Famous Groupies

‘Famous Groupies’ is the tenth track on Wings’s penultimate album London Town.

It’s like a joke song about the rock and roll business. There’s a famous pair of groupies from years ago called the Plaster Casters [Cynthia Albritton and Diane Plater]. It’s not really modelled on them but it’s that kind of idea: a couple of groupies who go around together, are notorious and stuff.

No, I don’t get groupies. No, I hope I don’t anyway. There comes a stage when you sort of let it be known that you don’t want them, then they don’t show up anymore. You’ve got to be single and out on the road. I’m a married man with four kids now, so I can’t do all that. I’m not like that!

Wings recorded ‘Famous Groupies’ on 13 May 1977. It was laid down during the second set of sessions for London Town, which took place on the Fair Carol, a motor yacht stationed at Watermelon Bay in St John’s in the Virgin Islands.

I was just sitting around and this idea came to me about doing a song about groupies. It’d be a nice idea to send it up instead of getting all serious about them, you know? So it’s just a joke track really. But there was one point where we were thinking, it really could be a serious sort of shouted rocker, where you get really mean on it, but every time we tried that – basically it’s in the wrong key to do that with, because it’s neither here nor there for singing. So we came in to the medium key. We ended up just goofing it, being silly and trying to have a laugh.

Somewhat improbably, ‘Famous Groupies’ was considered for release as a single at the record company’s behest.

It’s funny, you know, you play these things to the people from the record company and you ask ‘Which do you think would be the single?’ And they come out with the weirdest choices. That was the choice of a few people, ‘Famous Groupies’. But I don’t think it will be a single. A few of the others were choices too, that won’t be singles, but that’s just like a daft tune we had going up in Scotland, all about groupies and various people who keep mattresses in their van. And, you know, it’s just like a joke song about the rock ‘n’ roll business.