R.I.P. Denny Laine

A moody blue wingman. On the 50th birthday of Band on the Run, so that was impeccable timing on his part.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2023 12:00PM by breno.

Yeesh I guess so. Did he and macca split amicably…. Something tells me no?

Wings ‘back to the egg’ was one of the first lps I purchased as an early teen, so I had a soft spot for the guy

Yes I believe it was amicable. After Lennon‘s death, paul was too spooked to play live. Denny got tired of waiting around, so struck out on his own. Paul was recording almost everything by himself ( “McCartney II“) so didn’t need a band for years.

Thanks to my hippie big sister, we had most of paul’s solo stuff. Especially liked “band on the run,” “ram,”, and “Venus and Mars.” Especially disliked “McCartney,” and “wild life.”

Question: did wings ever cover Penny Lane, only singing “Denny Laine”?

According to the all-wise Wikipedia, Laine did feel at least a little disgruntled that he never got enough credit in Wings, which is fair enough. No matter how much they tried to present Wings as a true collaborative band, the public perception was never anything other than Paul + hired hands. It's pretty common for people to refer to Wings records as McCartney solo. Plus, even though Laine co-wrote "Mull of Kintyre," he was paid a flat fee for it instead of getting a cut of the royalties, which cost him a pretty penny. Then McCartney got his ass thrown in jail in Japan, which derailed a planned tour, which was more money out of Denny's pocket. I think it finally dawned on him that being supposedly a full band member with a Beatle hadn't really had as positive an impact on his life as one would've thought it and he walked away.

Apparently they patched things up at some point and for the last few years or so were back on friendly terms. McCartney posted a nice tribute to him today.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2023 04:13PM by breno.

I don’t like the Moody Blues, but their hit cover of “Go Now” is a big exception - they were a very different band then and that record was Laine’s finest moment in his entire career. Absolutely love it.