Bagpipes are prominently featured on Paul McCartney and Wings’ hit “Mull of Kintyre.” The recording uses the Great Highland bagpipes, performed by the Campbeltown Pipe Band near McCartney’s Scottish farm.
McCartney co-wrote the song with Denny Laine as a tribute to the Mull of Kintyre peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. McCartney had owned High Park Farm in the area since 1966, so the song drew directly on a place he regarded as home. Its melody and arrangement combine pop songwriting with Scottish folk color.
The song was recorded on 9 August 1977 at Spirit of Ranachan Studio, near Campbeltown, during a break in work on the London Town album. McCartney recorded vocals and acoustic guitar outdoors, while the local pipe band supplied the distinctive bagpipe-and-drum sound.
Released in 1977 as a double A-side with “Girls’ School,” “Mull of Kintyre” became Wings’ biggest British hit and the UK Christmas number one. It is sometimes described simply as a solo McCartney song, but the credited performing act was Wings.