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If you see Paul McCartney on his “Got Back” tour, he will probably play “Junior's Farm.” Noticeably, the Wings single is missing the second verse. In his book, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, he reveals the reason for this.
Three verse song too long?
In the chapter in McCartney's book on “Junior's Farm,” the former Beatles star discusses the song's lyrics. He acknowledged that he doesn't usually sing the second verse, which features the lines, “At the Houses of Parliament/Everybody's talking 'bout the President/We all chip in for a bag of cement.”
Though he did sing it during one of Wings' live performances in 1975.
He also gave a bit of a history lesson with it. Wings recorded “Junior's Farm” in the summer of 1974 and released in October of that year. “Around the same time of Richard Nixon and his impeachment hearing; in fact, I think he'd had to resign in disgrace that summer,” McCartney said. “The idea in the song was to give him the so-called Mafia send-off.”
But Nixon's situation isn't the reason why McCartney passes over the lyrics during live performances. It comes down to song counts. Those who have been to a McCartney concert know that they're lengthy, usually jam-packed with 40 or so songs from his Beatles, Wings, and solo catalog.
“I don't think there's any reason we don't perform that verse now,” McCartney revealed. “It may just be that it makes the song too long and we get through around 40 songs in our sets.”
Paul McCartney and his touring band are embarking on another leg of the “Got Back” tour, his first post-pandemic. They began the tour in April 2022, playing dates across North America before culminating in a headlining performance at Glastonbury.
They just wrapped dates in Australia and Mexico. Nine dates are lined up for across Brazil in the coming month. Yesterday (no pun intended), they played a surprise 24-song set at the Clube do Choro. “Junior's Farm” is usually played second in their set — so don't expect to hear that second verse if you catch a show.
