Band on the Run<\/em> was an admirable effort, and their \u2018Live and Let Die\u2019 stands as one of the finest Bond themes ever, but many longtime fans would have wondered quite what happened to McCartney\u2019s former songwriting magic. Still, one thing that McCartney could never be accused of is being inauthentic. Whatever the quality of his Wings output and beyond, the songsmith is always pursuing a ground that\u2019s sometimes sentimental, old school music hall, or unashamedly mawkish with the same wide-eyed enthusiasm as he explored John Cage and musique concr\u00e8te back when he was Fab.<\/p>\nSince Wings\u2019 founding, all albums featured McCartney in the producer\u2019s chair. Yet, soaking up the new wave pop stylings at the end of the decade, McCartney shared studio duties with Chris Thomas for 1979\u2019s Back to the Egg<\/em>, and attempted to modernise Wings\u2019 sound with a contemporary smattering of electronic sheens to their latest LP offering.<\/p>\nThe two had already worked together. While hired for his punk pedigree, producing various Sex Pistols singles, Thomas had filled George Martin\u2019s role for 1968\u2019s The Beatles<\/em> double album as an assistant for AIR, overseeing the recording of \u2018Birthday\u2019 and \u2018Happiness Is a Warm Gun\u2019.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s during the Back to the Egg<\/em> sessions that Wings likely wrote the last ever song as a band before McCartney restarted his solo career.<\/p>\nSo, what was the last song Wings ever wrote together?<\/h2>\n The Back to the Egg<\/em> sessions began wrapping up in early 1979 in London\u2019s Replica Studio, a recording facility McCartney had rearranged to function exactly like Abbey Road\u2019s Studio Two after his old EMI set-up was unavailable.<\/p>\nWhile it can\u2019t be gleaned for certain what the last song Wings actually wrote was, session schedules show that the final original material tackled across January-February that year was the disco-tinted \u2018Goodnight Tonight\u2019 and its \u2018Daytime Nighttime Suffering\u2019 B-side. Initially intended for inclusion on Back to the Egg<\/em>, McCartney decided to release \u2018Goodnight Tonight\u2019 as a stand-alone single to coincide with the delayed CBS\/BBC Wings Over the World<\/em> TV special.<\/p>\nBack to the Egg<\/em> would follow in June to critical derision, but McCartney\u2019s new wave flirtations would bear greater fruit for 1980\u2019s McCartney II<\/em>, led by the maddeningly hooky \u2018Coming Up<\/a>\u2019. Wings had come to a close four months earlier, when an arrest for marijuana possession in Japan scuppered their world tour, leading to Laine\u2019s departure the next year and McCartney\u2019s official acknowledgement of Wings\u2019 dissolution during the promotion of 1982\u2019s Tug of War<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n