
Wanderlust is one of the stand-out tracks on the album. Paul has always been an amazing balladeer, and this is one of his best. And that’s saying something.
The song was inspired by an incident during the recording of the Wings album London Town (1978). A lot of that album was recorded on the yacht Fair Carol moored off the Virgin Islands in 1977. The captain (nicknamed “the bull”) noticed the smell of marijuana. He got nervous as US custom officials had been searching yachts for pot. Concerned, he warned McCartney that he would have the place searched if he suspected any further drug use.
McCartney’s response was to move himself and his family to a smaller yacht called Wanderlust. Feeling threatened, the move gave him a feeling of new-found freedom.
McCartney spoke of the incident a few years later when the song was released, but carefully omitted any drug references: “[The song] is actually a personal experience. What happened was that we were recording and we were on boats in a little bay recording for a month. The captain of that boat that we were on was a little, sort of, heavier than the other captains. He sort of took it more seriously, and at some stage we had a sort of argument with him, and I sort of said “You know, we don’t need all this aggro stuff” and we wanted to get off onto this other boat that happened to be in the harbour. These people had said we could come on this boat, that happened to be called “Wanderlust.”
“It became like a symbol of freedom to me, this catamaran. We only actually stayed one night on it, but it was like, after this hassling the other fellow had given us, to get onto this boat was like freedom. The song for me is actually just carrying on that idea. You know, just head out to sea and take us away from all these headaches, and just wanderlust kind of free.”
In the liner notes to the 2015 Tug of War deluxe box set, Macca finally calls a spade a spade: “We’d been on one of the boats, and the captain had smelt some pot, and you know, we thought ‘We’re in the middle of the ocean, and we’re not harming anyone.’ It was not like it was Class A drugs. We sort of thought, more like the attitude is today, like ‘Come on man, it’s not the end of the world!’ But he was very uptight about it and basically asked us to leave.”
Basing the first verse very much on this background story, the lyrics pretty much wrote themselves:
Light out wanderlust
Head us out to sea
Captain says there’ll be a bust
This one’s not for me
Take us from the dark
Out where we can see
Captain’s out to make his mark
This one’s not to be
Paul kept the idea around for a while before eventually finding the right melodic inspiration to accompany it, but when it came together it happened rather quickly. A demo of it was recorded shortly after. The arrangement was still basic, with Paul playing electric piano, drums, bass, and acoustic guitar. The song was also still lacking its countermelody. Its structure was however nearly identical to the officially released version.
By the end of 1980, McCartney started working on a backing track with Wings bandmate Denny Laine. At this point, he started rethinking the song, looking for something to enrich it and take it up a level. He was feeling vulnerable and nostalgic after the very recent murder of John Lennon, and came to the conclusion that the song would really sound epic with George Harrison’s participation.
McCartney reached out to Harrison, who was happy to provide a guitar part for the song. Paul and Linda McCartney and Denny Laine went to Harrison’s house on Henley-on-Thames. Once they got there, as Macca recalled, “George said, ‘First I’ve got this track that I’d like you to sing harmonies on.’ We did our bit but then, what with one thing or another, he never got to do the guitar overdub for Wanderlust.”
For the record, the track all sang on was Harrison’s own tribute to Lennon, All Those Years Ago. That alone made the trip worthwhile, but McCartney still got back home disheartened as his plans for Wanderlust had failed to come to fruition.
It may have been a blessing in disguise. Other ideas were already formulating, and George Martin recommended that the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, one of the most famous English brass bands, should record overdubs. It was an inspired choice.
At the time, McCartney said, “George Martin knew Philip Jones and he brought in the cassettes and this kind of thing. I had the idea for the sound, you know – sort of like Christmas brass, with a Pickwick Dickensian sort of feel to it all.”
In the 2015 Tug of War deluxe box set, Macca had definitely not lost his fascination for that brass ensemble. “They were fabulous! I think, listening to the record again recently, I didn’t use the brass ensemble enough. They could have done more; they could have been more often in the song, instead of just the solo.”
The song fell into place with the addition of the countermelody. That section adds a lot to the song musically, but especially lyrically. While the first verse of the song conveys a great sense of freedom, the anguish in those words is hid due to Macca’s controlled vocal delivery. The desire to take to the sea, the fear of the dark and a call for help, highlights a plea for peace and quiet.
The counter melody lyrics reveals much more of the underlying uncertainty. The singer is now addressing a loved one. Where have I gone wrong? What am I guilty of? There is a wish to get away from whatever accusations there might be, ideally together, and “Wanderlust” is his only foothold and his way out. It’s not about tackling the challenges, it is about escaping them. The song represents McCartney’s desperate request to be free.
Oh where did I go wrong, my love?
What petty crime was I found guilty of?
What better time to find a brand new day?
Oh – wanderlust away
Incredibly, for all its obvious and immediate qualities, Wanderlust was not released as a single. It is hard to see how this song wouldn’t have been a worldwide smash, but the fact that the album contained material of this quality certainly helped make it into a strong seller. Tug of War made it to #1 in about a dozen countries, top five in about a dozen more, and a solid seller nearly everywhere.
Wanderlust is simply speaking a touching ballad, featuring one of Macca’s very best melodies.
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