This is The song Paul McCartney wrote halfway up a mountain in Scotland

For seasoned songwriters, inspiration can come from all sorts of places. Whether it’s the relationship that one finds oneself in or the massive load of problems throughout one’s daily life. Although some artists may pride themselves on being masterful storytellers with their instruments, Paul McCartney didn’t even need a guitar when making one of his classics.

Granted, McCartney was not in the best position in the early 1970s after the formation of his band Wings. Not wanting to be a true solo artist, Macca thought the best way to ease into the next phase of his career was to work off other musicians, which made way for some fairly hit-and-miss material throughout albums like Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway.

While the group would embark on their magnum opus, Band on the Run, directly afterwards, McCartney got the initial spark of one of his greatest solo hits while hiking up the hills of Scotland. When strolling through the countryside, McCartney started to think of a tune that would go on to become massive, naming it after a pony they had at the time called Jet.

As Macca reminisced to GQ, “I was in a songwriting mood, and I was up in Scotland. I just thought, ‘OK, I just gotta go somewhere and try and write a song’. We happened to have a little pony that was called Jet on the farm. I took my guitar and hiked up this great big hill. I found myself a place which was in the middle of nature, and just sat there and started making up a song”.

While the song would be one of the band’s fiercest rockers, McCartney had a specific target in mind when writing the lyrics: his father-in-law. When talking about the lyrical depths of the track, McCartney likened Lee Eastman to the sergeant major in the storyline, disapproving of the marriage between him and Linda.

Even though McCartney had the genesis of a great album on his hands, finishing the final album would take immense strength. Looking to make the album in Nigeria, the bandleader was dealt the shock of a lifetime when most of his band quit on the spot at the airport, leading to most of the instruments on the album being played by the McCartneys and bassist Denny Laine.

Throughout the album’s production, McCartney was also fraught with logistical problems, having to build the studio from scratch when they got there and suffering from a bronchial spasm midway through recording that left him incapacitated in the studio. Regardless of the setbacks, the power of ‘Jet’ never diminished throughout the production.

Featuring tasteful use of synthesiser, the entire moves on at an insistent tempo, driven by McCartney’s bassline and a fantastic ear for melody when going off on the vocal sections. Even though most Beatles fans considered McCartney to be yesterday’s news throughout the early 1970, ‘Jet’ was one of the reasons why ‘The Cute Beatle’ should never be counted out. After melodic fanfare, McCartney had finally gotten his edge back.