"Pipes of Peace" is a song written by English musician

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 ...

, released as the title track on his 1983 album of the same name. It was also released as a single in December 1983 and reached number 1 on the UK singles charts for two weeks. The song also reached number 1 on the Irish singles chart.

Recording

The basic track was recorded on 10 September 1982 at AIR Studios, with orchestral overdubs added later, probably at the same studio. Paul McCartney plays piano, bass and knee-percussion, while tabla was added by James Kippen, who tried "something like 20–30 takes" before McCartney was satisfied. A special session was organized to have the Pestalozzi Children Choir adding their voices.

Personnel

– vocals, bass, piano, synthesizer, knee-percussion, drums, orchestra arrangements *

Linda McCartney Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney ( Eastman; September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, animal rights activist, vegetarian cookbook author and advocate, and entrepreneur. She was the keyboardist in th ...

– backing vocals *

Eric Stewart Eric Michael Stewart (born 20 January 1945) is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer, best known as a founding member of the rock groups the Mindbenders with whom he played from 1963 to 1968, and likewise of 10 ...

– backing vocals *Adrian Brett – pan flute *James Kippen –

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

*Pestalozzi Children Choir – choir

Charts

In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, "Pipes of Peace" was issued as the B-side, and its British B-side, "So Bad", was issued as the A-side. "So Bad" reached number 23 at the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and reached number 3 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart. "So Bad" peaked at 18 on the Canadian RPM Chart (and two weeks at #2 AC).

Video

Chobham Common Chobham Common is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Chobham in Surrey. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I and a national nature reserve. It is part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area and t ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, a video was shot for "Pipes of Peace", depicting the famous 1914

Christmas truce ckb: ئاگربەستی کریسماس The Christmas truce (german: Weihnachtsfrieden; french: Trêve de Noël; nl, Kerstbestand) was a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires along the Western Front of the First World War around Christ ...

between British and

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troops. It portrays a British and a German soldier, both played by McCartney, who meet up in

No Man's Land No man's land is waste or unowned land or an uninhabited or desolate area that may be under dispute between parties who leave it unoccupied out of fear or uncertainty. The term was originally used to define a contested territory or a dump ...

and exchange photos of their loved ones while other soldiers fraternise and play football. When a shell blast forces the two armies to retreat to their own trenches both men realise that they still have each other's pictures. The video was produced by Hugh Symonds, featured more than 100 extras, and for added realism McCartney had his hair cut short especially for the shoot. In November 2014, the British supermarket chain

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...

, in partnership with the Royal British Legion, produced a Christmas advert whose look and narrative were widely recognized as being based on McCartney's "Pipes of Peace" video. As in "Pipes of Peace" the British and German soldier return to their trenches to discover that they have inadvertently swapped their gifts from home.

Other

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

singer-songwriter

Sergio Denis Héctor Omar Hoffmann Fenzel, better known as Sergio Denis (16 March 1949 – 15 May 2020) was an Argentine singer-songwriter and occasional actor. Biography Héctor Omar Hoffmann Fenzel was born in a family of descendants from Volga Germans ...

recorded a Spanish version of the song re-titled ''Pipas de la paz'' on his album ''La Humanidad'' (1984). The McCartney recording was included on the UK and Canada version of the 1987 compilation ''

All the Best! ''All the Best!'' is the second official compilation album of Paul McCartney's music, after 1978's ''Wings Greatest''. It was released in 1987 on Capitol Records and Parlophone Records. Background The album contains tracks from the beginnin ...

'', and the 2001 compilation '' Wingspan: Hits and History''. In 2017, the band

MUNA Muna may refer to: Places * Muna (Mikulovice), a World War II POW camp and ammunition factory in the Czech Republic * Muna, Estonia, village in Rõuge Parish, Võru County, Estonia * Muna, Iran, village in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Mu ...

covered the song for

Capitol Music Group Capitol Music Group (CMG) is an American front line umbrella label distributed by Universal Music Group which oversees handling of record labels assigned to UMG's Capitol Records division. It was inherited from UMG's acquisition of EMI's catalog ( ...

’s compilation ''Holidays Rule Vol. 2.''

Notes