Listen to a previously unheard, acoustic version of Paul McCartney’s ‘Calico Skies’

Listen to it on NME first

Paul McCartney has released a previously unheard, acoustic version of ‘Calico Skies’ – listen to the track first on NME below.

The original ‘Calico Skies’ featured on McCartney’s 1997 album ‘Flaming Pie’ – his second-highest-charting album of the last 25 years.

The ‘Calico Skies [‘In The World Tonight’ Campfire Acoustic]’ version features on a new boxset containing unreleased demos, outtakes, and rehearsal tapes from the album’s recording sessions. Also containing a newly remastered version of the album, the boxset is released today.

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You can listen to the song below or download it for free here.

The acoustic version of ‘Calico Skies’ was first recorded on February 25, 1997 when a hurricane struck in the US where McCartney was staying at the time.

Speaking about the making of the track, McCartney told NME: “I wanted to write something acoustic in the vein of Blackbird, something simple that would stand on its own and which you wouldn’t have to put drums on or an arrangement – and if anyone said ‘give us a song’, you could just do it.”

Speaking about the story behind the song, McCartney added: “We were in America and they’d just had a big hurricane – Bob, I believe –  and it’d knocked out all of the power so there was no light, everything was candlelit, all the cooking had to be done on a wood fire. And we like all that enforced simplicity. It’s very primitive.

“So, we had a few days of that and because I couldn’t play any records, I spent a lot of time on my acoustic guitar, making up little bits and pieces and ‘Calico Skies’ was one of them. It’s just a simple little song to play to people when you’re sitting around in candlelight, powerless after a hurricane. It’s a primitive little powercut memory.”

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McCartney also recently released a new EP featuring a remastered version of ‘Beautiful Night’ with Ringo Starr.

The EP is part of the forthcoming re-release of ‘Flaming Pie’, which also features a 1995 demo of the track, an alternate ‘Run Through’ recording, and ‘Oobu Joobu Part 5’ – a medley of Beautiful Night-themed chat, alternate mixes and interview recordings of McCartney and Starr speaking about the song.

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