Album This song officially appears on the Memory Almost Full Official album.
Timeline This song was officially released in 2007
This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:
"Memory Almost Full" first sessions
End of February 2004
David Kahne talks about Memory Almost Full
Jun 01, 2007
“House Of Wax” is a song from Paul McCartney’s 2007 album, “Memory Almost Full“.
There’s something about chords in a song that can take you to a place. In this song they are not complex but there’s something in the tonality of them that takes you to what the vocal becomes. And I like the lyrics: ‘Lightning hits the house of wax, poets spill out on the streets, to set alight the incomplete remainders of the future.’ It’s quite surreal. I enjoyed singing them because of those chords and the mixture of the melody and the lyrics. I think this will be good to do live. It’s another one that my band played on. In fact the medley was conceived early on in this album and the band is featured on a lot of it.
Paul McCartney – interview with Mail On Sunday, May 12, 2008
Interview with David Khane, from Mix Online, October 1, 2007:
“House of Wax”: The climactic “House of Wax,” which McCartney played live on his handful of “secret gig” shows supporting the album, again features the band, with McCartney providing the crying blues guitar solo. “The solos were a big deal for me,” Kahne recalls. “Those sections were blank; we didn’t know what we were going to put there. I heard ‘Taxman’ on the radio, for which he’d done the solo, and I thought how great it would be if he would just rip in those big breaks. So I asked, ‘Instead of making a more complex part, can you just play guitar solos?’ He said, ‘Okay,’ sat in the control room with his Casino plugged into the Vox and just whipped it up, and literally, a half-hour later, they were done. I’ve never heard him play guitar like that. He just pushes the notes sharp perfectly at the right time.”
Lightning hits the house of wax
Poets spill out on the street
To set alight the incomplete
Remainders of the future
Hidden in the yard. Hidden in the yard
Thunder drowns the trumpets blast
Poets scatter through the night
But they can only dream of flight
Away from their confusion
Hidden in the yard. Underneath the wall
Buried deep below a thousand layers lay the
answer to it all
Lightning hits the house of wax
Women scream and run around
To dance upon the battleground
Like wild demented horses
Hidden in the yard. Underneath the wall
Buried deep below a thousand layers lay the
answer to it all
Hidden in the yard. Underneath the wall
Buried deep below a thousand layers lay the
answer to it all
Memory Almost Full - 2CD limited edition bonus disc
Official album • Released in 2007
4:59 • Studio version • A
Official album • Released in 2007
4:59 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Electric guitar, Piano, Vocals Rusty Anderson : Electric guitar Abe Laboriel Jr. : Drums David Kahne : Mixing engineer, Producer Paul Wickens : Keyboards, Synthesizer Andy Wallace : Mixing engineer
Session Recording: End of February 2004 • Studio EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • From the books "Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs" • Buy Volume 1 (1970-1989) and Volume 2 (1990-2012) on Amazon
EP • Released in 2007
5:19 • Live • L1
Concert From "iTunes Festival" in London, United Kingdom on Jul 05, 2007
Official live • Released in 2019
6:02 • Live • L2 • 2019 mix
Performed by : Paul McCartney • Rusty Anderson • Abe Laboriel Jr. • Brian Ray • Dave Arch Steve Orchard : Remix engineer Randy Merrill : Mastering engineer Darrell Thorp : Recording engineer
Concert From the concert in Los Angeles, USA on Jun 27, 2007
Amoeba Gig (Limited Edition - Clear Amber Vinyl)
LP • Released in 2019
6:02 • Live • L2 • 2019 mix
Performed by : Paul McCartney • Rusty Anderson • Abe Laboriel Jr. • Brian Ray • Dave Arch Steve Orchard : Remix engineer Randy Merrill : Mastering engineer Darrell Thorp : Recording engineer
Concert From the concert in Los Angeles, USA on Jun 27, 2007
7" Single • Released in 2022
6:02 • Live • L2
Performed by : Paul McCartney • Rusty Anderson • Abe Laboriel Jr. • Brian Ray • Dave Arch Steve Orchard : Remix engineer Randy Merrill : Mastering engineer Darrell Thorp : Recording engineer
Concert From the concert in Los Angeles, USA on Jun 27, 2007
Live At The Institute Of Contemporary Arts
Unofficial live • Released in 2007
6:22 • Live
Concert From "iTunes Festival" in London, United Kingdom on Jul 05, 2007
Unofficial live • Released in 2007
6:26 • Live
Concert From the concert in Los Angeles, USA on Jun 27, 2007
Unofficial live • Released in 2007
5:36 • Live
Concert From the concert in New York City, USA on Jun 13, 2007
Searching for Him Everywhere 2001-2014
Unofficial live • Released in 2015
5:40 • Live • June 28, 2007
Memory Almost Full - Ultimate Archive Collection
Unofficial album • Released in 2016
4:59 • Studio version • A
“House Of Wax” has been played in 6 concerts.
Oct 25, 2007 • United Kingdom • London • Roundhouse
Oct 22, 2007 • France • Paris • Olympia Hall
Jul 05, 2007 • United Kingdom • London • Institute for Contemporary Arts
Los Angeles • Amoeba Music • USA
Jun 27, 2007 • USA • Los Angeles • Amoeba Music
New York City • Highline Ballroom • USA
Jun 13, 2007 • USA • New York City • Highline Ballroom
The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present
"House Of Wax" is one of the songs featured in the book "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present," published in 2021. The book explores Paul McCartney's early Liverpool days, his time with the Beatles, Wings, and his solo career. It pairs the lyrics of 154 of his songs with his first-person commentary on the circumstances of their creation, the inspirations behind them, and his current thoughts on them.
Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 2) 1990-2012
This new book by Luca Perasi traces Paul McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1990 to 2012 in the form of 250 song entries, filled with details about the recordings, stories behind the sessions and musical analysis. His pop albums, his forays into classical and avant-garde music, his penchant for covering old standards: a complete book to discover how these languages cross-pollinate and influence each other.
The second volume in a series that has established itself as a unique guide to take the reader on a journey into the astonishing creativity of Paul McCartney.
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