"Seaside Woman" is a 1977 single by

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...

released under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Suzy and the Red Stripes. It charted at #59 in the US and in the UK at #90 in 1986.

History

"Seaside Woman" was the first song Linda McCartney wrote by herself, in response to a lawsuit by

Northern Songs Northern Songs Ltd was a limited company founded in 1963, by Music publisher (popular music), music publisher Dick James, artist manager Brian Epstein, and songwriters John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles, to publish songs written by L ...

and Maclen Music alleging Paul had violated an exclusive rights agreement by claiming to collaborate with Linda on the song " Another Day". The collaboration had the effect of transferring a 50% share of the publishing royalties to his own McCartney Music company. According to a 1974 interview with Linda,Gambaccini, Pau
"The RS Interview: Paul McCartney"
''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', January 31, 1974. Retrieved May 14, 2007. she wrote the song during a McCartney family visit to Jamaica in 1971 "when ATV was suing us saying I was incapable of writing, so Paul said, 'Get out and write a song.'" The lawsuit, which alleged that Linda's co-writing credits were inauthentic and that she was not a real songwriter, was "amicably settled," according to an ATV spokesman, in June 1972. Wings first performed "Seaside Woman" during the

Wings University Tour Wings University Tour was an impromptu UK concert tour by Paul McCartney & Wings in 1972, shortly after the band's formation and initial album release, '' Wild Life''. Wings' lineup for the tour was Paul and Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Henry M ...

in February 1972. On July 14, during their

Wings Over Europe Tour In the summer of 1972, Paul McCartney's newly formed band, Wings, set out on a concert tour of Europe, in a double decker bus, WNO 481. Promotion Coming on the heels of a tour of English universities, the Wings Over Europe Tour was intended to ...

, a show in France was cancelled, so the band recorded an early version of "Seaside Woman" at EMI Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris. The released version was recorded later by Wings during the ''

Red Rose Speedway ''Red Rose Speedway'' is the second studio album by the British–American rock band Wings, although credited to "Paul McCartney and Wings". The album was released by Beatles-owned label Apple Records in April 1973, preceded by its lead single, t ...

'' sessions in November 1972.

Release

The single was first released five years after the recording, in 1977, on Epic in the US, due to the efforts of Epic's Steve Popovich, who was given label credit for mastering the original single. The B-side, "B-Side to Seaside", was written by Paul and Linda McCartney and recorded by the McCartneys (without Wings) in March 1977. Two years later, "Seaside Woman" was released by

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

in the UK in a regular version, which featured diagonal red stripes on the cover and circular ones on the label, and a special "boxed" version with 10 "saucy" seaside-style postcards. In 1986, a remixed version was released by EMI on 7" and an extended 12" version. Both sides of the single were later included on Linda McCartney's posthumous album ''

Wide Prairie ''Wide Prairie'' is a posthumous compilation album by Linda McCartney, compiled by her husband Paul McCartney and released in October 1998, roughly six months after her death due to breast cancer. The idea for the album was inspired by a fan wh ...

''.

Personnel

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 ...

–

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

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 ...

–

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

and backing vocals,

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Denny Laine Denny Laine (born Brian Frederick Hines, 29 October 1944) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, known as a founder of two major rock bands: the Moody Blues, with whom he played from 1964 to 1966, and Wings, with whom he played from 1 ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, backing vocals *

Henry McCullough Henry Campbell Liken McCullough (21 July 1943 – 14 June 2016) was a Northern Irish guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was best known for his work as a member of Spooky Tooth, The Grease Band and Paul McCartney and Wings. He also perf ...

– guitar *

Denny Seiwell Denny Seiwell (born July 10, 1943) is an American drummer and a founding member of Wings. He also drummed for Billy Joel and Liza Minnelli and played in the scores for the films ''Waterworld'', '' Grease II'', and ''Vertical Limit''. His d ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Cartoon

"Seaside Woman" was turned into a cartoon short by Oscar Grillo in 1980. It depicts a young Jamaican girl and her loving parents who tend the fishing lines in Jamaica. The film won the

Short Film Palme d'Or The Short Film Palme d'Or (french: Palme d'Or du court métrage) is the highest prize given to a short film at the Cannes Film Festival. Since the creation of the Cinéfondation La ''Cinéfondation'' is a foundation under the aegis of the Cannes ...

at the 1980

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. The cartoon was released (along with The Oriental Nightfish) on the VHS issue of

Rupert and the Frog Song ''Rupert and the Frog Song'' is a 1984 animated short film based on the comic strip character Rupert Bear, written and produced by Paul McCartney and directed by Geoff Dunbar. The making of ''Rupert and the Frog Song'' began in 1981 and ended in ...

. It was re-released on DVD in 2004 (this time without The Oriental Nightfish) on ''Tales of Wonder: Music and Animation Classics''.

External Links

Linda McCartney - Seaside Woman (Version 1) Official Video

Linda McCartney - Seaside Woman (Version 2) Official Video

Paul McCartney & Wings ~ Seaside Woman (Wings Over Europe) 1972

References

{{Wings 1977 singles 1979 singles A&M Records singles British reggae songs Epic Records singles Music published by MPL Music Publishing Song recordings produced by Paul McCartney Songs written by Linda McCartney Paul McCartney and Wings songs 1972 songs