Record Store Day is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, and in honor of the milestone, a limited-edition 12-inch vinyl single featuring two versions of the recent Paul McCartney tune “Women and Wives” has been chosen as Record Store Day’s first Song of the Year release.
The single will feature McCartney’s original version of “Women and Wives” — which appeared on 2020’s McCartney III album — on one side, and alt-rocker St. Vincent‘s 2021 remix of the tune on the other.
St. Vincent’s “Women and Wives” remix was featured on the McCartney III Imagined album, which was released in April 2021 and included covers or remixes of all the McCartney III tracks by various artists.
As previously reported, Record Store Day 2022 will take place on April 23, with an additional drop date for select releases on June 18. The “Women and Wives” vinyl single will be released on June 18, and a limited run of 3,000 numbered copies will be available.
Explaining why “Women and Wives” was chosen as Song of the Year, Record Store Day co-founder Michael Kurtz says, “I was driving down a Montana highway one sunny, snowy morning when St. Vincent’s imagined version of ‘Women and Wives’ came on [satellite radio]. I was stunned by the song’s message of chasing the future. When St. Vincent’s Jeff Beck-like guitar solo arrived at the end, I got goosebumps. This is a classic McCartney song, up there with some of his best.”
McCartney was inspired to write the song after reading blues legend Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter‘s biography, and he recorded the track with an upright bass that belonged to Elvis Presley‘s early bassist, the late Bill Black.
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