CLUB SANDWICH 69

MINING THE FILM AND VIDEO ARCHIVE

Once more into the archive, dear friends

WITH A LITTLE LUCK

            Following up the runaway success of 'Mull Of Kintyre' was always going to be a tricky task. As we remembered in the last Sandwich, not only had it become Paul's biggest selling single in Britain but it was atypical of his work, casting Paul (albeit not for the first time) as a balladeer when he was, and remains, impossible to pigeon-hole anything like so easily.
            Also, 'Mull Of Kintyre' had been a single pure and simple, not a 45 the primary purpose of which was to increase sales of an album. The successor to 'Mull' had to be an album track, though, because Wings' next LP, London Town, was virtually in-the-can and due out soon afterwards. By popular consensus the chirpy and optimistic 'With A Little Luck' was the prime cut so it became the follow-up single in March 1978, just a fortnight after the multi-million selling 'Mull' had finally exited the Top 50.
            Following the clutch of promos for 'Mull', 'With A Little Luck' was a relatively simple affair: there was only one video and it "was taped in a single day. Echoes of 'Hey Jude' abounded - 'With A Little Luck' was also shot at Twickenham, it too was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, it too was a straightforward performance video, and Wings, like the Beatles ten years earlier, were set up on a low podium surrounded by people of all creeds and colours, young children to young adults, some dreadlocked, one even in Army uniform. There was only one real difference: in 'Hey Jude' the crowd had mingled, in 'With A Little Luck' they bopped.
            Wings were a Fab Three at this time, although they had been a Fab Five when 'With A Little Luck' was recorded, a year earlier, about a motor yacht moored off the Virgin Islands. Now they were on the verge of becoming a foursome again, with drummer Steve Holly about to enlist. Steve's very first engagement with the band, point of fact, was to mime the drum part in this 'With A Little Luck' video.
            As it turned out, 'With A Little Luck' didn't scale the heights reached by its record-breaking predecessor, but it didn't fare too badly either, climbing to a more than creditable fifth position on the British chart and remaining visible for two months. At a time when Paul was in the middle of a three-year sabbatical from concert performances the video effortlessly fulfilled its single aim: to promote worldwide Wings' new release with the maximum effect but the minimum effort.