"Arrow Through Me" is a song by the British–American rock band

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...

, released on their 1979 album ''

Back to the Egg ''Back to the Egg'' is the seventh and final studio album by the British-American rock band Wings, released in June 1979 on Parlophone in the UK and Columbia Records in North America (their first for the label). Co-produced by Chris Thomas, ...

''.

Background

"Arrow Through Me", unlike most songs on ''Back to the Egg'', is more pop-oriented than rock-oriented. ''Ultimate Classic Rock'' contributor Nick DeRiso compared the keyboard bass line to those of

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

and also praised the "inventive undulating

polyrhythm Polyrhythm () is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic layers may be the basis of an entire piece of music (cross-rh ...

" played by drummer

Steve Holley Stephen Jeffrey Holley (born 24 August 1953) is an English rock drummer. He was a member of Wings from August 1978 to April 1981. In 1984 he played drums and percussion in Julian Lennon's debut album '' Valotte''. He has also toured with Ian ...

. DeRiso rated "Arrow Through Me" to be Wings' 8th greatest song. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' described it as "a light and bouncy midtempo tune with sparse orchestration." ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called the song "a slightly quirky tune" and said that the instrumentation creates a "somber but light backing for the pleading vocals. ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' called it a "unique and throroghly refreshing McCartney effort" whose rhythm "struts while the keyboards ring and bold horn charts inject energy."

Personnel

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

– vocals, keyboard bass, electric piano, clavinet *

– drums,

Flexatone The flexatone or fleximetal is a modern percussion instrument (an indirectly struck idiophone) consisting of a small flexible metal sheet suspended in a wire frame ending in a handle. Used in classic cartoons for its glissando effect, its so ...

, drum machine *

Howie Casey Howard William Casey (born 12 July 1937) is a British rhythm and blues and rock saxophonist. He came to prominence in the early 1960s as a member of Derry and the Seniors, the first rock and roll band from Liverpool to play clubs in Germany, a ...

– horns *Tony Dorsey – horns *Steve Howard – horns *Thaddeus Richard – horns

Release

It was the A-side of the second US single released from ''Back to the Egg'' and peaked at number 29. The B-side was " Old Siam, Sir", which was the A-side of the first UK single.

Other

The song was used with the opening credits of, and as a main melody line through, the 1980 movie ''

Oh! Heavenly Dog ''Oh! Heavenly Dog'' is a 1980 American fantasy comedy film written by Rod Browning and directed by Joe Camp as the third film in the series featuring the dog Benji and stars Chevy Chase as a private investigator who is reincarnated as a dog to ...

'', starring

Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1976), where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment b ...

Jane Seymour Jane Seymour (; 24 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn, who was ...

and Benji. In 2010, neo-soul artist

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu, is an American singer and songwriter. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her debut al ...

sampled "Arrow Through Me" on an album track called "Gone Baby, Don't Be Long" on her CD '' New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)''. It also appeared in the ''

WKRP in Cincinnati ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' is an American sitcom television series about the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional AM radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson. It was based upon his experiences obs ...

'' episode "God Talks to Johnny" (1979). In 2020, the song appeared in episode 2 (track 2) of

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

's TV series adaptation of

Nick Hornby Nicholas Peter John Hornby (born 17 April 1957) is an English writer. He is best known for his memoir '' Fever Pitch'' (1992) and novels ''High Fidelity'' and '' About a Boy'', all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work frequen ...

s novel ''

High Fidelity High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) ...

'' starring

Zoë Kravitz Zoë Kravitz (born December 1, 1988) is an American actress and filmmaker. She made her acting debut in the romantic comedy film ''No Reservations (film), No Reservations'' (2007). Her breakthrough came with portraying Angel Salvadore (Tempest) ...

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* Paul McCartney songs 1979 singles 1970s ballads Paul McCartney and Wings songs Songs written by Paul McCartney Columbia Records singles Song recordings produced by Paul McCartney Song recordings produced by Chris Thomas (record producer) Music published by MPL Music Publishing Pop ballads {{Beatles-song-stub