‘Winedark Open Sea’ is the eleventh song on Off The Ground, Paul McCartney’s ninth solo studio album.
The title phrase comes from English translations of Homer – wine is used to describe the sea five times in The Iliad and twelve times in The Odyssey. The phrase in the original Greek is oînops póntos, which has been variously translated as ‘wine-faced’, ‘wine-eyed’, and ‘wine-dark’.
That’s a nice track, simply played and underproduced as well. I know I would have added more to it, but it’s a case of the magic’s in there and you’ve got to leave it alone.
New World Tour programme
McCartney and his band rehearsed ‘Winedark Open Sea’ for the New World Tour in 1993, but it was never performed live.
A promotional film for ‘Winedark Open Sea’ was released on 11 November 2020 to support the charity Surfers For Climate.
It was directed by Jack McCoy, who had previously used music by McCartney’s side project The Fireman in his videos.
‘Winedark Open Sea’ was the only Off The Ground song to appear on the 2016 compilation Pure McCartney.