Henry McCullough, our great Wings guitarist, passed away

[ElmerJFudd]

"I was very sad to hear that Henry McCullough, our great Wings guitarist, passed away today. He was a pleasure to work with, a super-talented musician with a lovely sense of humour. The solo he played on 'My Love' was a classic that he made up on the spot in front of a live orchestra. Our deepest sympathies from my family to his."

 

- Paul

 

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/pichosterforme/B9769E5C-8DA3-4071-81FA-190EDC89300B.jpg

 

I'll assume this is Henry because that's the solo I remember and expect to hear on this number,

 

[video:youtube]

[richforman]

He has many other credits and accomplishments, but that one beautiful, iconic guitar solo is what he will be remembered and noted for. The story I remember reading or hearing is that he had to shyly ask Paul permission to let him try his own solo that he'd come up with, rather than I guess restating the melody or playing the pre-planned solo Paul had written and assigned to him. Guess McCartney was in a generous state of mind at that moment, and the result is history.

[Baldwin Funster]

Sad to see yet another thread broken in the fabric of our baby boomer rock culture .

 

On a lighter note: Nice MULLET Paul.

[Outkaster]

Very sad

[mul]

I know and gig with many people who knew Henry very well. He was the only irish person to play at Woodstock ( I believe) and is held in such high regard here in Ireland. He also was one of the people speaking in the back round in dark side of the moon by floyd. I believe it was at the end of the track "money ". That's him that says, and I paraphrase " I can't really remember , I was very drunk at the time ". Another legend gone.

[Mark Schmieder]

Sad to hear. I sometimes forget who was who on Wings albums as several players had similar names (e.g. Jimmy McCullough, or something like that, and two back-to-back drummers names Geoff Britten and Joe English). But I did remember Henry at least played the solo on "My Love".

 

Very tasteful player, so managed to add some passion and edge to what otherwise could have easily been a throwaway syrupy love ballad. McCartney must have realized this when he heard Henry's solo; that it gave the song more longevity.

 

Some of my favourite guitar playing on Wings is from "Venus and Mars", but I don't have time right now to do a deep background on Wings personnel from album to album. Off-hand, my recollection is that Henry was on some excellent 45's (maybe "Junior's Farm"?), maybe a few other songs from "Red Rose Speedway" and I think maybe even some of "Ram"? Also "Wild Life"?

 

Henry was also part of the British folk revival as a member of seminal band "Sweeney's Men". And he joined Spooky Tooth at one point. I remember from previous interviews that Macca said he was one of the easiest to work with of any who had passed through.

 

 

[Mark Schmieder]

Oh well, I couldn't resist, so did some lookups. This Wiki page doesn't seem quite complete, but does list a few Wings songs I didn't remember him being on (mostly 45's):

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_McCullough

 

Here's a couple more obits:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/15/arts/music/henry-mccullough-guitarist-for-wings-dies-at-72.html?_r=0

 

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/henry-mccullough-dies/

[richforman]

Jimmy McCollough was probably the best thing to happen to Wings, he is lead guitar and also does some songwriting and lead singing on Venus and Mars, Wings at the Speed of Sound, the great Wings Over America, one of my all-time faves, and 1978's London Town album (and on the "Junior's Farm" single, easy to remember since Paul shouts out to him, "take me down, Jimmy!" He drank himself to death in the early 80's but man did he add an element of hard-rock edge to the band's sound with his stinging lead work. No relation to his predecessor in the band although they had similar last names.

[Mark Schmieder]

Rich, yeah, I thought that was the case. It's weird how Paul had two back-to-back guitarists with similar names, and the same with two back-to-back drummers. Pure coincidence, of course.

 

I thought the shout-out to "Jimmy" in Junior's Farm was to some famous country star that I would have been unlikely to have known of due to having not followed that genre.

 

I would say Jimmy was probably my favourite guitarist for Wings then (in terms of lead vs. rhythm guitar; Denny Laine was certainly a co-leader of the group in every sense, but focused more on playing what was necessary on each song, which sometimes meant bass guitar).

 

Henry was a fine guitarist too, of course. But I'll bet I'm not the only one who gets confused about which songs featured Henry and which ones showcased Jimmy. Thanks for the more thorough list.

[Baldwin Funster]

If There's Rock Show

At The Concertgebouw

You Got Long Hair

At The Madison Square

They've Got Rock And Roll

At The Hollywood Bowl,

We'll Be There . . . . . . Oo Yeah . . . . . . .

 

 

[Mark Schmieder]

Although Macca is often criticized for his lyrics, "Rock Show" is one of my favourites. For once, clever without being maudlin or embarrassing in any way.

 

I know this is still sidetracking to Jimmy McCulloch, but he was also on the excellent second album by Mike McGear (Macca's brother, who changed his artist name so people wouldn't think he was cashing in on his brother's fame).

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGear

 

From Henry Mcullough's Wiki page, I have taken interest in the following album due to the collaboration with a member of Horslips, a greatly underrated Scottish folk/rock band in the vein of late 70's Jethro Tull:

 

"In 2008 McCullough recorded Poor Man's Moon at Amberville Studios, which was released in Ireland only on 5 September 2008. and featured new McCullough compositions. The album also included a number of songs co-written with poet Eamon Carr from Horslips and included the single "Too Late to Worry". Among the musicians featured on the album were keyboard player James Delaney, bassists Roe Butcher and Nicky Scott (also double bass), keyboard player Enda Walsh, drummer Adie McIlduff and Percy Robinson on dobro and pedal steel guitar. The album also included drum sequences by Peter McKinney."

[MuzikTeechur]

In 1980 my brother was traveling for his job, and left me the keys to his aging Toyota Celica GT (or maybe he didn't but I took them anyway...) He'd installed an aftermarket Pioneer cassette player - the old school ones that hang from a bracket under the dash.

The Eject mechanism was broken, so in it was stuck a Wings cassette .. I think it was Wings Over America, so it must have been part of a set (there are 28 songs on that triple album). Anyhow, I had all the good times a 17-year-old can and should have that summer and fall, and Wings was the sound track.

 

I hadn't heard the story of the live take of the guitar solo on "My Love", but it makes perfect sense; that solo is so perfect and simple... I can't imagine anything else in its place. RIP, Mr. McCullough, and thank you for those memories.