Wings: Daytime Nighttime Suffering (Drum and Percussion Cover)

For the first time on this channel we have a song from Wings, Paul’s 1970s band he, his wife Linda as well as former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine formed in 1971. The group released seven albums between the years 1971-1979, some of which are considered classics, others that were not critically well received, but they can all be enjoyed if you’re a fan.

Regarding Wings, everybody knows the classics “Band On The Run”, “My Love”, “Jet”, “Venus and Mars/Rock Show”, and “Silly Love Songs”, but I wanted to do a song that nobody covers, and is often overshadowed by other songs. I was listening to the second disc of Wingspan: Hits and History and that is when I came across “Daytime Nighttime Suffering”, the B-side of the hit single “Goodnight Tonight” from 1979. At this point, Wing’s lineup consisted of the main trio of Paul, Linda and Denny, guitarist Laurence Juber and drummer Steve Holley. This “discoesque” song was recorded during the sessions for the group’s final album Back To The Egg. The song was written after Paul had challenged the other members of the group to write a song and whatever song was considered the best, that would be the group’s next single. McCartney offered this song, which ended up being the released B-side. Despite it being a favorite from both Paul and Linda, the song has never been performed live.

Steve Holley’s drumpart may be one of the most fun drum parts I’ve ever had to play. Its 8th note hi-hat disco groove features some interesting patterns and an ever changing bass drum pattern. The song opens with a vocal introduction which is followed by Steve playing 16th notes on the ride cymbal and then going into the song's main groove, which is a straightahead 8th note hi-hat rock groove. During the chorus, Steve plays quick open hi hat hits set to an offbeat groove. At 1:04, Steve plays two bars of 16th notes on the hi hat and then back to the main groove accompanied by a tambourine. The song then follows another verse and chorus and then breaks down with 16th notes on the ride cymbal. During this section, you can hear an autoharp, guitar, vocals, bass, windchimes at 1:44 and a cry from baby James McCartney at 1:52. A second vocal breakdown occurs at 2:22 with Steve playing only bass drum and then ride cymbal. The chorus then repeats three times with Steve emphaiszing the chord changes with crash cymbals and open hi hats. The song ends with a hard hit at 2:58 and one last vocal line. A lot happens in just under three and a half minutes.

Quick note, when I listened to the isolated drum track I made from Moises.ai, I heard Steve lift his right hand on beats two and four for some parts of the song, similar to what Charlie Watts used to do. Other parts of the song, I heard hi-hat with the snare. Now this could just be the quality of Moises’ isolation cutting off some higher frequencies, and he could be playing hi hat all the way through, I do believe he is playing like this because to me it just sounds that way even when listening to the finished track. Whether or not he actually did that in this song I’m not sure, but that’s what I heard.

I find this era of Wings rather underrated. They released some great stuff with Laurence and Steve that sadly gets overlooked at times, and it rocks! Hope to do more in the future! Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoy!