ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Jaws 2025
ADVERTISEMENT
Jaws 2025
ADVERTISEMENT
Jaws 2025 2025

‘Letting Go’: Paul McCartney And Wings Fly To Venus And Mars

The band were on a hot streak when the second single from ‘Venus and Mars’ arrived.

Published on

Wings ‘Letting Go’ artwork - Courtesy: UMG
Wings ‘Letting Go’ artwork - Courtesy: UMG

Paul McCartney and Wings could hardly have been hotter when their second single from the Venus and Mars album, “Letting Go,” entered the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of October 4, 1976.

Scissor Sisters Limited Edition LP
Scissor Sisters Limited Edition LP
Scissor Sisters Limited Edition LP
Letting Go (Remastered 2014)

Click to load video

Both the LP itself and its first single, the jaunty, feelgood track “Listen To What The Man Said,” had topped the US chart. The album had also gone to No.1 in the UK and several other European countries. By now, the band were on the mammoth Wings Over The World tour, which stretched across the globe over some 14 months and spawned the triple live album Wings Over America, as well as a movie release and TV film.

‘Vaguely ominous’

“Letting Go” was one of the first songs recorded for Venus and Mars, recorded at Abbey Road Studios with Geoff Britton during his short tenure as drummer. Written, as was all of the album, by Paul and his wife Linda, the brooding track was in great contrast to its upbeat predecessor as a single. Billboard’s review picked up on the track’s “vaguely ominous minor chord progression.”

Listen to the  best of Paul McCartney & Wings on Apple Music and Spotify.

Although it was the highest new entry on that American chart at No.74, the Capitol single ran out of steam at No.39, just three weeks later. In the UK, it peaked just the other side of the Top 40, at No.41. The third single from the album, the medley of “Venus and Mars/Rock Show,” fared considerably better, hitting No.12 in the US.

“Letting Go” has continued to feature in McCartney’s live set, and in 2014, it was covered by Heart for the various artists tribute album The Art Of McCartney. A previously unreleased mix of the song was made available as a free download via his website the same year, after a radio debut on BBC 6 Music.

Buy or stream “Letting Go” on Venus and Mars.

Click to comment
Comments are temporarily disabled and will return shortly.
The Cranberries
The Cranberries
No Need To Argue
30th 2LP Deluxe
ORDER NOW
DAngelo
D'Angelo
Brown Sugar (2LP)
Honey Sugar and Burnt Sugar Vinyl
ORDER NOW
OneRepublic
OneRepublic
The Collection LP
Zoetrope Limited Edition
ORDER NOW
Breakfast Club
Various Artists
Breakfast Club
OST 40th (LP & 7inch)
ORDER NOW
John Williams
John Williams
Jaws (Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Shark-Infested Water-Filled LP
ORDER NOW
Yusuf/Cat Stevens
Yusuf/Cat Stevens
On The Road To Findout
Greatest Hits Limited Edition 2LP
ORDER NOW
uDiscover Music - Back To Top
uDiscover Music - Back To Top