"Calico Skies" is the sixth song on English musician Paul McCartney's 1997 album, ''

Flaming Pie ''Flaming Pie'' is the tenth solo studio album by English musician Paul McCartney, released on 5 May 1997 by Parlophone in the UK and Capitol Records in the US. His first studio album in over four years, it was mostly recorded after McCartney's i ...

''.

Overview

McCartney had been staying on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

when the category-three storm

Hurricane Bob Hurricane Bob was one of the costliest tropical cyclones in New England history. The second named storm and first hurricane of the 1991 Atlantic hurricane season, Bob developed from an area of low pressure near The Bahamas on August 16. The ...

that made

landfall Landfall is the event of a storm moving over land after being over water. More broadly, and in relation to human travel, it refers to 'the first land that is reached or seen at the end of a journey across the sea or through the air, or the fact ...

had hit in August 1991. This made McCartney sit with an

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

and write what he describes as "a gentle

love song A love song is a song about love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring. Love songs can be found in a variety of different music genres. They can come in various formats, from sad and emotion ...

that becomes a 1960s

protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for protest and social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. ...

". The song was co-produced by

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatle ...

and McCartney, being started, finished, and mixed within a single session on 3 September 1992 in

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is the earliest recording on ''Flaming Pie''. McCartney says of the song: "Bob” the hurricane, knocked out all the power; it was all candle-light, cooking on a woodfire. Very primitive, but we like that enforced simplicity. I couldn't play records, so I made up little acoustic pieces. This was one of them—it's a primitive little powercut memory." "Calico Skies" was arranged for

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

; this version was included on McCartney's 1999 album '' Working Classical''. The song was also re-recorded for inclusion on the album ''Hope'' which was released in 2003 to aid victims of the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

. In 2020, McCartney released an acoustic recording of the song, subtitled "Campfire Version”.

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 Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

, producer * Bob Kraushaar –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

– producer

Cover versions

Mike Nugent and Nancy Sirloni covered the song on the album ''"Let Us In" Nashville: A Tribute to Linda McCartney'', consisting of country-themed covers of McCartney songs by various artists, released on 21 November 2011, a benefit album for The Women and Cancer Fund.

References

Paul McCartney songs Songs written by Paul McCartney 1997 songs Music published by MPL Music Publishing Song recordings produced by George Martin Song recordings produced by Paul McCartney {{beatles-song-stub