One of the reasons Paul McCartney started up Wings in the 1970s was he wanted to get back out on the road again. Remember that The Beatles ceased touring activities in 1966. By the middle of the ‘70s, Wings, buoyed by a string of hit albums and singles, were one of the biggest touring acts in the world.
Having experienced all that first-hand in the previous few years, McCartney decided to write about it a bit on “Rock Show,” an invigorating track found on the 1975 album Venus and Mars. Instead of an earnest, serious take on the strain of life on the road, McCartney succeeded with the song by focusing on the excitement and the glamour.
Wings Over the World
Considering how rocky the first few years of Wings’ existence had been, it made sense that once they made their way to the pinnacle, they did a bit of a victory lap. This was a band whose first two albums were largely vilified by critics, and even Paul McCartney himself expressed frustration about the quality of those records after the fact.
Oddly enough, when the band hit their lowest point, that’s when they started to right the ship. Right before departing for Nigeria to make their third album, two members left, leaving Wings a trio. Taking on much of instrumental burden himself, McCartney rallied with a stellar set of songs. The resulting album Band on the Run was a critical and commercial smash in 1973.
McCartney then set about filling the band back up with new members so that live performances were again in the cards. When the band got together for Venus and Mars, he decided to do a “road” song, focusing on the concert experience. And it was a somewhat different experience back then than it is now, as McCartney explained in the book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present:
“We used to have decibel meters. Now people don’t seem to mind it being loud, but back in the seventies they minded. Local governments would send around a guy and he’d stand in front of you, and if your meter went overboard he would report you. Still, there’s a romance to being on the road. Not only people in bands, but the rest of us who grew up wanting to be in bands, are fascinated by that world. And I think probably that’s one reason people like this song.”
Inspecting the Lyrics of “Rock Show”
The way McCartney and Wings set up “Rock Show” on the album pretty much puts you in the song’s pocket before Paul even starts to sing. Venus and Mars begins with the title track, a brief, slow, synthesizer-heavy piece that segues directly into “Rock Show,” with its charging rhythms and galloping guitars. That draws all attention to Macca once he starts to belt.
“Rock Show” does a great job of balancing nostalgia (He looks a lot like a guy I knew back when / It’s Silly Willy with that Philly band) with playfulness (the tango-style bridge, which comes out of nowhere with lyrics about ray guns and nose rings). McCartney also drops a few names to place everything in the here and now: It looks a lot like the one used by Jimmy Page.
McCartney treats the chorus almost like a tour itinerary, as he hits the Hollywood Bowl in California, Madison Square Garden in New York, and The Concertgebouw in Holland. What’s neat about the lyrics is they switch perspective occasionally from the performer to the concertgoer. In that way, McCartney seems to be implying there’s a kind of unity between rock star and fan once they’re in the arena together.
When we get back to the fans’ point of view, McCartney gives you an exciting blow-by-blow: Behind the stacks, you glimpse an axe, he sings. And then: The temperatures rise as you see the whites of their eyes. “Rock Show” gives you a panoramic view of the mid-’70s rock concert scene, as related by someone who knew it better than anybody.
