"Spies Like Us" is the title song to the 1985

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

motion picture of the same name, 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 ...

Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Aykroyd was a writer and an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" cast on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Nigh ...

, and

Donna Dixon Donna Lynn Dixon (born July 20, 1957) is an American model, pageant winner and former actress. Her acting credits include two seasons as Sonny Lumet in the television show ''Bosom Buddies'' and roles in ''Doctor Detroit'' (where she met her f ...

. It was written and performed by the English musician

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 ...

, and reached number 7 on the ''Billboard'' singles chart in early 1986, making it McCartney's last US top ten hit until 2015's "

FourFiveSeconds "FourFiveSeconds" is a song recorded by Barbadian singer Rihanna, American rapper Kanye West, and English musician Paul McCartney. It was written and produced by McCartney, West, Mike Dean, Dave Longstreth and Noah Goldstein with additional ...

". It also reached #13 in the UK.

Recording and release

Multiple releases were issued in the UK: a regular 7" single, a 7" shaped picture disc, a regular 12" single featuring extended mixes and the B-side "My Carnival" (a

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 ...

track from the '' Venus and Mars'' sessions) and a 12" picture disc. The minute-long outro is

uptempo A variety of musical terms is encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special musical meanings ...

while the title is being sung repeatedly. When the movie ''

Spies Like Us ''Spies Like Us'' is a 1985 American spy comedy film directed by John Landis, and starring Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Forrest, and Donna Dixon. The film presents the comic adventures of two novice intelligence agents sent to the Soviet ...

'' hit the theaters, producers opted to play the outro first in the closing credits before playing the entire song. "Spies Like Us" was released on CD in 1993, as part of the release of ''

The Paul McCartney Collection ''The Paul McCartney Collection'' is a series of 16 remastered Compact disc, CDs by Paul McCartney of his solo and Paul McCartney and Wings, Wings albums, with most adding bonus tracks. The albums in the collection were released separately, with ...

'', as a bonus track on the album ''

Press to Play ''Press to Play'' is the sixth solo studio album by English musician Paul McCartney, released on 25 August 1986. It was McCartney's first album of entirely new music since '' Pipes of Peace'' in 1983, and his first solo album to be issued interna ...

''. The B-side, "My Carnival", was released as a bonus track on ''Venus and Mars'', and the 12" single was an exclusive to iTunes. The "Alternative Mix" was included on the deluxe edition of the

Art of Noise Art of Noise (also the Art of Noise) were a British avant-garde synth-rock group formed in early 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan and programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with keyboardist/arranger Anne Dudley, producer Trevor Horn, and ...

album ''In No Sense? Nonsense!'' released in 2018. It was also included on ''

The 7" Singles Box ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...

'' in 2022.

Reception

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 ...

'' said that it is "playful and danceable" with "innate tunefulness," "an ambitious arrangement and a classic resonant and melodic verse line are highlights." Director of the film John Landis has stated that he thought it was "a terrible song", but couldn't say no to McCartney and Warner Bros.

Music video

The video for the song, directed by

John Landis John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for directing comedy films such as ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' (1977), ''Animal House, National Lampoon's Animal House'' (1978), The Blues Brothers (f ...

(who also directed the film), was not aired by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

because Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase appeared in it playing instruments. British labour rules at the time prohibited non-musicians from performing in videos, and Aykroyd and Chase did not actually play on the record though both have worked as professional musicians in other contexts. The video ends with McCartney, Chase, and Aykroyd walking across

Abbey Road ''Abbey Road'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 26 September 1969, by Apple Records. It is the last album the group recorded, although '' Let It Be'' (1970) was the last album completed before th ...

, parodying the famous

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released album, studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to: * the printed paperboard covers typically used to package: ** sets of a ...

. A second version of the video, which is very rare, also includes Donna Dixon and Vanessa Angel singing the outro alongside Paul McCartney and Dan Aykroyd. The video was however played on the long running BBC show ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'' on 2 January 1986 having already briefly featured in its Top 40 Breakers section during December 1985.

Track listings

7" single (R 6118) # "Spies Like Us" – 4:40 # "My Carnival" – 3:56 #* Performed by Paul McCartney & Wings 12" single (12R 6118) # "Spies Like Us" (Party Mix) – 7:10 #* Remix by John Potoker # "Spies Like Us" (Alternate Mix – Known to His Friends as "Tom") – 3:56 #* Remix by

# "Spies Like Us" (DJ Version) – 3:46 # "My Carnival" (Party Mix) – 6:00 #* Remix by Gary Langan

Personnel

Spies Like Us *

– vocals, bass guitar, electric guitar, drums, keyboards,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

Eddie Rayner Anthony Edward Charles Rayner (born 19 November 1952) is a New Zealand musician who spent ten years as a keyboardist in the band Split Enz. He has also played in the groups Orb, Space Waltz, Crowded House, the Makers, The Angels in 1986-1987 ...

–

synthesizers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

Eric Stewart Eric Michael Stewart (born 20 January 1945) is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer, best known as a founding member of the rock groups the Mindbenders with whom he played from 1963 to 1968, and likewise of ...

– backing vocals *

Kate Robbins Kate Elizabeth Robbins (born 21 August 1958) is an English actress, singer, and songwriter. She came to prominence in the early 1980s when she scored a top ten single on the UK Official Charts with "More Than in Love", while she was appearing i ...

– backing vocals * Ruby James – backing vocals *

Linda McCartney Linda Louise, Lady McCartney ( Eastman; September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, cookbook author, and activist. She was the keyboardist and harmony vocalist in the band Paul McCartney and Wings, Wings tha ...

– backing vocals My Carnival *

– vocals, piano *

–

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

, vocals *

Denny Laine Brian Frederick Hines (29 October 1944 – 5 December 2023), known professionally as Denny Laine, was an English musician who co-founded two major rock bands: the Moody Blues and Wings. Laine played guitar in the Moody Blues from 1964 to 1966 ...

– bass, vocals *

Jimmy McCulloch James McCulloch (4 June 1953 – 25 September 1979) was a Scottish musician best known for playing lead guitar and bass as a member of Paul McCartney's band Wings from 1974 to 1977. McCulloch was a member of the Glasgow psychedelic band One i ...

– guitars, vocals * Joe English – drums, percussion *

Benny Spellman Benny Spellman (December 11, 1931 – June 3, 2011) was an American R&B singer, he was best known for the 1962 single " Lipstick Traces (on a Cigarette)" and its B-side "Fortune Teller", both written by Allen Toussaint (credited as Naomi Neville ...

– vocals *

The Meters The Meters (later The Funky Meters) are an American funk band formed in 1965 in New Orleans by Zigaboo Modeliste (drums), George Porter Jr. (bass), Leo Nocentelli (guitar) and Art Neville (keyboards). The band performed and recorded their o ...

– vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Paul McCartney Songs about spies 1985 singles British new wave songs Capitol Records singles Music published by MPL Music Publishing Music videos directed by John Landis Parlophone singles Paul McCartney songs Song recordings produced by Hugh Padgham Song recordings produced by Paul McCartney Song recordings produced by Phil Ramone Songs written by Paul McCartney Songs written for films 1984 songs