"Jenny Wren" is a song by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

from his 2005

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Chaos and Creation in the Backyard ''Chaos and Creation in the Backyard'' is the thirteenth solo studio album by Paul McCartney, released on 12 and 13 September, 2005. Some 18 months in the making, the album was produced by Radiohead and Beck collaborator Nigel Godrich at George ...

''. It was also released, in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

on 21 November 2005, as the second

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the album.

Background

"Jenny Wren" was written in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, and is about a character of the same name from

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

' 1865 novel ''

Our Mutual Friend ''Our Mutual Friend'', written in 1864–1865, is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, quo ...

''. It also refers to a bird known as the

wren Wrens are a family of brown passerine birds in the predominantly New World family Troglodytidae. The family includes 88 species divided into 19 genera. Only the Eurasian wren occurs in the Old World, where, in Anglophone regions, it is commonly ...

, which is reported to be McCartney's favourite. McCartney wrote the tune in the same sort of finger picking style found in " Blackbird", "

Mother Nature's Son "Mother Nature's Son" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album ''The Beatles'' (also known as "the White Album"). The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney, and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was ins ...

" (''

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

'') and "

Calico Skies "Calico Skies" is the sixth song on Paul McCartney's 1997 album, ''Flaming Pie''. McCartney had been staying on Long Island when the category-three storm Hurricane Bob that made landfall had hit in August 1991. This made McCartney sit with an ac ...

" (''

Flaming Pie ''Flaming Pie'' is the tenth solo studio album by English musician Paul McCartney, released on 5 May 1997 by Parlophone in the UK and Capitol Records in the US. His first studio album in over four years, it was mostly recorded after McCartney's ...

''). The song earned a nomination for the 2007

Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a male in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The award wen ...

category. The solo is played on an

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

n woodwind instrument, called a

duduk The duduk ( ; hy, դուդուկ ) or tsiranapogh ( hy, ծիրանափող, meaning “apricot-made wind instrument”), is an ancient Armenian double reed woodwind instrument made of apricot wood. It is indigenous to Armenia. Variations of th ...

—a first in pop music history—played by Venezuelan-born world winds specialist and multi-instrumentalist

Pedro Eustache Pedro Eustache (born August 18, 1959) is a Venezuelan-born flautist, reed player, world woodwind player, composer, and instrument maker. He has more than seven years of symphonic experience and a collection of around 600 instruments from all ...

. The guitar is tuned down a whole step for the song, providing a unique sound that reflects McCartney's earlier works. As to who Jenny Wren is, McCartney said:

Recording

The song was recorded in October 2004, with

overdub added in a separate session on 25th of the same month.

Covers and references

The song has been covered by several artists, such as the Norwegian jazz trio SOLID! who recorded an instrumental version on their 2008 release ''Happy Accidents'' (AIM Records).

Track listing

*Digital single released 31 October 2005 #"Jenny Wren" (radio edit) – 2:09 *7" R6678 #"Jenny Wren" – 3:47 #"Summer of '59" – 2:11 *CD CDR6678 #"Jenny Wren" – 3:47 #"I Want You to Fly" – 5:03 *Maxi-CD CDRS6678 #"Jenny Wren" – 3:47 #"I Want You to Fly" – 5:03 #"This Loving Game" – 3:15

Chart positions

Personnel

Personnel per booklet. *

– vocals, Epiphone Texan acoustic guitar, Ludwig floor tom *

– duduk