Recording: Deliver Your Children and Morse Moose And The Grey Goose – 18 May 1977

Q: Where did Wings record London Town?

Partly aboard the Fair Carol — a 105-foot yacht in the US Virgin Islands fitted with Record Plant equipment — and partly at Abbey Road Studios.

Q: Who wrote Deliver Your Children?

Denny Laine wrote it in 1975 and finished it with Paul McCartney. Credited as a Laine–McCartney co-write on London Town.

Q: How did Morse Moose and the Grey Goose come about?

Spontaneously on the boat. McCartney played electric piano through effects in a Morse code rhythm; Laine joined in hitting the piano with his head. McCartney called it going 'the opposite way from how we normally do it'.

May 17, 2026

Recording: Deliver Your Children and Morse Moose And The Grey Goose – 18 May 1977

Wednesday 18 May 1977 | Paul McCartney, Studio, Wings
Fair Carol, Waterlemon Bay, St John, US Virgin Islands
Producer: Paul McCartney | Engineers: Geoff Emerick, Mark Vigars

On 18 May 1977, Wings began recording two songs for the London Town album aboard the Fair Carol — a 105-foot yacht moored in Waterlemon Bay, St John, in the US Virgin Islands, fitted out with studio equipment from the Record Plant in New York. The session produced a backing track for 'Deliver Your Children' and the first part of what would become 'Morse Moose and the Grey Goose', the closing track of London Town.

The Fair Carol

The Fair Carol was a 105-foot yacht chartered by McCartney for the London Town sessions. Studio equipment from the Record Plant in New York was installed on board, allowing Wings to record at sea in the Caribbean. The sessions in the Virgin Islands were among the most unconventional recording circumstances of McCartney's career — and produced some of the most distinctive material on the album.

Deliver Your Children

'Deliver Your Children' had been written by Denny Laine in 1975 and finished off with Paul McCartney. Wings spent several hours working on an arrangement before recording a backing track: Laine on acoustic guitar and guide vocals, Jimmy McCulloch on a second acoustic guitar, McCartney on bass guitar, and Joe English on drums. The song would appear on London Town as a Laine–McCartney co-write.

Morse Moose and the Grey Goose

The second recording of the session was more spontaneous. McCartney described its origins in an interview for BBC Radio 1 in 1978:

"This is like a crazy track, this. Most of the stuff we do, it's a song and it's worked out and to some degree it's rehearsed before we come to do it. But this one, we were just on the boat and as you can imagine there are a few evenings there where we weren't too serious, we were just having a loon. And the electric piano was set up through a couple of gadgets and stuff, and it had this weird sound on it. And I just started hitting it one evening, and I was doing a sort of Morse beat on it. And Denny was just leaping over to the piano and sort of hitting it occasionally with his head.

We had this five-minute thing that just went on; it sounded like Morse code for about five, six minutes. We quite liked it, it sounded like the germ of an idea, so we went the opposite way from how we normally do it, of having a song and then putting it down. This thing started just from an idea, the Morse code idea. And then we thought, 'What shall we call it?' We ended up with 'Morse Moose'."

— Paul McCartney, BBC Radio 1, 1978

The first part of the track — 'Morse Moose' — emerged from McCartney playing an electric piano through a variety of effects processors, with Laine adding piano and a second piano overdub following. The session ended with Geoff Emerick creating mixes of both recordings.

'Morse Moose and the Grey Goose' became the closing track of London Town, running to over six minutes. It remains one of the most experimental pieces in the Wings catalogue.

London Town

London Town was released on 31 March 1978. It was the first Wings album recorded without Henry McCullough and Denny Seiwell, who had both left the group in 1973, and was recorded partly aboard the Fair Carol in the Virgin Islands and partly at Abbey Road. The album reached number two in the UK and number two in the US. The single 'With a Little Luck' reached number one in the US and number five in the UK.

Key Facts: 18 May 1977

Location: Fair Carol, Waterlemon Bay, St John, US Virgin Islands
Producer: Paul McCartney
Engineers: Geoff Emerick, Mark Vigars
Songs recorded: 'Deliver Your Children' (backing track); 'Morse Moose' (first part of 'Morse Moose and the Grey Goose')
'Deliver Your Children' written by: Denny Laine (1975), finished with McCartney
Backing track lineup: Denny Laine (acoustic guitar, guide vocals), Jimmy McCulloch (acoustic guitar), Paul McCartney (bass), Joe English (drums)
'Morse Moose' origin: McCartney on electric piano through effects processors; Laine adding piano with his head
Session ended with: Geoff Emerick mixes of both recordings
Album: London Town, released 31 March 1978

Frequently Asked Questions

Where did Wings record London Town?

Partly aboard the Fair Carol — a 105-foot yacht moored in the US Virgin Islands, fitted with studio equipment from the Record Plant in New York — and partly at Abbey Road Studios in London.

Who wrote Deliver Your Children?

Denny Laine wrote the song in 1975 and finished it with Paul McCartney. It is credited as a Laine–McCartney co-write on London Town.

How did Morse Moose and the Grey Goose come about?

Spontaneously, one evening on the boat. McCartney began playing an electric piano through effects processors in a Morse code rhythm; Denny Laine joined in, hitting the piano occasionally with his head. McCartney described it as going "the opposite way from how we normally do it".