Paul McCartney is playing at Glastonbury on Saturday night. I’m very excited about the prospect of watching it on TV. I almost wish I was wallowing in mud and sleeping in a tent afterwards. Almost. This has given me the perfect excuse to listen to his live albums.
Paul McCartney has released seven live albums in his career. In total, 115 different songs have been released on these seven albums, including 42 Beatles songs.
Wings Over America
Wings Over America is a triple vinyl album and was compiled when Paul McCartney’s sound engineer listened to over 800 hours of recorded material and selected the five best performances of each song. Paul McCartney then made the final selection, choosing most of the songs from a show in Los Angeles on 23rd June, 1976. Most of the backing vocals were overdubbed in a studio.
Tripping The Live Fantastic
One of the joys of listening to these live albums is in discovering songs that I had previously overlooked. There’s a fantastic song called “We Got Married” from “Flowers In The Dirt” which has some typically gorgeous Paul McCartney melodies and ends with some dramatic guitar and keyboard playing.
Unplugged
“Unplugged” was designed as a vehicle for artists to display their musical virtuosity by playing acoustic instruments. Many bands cheated by playing electric instruments but Paul McCartney and his band did indeed played all their instruments unplugged.
Paul Is Live
The title of “Paul Is Live” is a play on the “Paul Is Dead” rumours that started towards the end of his time with The Beatles. The cover is a play on the “Abbey Road” cover but the registration on the car has been changed from 281F (28, if he had been alive) to read 51IS (now 51 years old and he is alive).
Back In The U.S.
“Back In The U.S.” was only released in the U.S.A., but a similar album called “Back In The World” was released, worldwide, a few months later. The writing credits for all Beatles songs on the album were changed from “Lennon-McCartney” to “Paul McCartney and John Lennon”. This decision was motivated by Yoko Ono omitting Paul McCartney’s co-writing credit from “Give Peace A Chance” on the 1997 compilation, “Lennon Legend: The Very Best Of John Lennon”.
Good Evening New York City
The songs on this album consist of material performed over three nights at the first concerts to be held at the Citi Field, New York, the new home of The New York Mets. The stadium was built as a replacement for The Shea Stadium where The Beatles had played in front of a world record audience of 55000 in 1965.
Live In Los Angeles (Amoeba Gig)
Sometimes this album is simply called “Amoeba Gig”, named after the record store where the gig took place. It was originally released as a giveaway with The Mail On Sunday. I can forgive Paul McCartney most things but…
A list of every song included on all Paul McCartney’s live albums, arranged in order of their original release. Sad but true.
| Song | Album | Year | Wings Over America | Tripping The Live Fan- tastic | Un- plugged | Paul Is Live | Back In The U.S. | Good Evening New York City | Live In Los Angeles (Amoe- ba Gig) |
| 1976 | 1990 | 1991 | 1993 | 2002 | 2009 | 2019 | |||
| 115:33 | 138:20 | 58:29 | 77:07 | 175:21 | 123:11 | 42:02 | |||
| I Saw Her Standing There | Please Please Me | 1963 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| All My Loving | With The Beatles | 1963 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| I Wanna Be Your Man | With The Beatles | 1963 | 1 | ||||||
| And I Love Her | A Hard Day’s Night | 1964 | 1 | ||||||
| Can’t Buy Me Love | A Hard Day’s Night | 1964 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Things We Said Today | A Hard Day’s Night | 1964 | 1 | ||||||
| Kansas City | Beatles For Sale | 1964 | 1 | ||||||
| Matchbox | Long Tall Sally EP | 1964 | 1 | ||||||
| She’s A Woman | Single | 1964 | 1 | ||||||
| I’ve Just Seen A Face | Help! | 1965 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Yesterday | Help! | 1965 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Drive My Car | Rubber Soul | 1965 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Michelle | Rubber Soul | 1965 | 1 | ||||||
| Day Tripper | Single | 1965 | 1 | ||||||
| I’m Down | Single | 1965 | 1 | ||||||
| We Can Work It Out | Single | 1965 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Eleanor Rigby | Revolver | 1966 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Got To Get You Into My Life | Revolver | 1966 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Here, There And Everywhere | Revolver | 1966 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Paperback Writer | Single | 1966 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Magical Mystery Tour | Magical Mystery Tour | 1967 | 1 | ||||||
| The Fool On The Hill | Magical Mystery Tour | 1967 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| A Day In The Life | Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band | 1967 | 1 | ||||||
| Getting Better | Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band | 1967 | 1 | ||||||
| Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band | Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band | 1967 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Hello Goodbye | Single | 1967 | 1 | ||||||
| Penny Lane | Single | 1967 | 1 | ||||||
| Hey Jude | Single | 1968 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Lady Madonna | Single | 1968 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Back In The U.S.S.R. | The Beatles | 1968 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Birthday | The Beatles | 1968 | 1 | ||||||
