When The Beatles broke up in 1970, a series of solo endeavours ensued. George Harrison continued to prove his underutilised songwriting prowess on his own, unveiling the gorgeous All Things Must Pass in the same year. Ringo Starr came out from behind the drum kit to take up the mic, albeit with a little help from his friends, while Paul McCartney tried out home recording.
After putting out two post-Beatles solo records, McCartney seemed to miss being in a band. Undeterred by the experience of working collaboratively with the Fab Four in their later years, which were characterised by tension and turbulence, McCartney set out to create Wings. He had already been working with his wife, Linda McCartney, so she assumed the role of keyboard player while he recruited Denny Laine and Danny Seiwell to fill out their sound.
Thus, Wings was born, but they weren’t necessarily a band in the same way The Beatles were. McCartney produced along and rarely swapped out his singing or songwriting duties for another member. Wings were, more often than not, a vehicle for McCartney’s solo songwriting, but they produced some excellent music nonetheless.
The outlet allowed McCartney to fully flesh out his sound and songwriting style, resulting in bouncy, jubilant works like ‘Silly Love Songs’, gently rocking hit singles like ‘Band on the Run’, and even a dramatic, Bond-worthy theme in ‘Live and Let Die’. Still, the influence of McCartney’s sound and writing style with The Beatles still sometimes found its way into Wings’ output.
One song that McCartney himself suggested was particularly akin to a Beatles composition was their 1974 single, ‘Let Me Roll It’. Featuring on Band on the Run a year earlier, the song featured a jarring guitar riff while a gentle rhythm kept time. Over the top, McCartney repeats the titular phrase, begging, “I can’t tell you how I feel, my heart is like a wheel, let me roll it, let me roll it to you.”
Perhaps expectedly, the song began with its central riff, as McCartney recalled to Billboard, “‘Let Me Roll It’ was a riff, originally, a great riff to play, and whenever we played it live, it goes down great.” After the song was released, comparisons were drawn to McCartney’s former Beatles songwriting partner, John Lennon.
“We’d play it on two guitars,” the songwriter explained, “and people saw it later as a kind of John pastiche, as Lennon-ish, Lennon-esque. Which I don’t mind.” Beyond accepting the song’s resemblance to a Lennon track, McCartney went on to suggest that ‘Let Me Roll It’ “could have been a Beatles song. Me and John would have sung that good”.
His statement certainly stands true and provides an interesting image for Beatles and Wings fans to imagine. It’s easy to hear Lennon’s voice on the track, whether alongside McCartney’s or alone, giving the piece an even cooler sound. There is a certain Lennon quality to the work and a Beatles quality, too, in its driving riffs, pounding bass, and vocal delivery. It would have been interesting to see how the stylings of The Beatles might have changed ‘Let Me Roll It’.
Unfortunately, McCartney’s affirmation that he and Lennon would have “sung that good” never came to fruition, and we are left wondering what the track may have sounded like with both Beatles songwriters.
