It was 47 years ago today (May 22nd, 1976) that Paul McCartney scored his fifth post-Beatles Number One with Wings' “Silly Love Songs.” The tune, which was the lead single to the then-recent chart-topping Wings At The Speed Of Sound album, bumped the Sylvers' “Boogie Fever” out from Number One, and went on to spend a whopping five weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100.
“Silly Love Songs” began its ascent to Number One while McCartney was back in the States on his sold-out “Wings Over America” North American trek, marking his first shows on the continent since the Beatles' final tour in 1966.
Back in the day, Paul McCartney spoke with Geraldo Rivera and shed light his massive comeback during the spring of '76: “It, sort of, started with that thing of, 'Here he is, an ex-Beatle, 10 years later, he's coming to play America.' Which, funnily enough, I didn't even think about. Y'know, I didn't realize it was 10 years since I'd played with the Beatles and I just kinda thought I was comin' on tour. So, I think that's, sort of, what's done it.”
Paul McCartney performed “Silly Love Songs” on both the American and second European leg of his 1975/1976 “Wings Over The World” tour.
Although he re-recorded “Silly Love Songs” in a modernized version for his 1984 Give My Regards To Broad Street soundtrack, he's hasn't performed the song live since 1976.