| Blackbird | The Beatles | 1968 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Helter Skelter | The Beatles | 1968 | 1 | ||||||
| Mother Nature’s Son | The Beatles | 1968 | 1 | ||||||
| Carry That Weight | Abbey Road | 1969 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Golden Slumbers | Abbey Road | 1969 | 1 | ||||||
| Something | Abbey Road | 1969 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| The End | Abbey Road | 1969 | 1 | ||||||
| Give Peace A Chance | Single | 1969 | 1 | ||||||
| Get Back | Let It Be | 1970 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| I’ve Got A Feeling | Let It Be | 1970 | 1 | ||||||
| Let It Be | Let It Be | 1970 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| The Long And Winding Road | Let It Be | 1970 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Every Night | McCartney | 1970 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Junk | McCartney | 1970 | 1 | ||||||
| Maybe I’m Amazed | McCartney | 1970 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| That Would Be Something | McCartney | 1970 | 1 | ||||||
| C Moon | Single | 1972 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Hi Hi Hi | Wingspan | 1972 | 1 | ||||||
| Band On The Run | Band On The Run | 1973 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Bluebird | Band On The Run | 1973 | 1 | ||||||
| Jet | Band On The Run | 1973 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Let Me Roll It | Band On The Run | 1973 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Mrs Vanderbilt | Band On The Run | 1973 | 1 | ||||||
| Picasso’s Last Words (Drink To Me) | Band On The Run | 1973 | 1 | ||||||
| Live And Let Die | Red Rose Speedway | 1973 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| My Love | Red Rose Speedway | 1973 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Call Me Back Again | Venus And Mars | 1975 | 1 | ||||||
| Letting Go | Venus And Mars | 1975 | 1 | ||||||
| Listen To What The Man Said | Venus And Mars | 1975 | 1 | ||||||
| Magneto And Titanium Man | Venus And Mars | 1975 | 1 | ||||||
| Medicine Jar | Venus And Mars | 1975 | 1 | ||||||
| Rock Show | Venus And Mars | 1975 | 1 | ||||||
| Spirits Of Ancient Egypt | Venus And Mars | 1975 | 1 | ||||||
| Venus And Mars | Venus And Mars | 1975 | 1 | ||||||
| You Gave Me The Answer | Venus And Mars | 1975 | 1 | ||||||
| Beware My Love | Wings At The Speed Of Sound | 1976 | 1 | ||||||
| Let ‘Em In | Wings At The Speed Of Sound | 1976 | 1 | ||||||
| Silly Love Songs | Wings At The Speed Of Sound | 1976 | 1 | ||||||
| Time To Hide | Wings At The Speed Of Sound | 1976 | 1 | ||||||
| Go Now | Wings Over America | 1976 | 1 | ||||||
| Richard Cory | Wings Over America | 1976 | 1 | ||||||
| Soily | Wings Over America | 1977 | 1 | ||||||
| Coming Up | McCartney II | 1980 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Ebony And Ivory | Tug Of War | 1982 | 1 | ||||||
| Here Today | Tug Of War | 1982 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Figure Of Eight | Flowers In The Dirt | 1989 | 1 | ||||||
| My Brave Face | Flowers In The Dirt | 1989 | 1 | ||||||
| Put It There | Flowers In The Dirt | 1989 | 1 | ||||||
| Rough Ride | Flowers In The Dirt | 1989 | 1 | ||||||
| This One | Flowers In The Dirt | 1989 | 1 | ||||||
| We Got Married | Flowers In The Dirt | 1989 | 1 | ||||||
| Ain’t That A Shame | Tripping The Live Fantastic | 1990 | 1 | ||||||
| Crackin’ Up | Tripping The Live Fantastic | 1990 | 1 | ||||||
| Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying | Tripping The Live Fantastic | 1990 | 1 | ||||||
| If I Were Not Upon The Stage | Tripping The Live Fantastic | 1990 | 1 | ||||||
| Inner City Madness | Tripping The Live Fantastic | 1990 | 1 | ||||||
| Sally | Tripping The Live Fantastic | 1990 | 1 | ||||||
| Together | Tripping The Live Fantastic | 1990 | 1 | ||||||
| Twenty Flight Rock | Tripping The Live Fantastic | 1990 | 1 | ||||||
| Ain’t No Sunshine | Unplugged | 1991 | 1 | ||||||
| Be-Bop-A-Lula | Unplugged | 1991 | 1 | ||||||
| Blue Moon Of Kentucky | Unplugged | 1991 | 1 | ||||||
| Good Rockin’ Tonight | Unplugged | 1991 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Hi-Heel Sneakers | Unplugged | 1991 | 1 | ||||||
| I Lost My Little Girl | Unplugged | 1991 | 1 | ||||||
| Singing The Blues | Unplugged | 1991 | 1 | ||||||
| Biker Like An Icon | Off The Ground | 1993 | 1 | ||||||
| C’Mon People | Off The Ground | 1993 | 1 | ||||||
| Hope Of Deliverance | Off The Ground | 1993 | 1 | ||||||
| Looking For Changes | Off The Ground | 1993 | 1 | ||||||
| Peace In The Neighbourhood | Off The Ground | 1993 | 1 | ||||||
| A Fine Day | Paul Is Live | 1993 | 1 | ||||||
| Calico Skies | Flaming Pie | 1997 | 1 | ||||||
| Flaming Pie | Flaming Pie | 1997 | 1 | ||||||
| Driving Rain | Driving Rain | 2001 | 1 | ||||||
| Lonely Road | Driving Rain | 2001 | 1 | ||||||
| Your Loving Flame | Driving Rain | 2001 | 1 | ||||||
| Freedom | Back In The U.S. | 2002 | 1 | ||||||
| Vanilla Sky | Back In The U.S. | 2002 | 1 | ||||||
| Dance Tonight | Memory Almost Full | 2007 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Only Mama Knows | Memory Almost Full | 2007 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| That Was Me | Memory Almost Full | 2007 | 1 | ||||||
| Highway | Electric Arguments | 2008 | 1 | ||||||
| Sing The Changes | Electric Arguments | 2008 | 1 |
Add Some Music To Your Day 
Especially interesting to see that table and discover that there are only 2 songs to feature on 5 of the 7 albums (Live And Let Die and Blackbird)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for your comment. I guess he’ll play both on Saturday?
LikeLike