“Take It Away” has a lively history. Originally among a group of songs that Paul wrote to give to Ringo, he decided he wanted to keep it for himself. It was originally slated to be recorded for the last Wings album, it was a holdover that appeared on Paul’s 1982 album Tug of War, his third solo album.

The song spent 16 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, including a strange five consecutive week stay in the number ten position in late July through August. The song entered the Top 40 on July 17, 1982, and stayed there for eleven weeks. The song reached # 15 on the UK charts.

“Take It Away” was released on the heels of the end of the reign at #1 on the charts of “Ebony and Ivory”, Paul’s duet with Stevie Wonder, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks in the U.S. and was a number one hit in countless other countries. It was Paul’s first collaboration with a major artist and foreshadowed his future collaborations with Michael Jackson.

The song represented a mini-Beatles reunion of sorts as it was produced by George Martin, who also played electric piano on the track, and Ringo played drums on the track.

George Martin and Ringo both appeared in the video for the song as members of the band, as did Linda McCartney and Eric Stewart, who played on the track. Barbara Bach appeared in the video, which was directed by John Mackenzie.

The video for “Take It Away” was unique. Coming less than a year after the start of the MTV network on August 1, 1981, it was the first ever video to feature a paid actor. BAFTA-winning and Oscar-nominated actor John Hurt, the most popular actor in the UK at the time, stars as the entertainment mogul. Of course, having paying big movie stars to appear in high-profile music videos would become popular as the 1980’s evolved.

The show “Happy Days” debuted on ABC as a midseason replacement show on January 15, 1974, and was an instant hit. Nostalgia of the 1950’s was popular in 1974 with shows like “Happy Days” and the movie American Graffiti leading the way. Coincidentally, the kind of music associated with that time period was what John Lennon was featuring on his upcoming album Rock ‘n’ Roll, which was still in production when “Happy Days” debuted to rave reviews. Lennon’s fifth solo album featured his doing cover versions of rock standards of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, the music of his Liverpool youth. Naturally, Lennon was an instant fan of “Happy Days”.

Recently, the website Slashfilm.com published an article titled “One Of The Beatles Was a Happy Days Fan, And He Made Sure To Let The Cast Know“, which tells how John Lennon, May Pang and a young Julian Lennon visited the set of “Happy Days” in Los Angeles during the show’s first season in 1974.

The article also tells how ten years later in 1984 when Julian Lennon appeared on the show “Solid Gold” to promote his hit song “Valotte“, he appeared at Henry Winkler’s dressing room, which was on the next set, and asked “The Fonz” if he remembered him.

The forthcoming Rock ‘n’ Roll album, which was still in production at the time of Lennon’s visit to the “Happy Days” set, would have many songs which would be of the era evoked by the nostalgic tv show, such as “Be-Bop-a-Lula”, “Stand By Me”, “Ain’t That a Shame”, “Do You Want to Dance”, “Sweet Little Sixteen”, “Peggy Sue” and “Ya Ya.”