The Paul McCartney Lyric That Paid Tribute to His Favorite Scottish Haunt

It’s one of the most famous of Paul McCartney‘s songs in the United Kingdom, but it didn’t receive a ton of attention in the U.S. Perhaps that’s because it’s about a stretch of land that most U.S. audiences wouldn’t know unless they’ve visited abroad.

But to McCartney, the “Mull of Kintyre” is a special place indeed, as it’s the location of his longtime farm estate that’s always allowed him to get away from it all when needed. The song honoring it, released in 1977, proved to be the biggest single of Wings’ career in the UK.

Mulling Over the Mull

Paul McCartney once wrote and performed a song during his Beatles days called “Mother Nature’s Son,” which spoke of his love of all things bucolic. His High Gate Farm, located in Campbeltown, Scotland, inspired that feeling in him.

McCartney famously decamped to the farm in the immediate aftermath of the breakup of The Beatles, as he tried to get away from the world for a while before working up the desire to make music gain. In 1977, he decided it was time to pay the area tribute, as he explained in an interview about (as reported by Beatles Bible):

“It’s just this place in Scotland. It’s about 70 miles of land, a big peninsula called the Mull of Kintyre. It’s just one of those bits of Scotland, and this bit sticks out into the sea a bit. Our place is on the Mull of Kintyre, but there’s about a hundred miles of the Mull of Kintyre. I was never sure, I just heard about it, and so I had to ask somebody, ‘Where exactly is the Mull of Kintyre?’ So I was sitting at my piano, up in Scotland, and I thought I would like to write a song with a Scottish flavour.”

Denny Laine, a member of McCartney’s post-Beatles band Wings for the entirety of its existence, co-wrote the song with Paul, with Laine claiming the pair shared a bottle of whiskey while writing. To capture the proper vibe, McCartney enlisted the local Campbeltown Pipe Band to create evocative atmosphere.

Exploring the Lyrics of “Mull of Kintyre”

As he did so often in his Beatles days, McCartney starts this song off with the chorus, setting the scene as vividly as possible: Mull of Kintyre / Oh, mist rolling in from the sea / My desire is always to be here. From there, it’s a matter of using the verses to paint in all the telling details.

In the first verse, he describes the places he’s traveled that, beauteous as they might be, can’t hold a candle to the Mull: Dark distant mountains with valleys of green / Past painted deserts, the sunset’s on fire / As he carries me home to the Mull of Kintyre.

The narrator is singing from the point of view of someone who’s been pulled away from this idyllic spot: Sweep through the heather like deer in the glen / Carry me back to the days I knew then. Considering McCartney was creating a song with wonderful sing-along qualities, why not reference voices raised in the lyrics: Nights when we sang like a heavenly choir.

The wistful nature of “Mull of Kintyre” reaches a peak in the final verse, with McCartney waxing nostalgic about the special powers of this place: Smiles in the sunshine and tears in the rain / Still take me back where my memories remain. When you factor in the lovely pipes calling all around him, you can understand how the song could garner such deep emotions from those who knew the area.

Even those who didn’t know the exact spot but know Scotland in general can certainly get the feels from this song. American audience members who’ve never been but have their own beloved location can also probably relate. Thanks to the effort of Paul McCartney and Wings, “Mull of Kintyre” touches that memorable happy place in all our hearts.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Photo by David Redfern/Redferns