"C Moon" is a reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 song written by Paul

Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

 and Linda McCartney

Linda McCartney

Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney was an American photographer, musician and animal rights activist. Her father and mother were Lee Eastman and Louise Sara Lindner Eastman....

 and performed by Wings

Wings (band)

Wings were a British-American rock group formed in 1971 by Paul McCartney, Denny Laine and Linda McCartney that remained active until 1981....

. It was released as a double A-side with "Hi, Hi, Hi

Hi, Hi, Hi

"Hi, Hi, Hi" is a song written by Paul and Linda McCartney and performed by Wings. It was released as a double A-side single with "C Moon" in 1972.The single peaked at number five in the United Kingdom and at number 10 in the United States in January 1973...

" in 1972. With the ban of "Hi Hi Hi" in the United Kingdom, "C Moon" became a top five hit.. On the strength of that chart performance, it was included in McCartney's 1987 hits compilation, All the Best!

All the Best!

All the Best! is the second official compilation album of Paul McCartney music, after 1978's Wings Greatest and was released in 1987. The album contains tracks from the beginning of his solo career in 1970 up to the newly recorded "Once Upon a Long Ago." The track inclusion and running order...

.

The name "C Moon" was inspired by lyrics in the song "Wooly Bully

Wooly Bully

"Wooly Bully" is a popular song originally recorded by novelty rock 'n' roll band Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs in 1965. Based on a standard 12-bar blues progression, it was written by the band's leader, Domingo "Sam" Samudio. It was released as a single on the Memphis-based Pen label and...

" by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs

Sam the Sham

Sam the Sham is the stage name of the American rock and roll singer Domingo “Sam” Samudio . Sam the Sham was known for his camp robe and turban and hauling his equipment in a 1952 Packard hearse with maroon velvet curtains...

. McCartney said, "There's a line in [Wooly Bully] that says, 'Let's not be L7.' Well, L7, it was explained at the time, means a square—put L and 7 together and you get a square... So I thought of the idea of putting a C and a moon together (a half-moon) to get the opposite of a square. So 'C Moon' means cool, in other words."

The recording includes a missed-cue intro that was kept in the released version. Sometimes, when the song is performed live, McCartney will shout words in Jamaican (including "Rastafari

Rastafari movement

The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...

") during the intro, replacing the line "Was that the intro I should have been in?".

The song is in the key of C and is in 4/4 time. The performers change instruments from their usual places. Guitarist Henry McCullough

Henry McCullough

Henry McCullough Henry McCullough Henry McCullough (born Henry Campbell Liken McCullough, 21 July 1943, Portstewart, Northern Ireland is an Irish guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, who has played guitar in such bands as Sweeney's Men, Spooky Tooth, Paul McCartney & Wings, and The Grease Band. He...

 plays drums, guitarist Denny Laine

Denny Laine

Denny Laine is an English songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, guitarist, and lead singer of The Moody Blues' 1965 debut album "The Magnificent Moodies"; and, later, best known for his role as co-founder of Wings...

 plays bass, and drummer Denny Seiwell plays xylophone

Xylophone

The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...

.

Releases

Country	UK	USA	Germany	France	Japan
Label	Apple Apple Records Apple Records is a record label founded by The Beatles in 1968, as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, Badfinger, and Billy Preston...	Apple	EMI Electrola/Apple	Apple	Apple
Catalogue Number	R 5973	1857	1C006-05208	2C006-05208	EAR-10241
Release Date	1 December 1972	4 December 1972	December, 1972		20 January 1973
Chart Ratings	5 (16 January 1973)	—	N/A	N/A	26 (February, 1973)

Also released on McCartney's All the Best

All the Best!

All the Best! is the second official compilation album of Paul McCartney music, after 1978's Wings Greatest and was released in 1987. The album contains tracks from the beginning of his solo career in 1970 up to the newly recorded "Once Upon a Long Ago." The track inclusion and running order...

, and later reissued on a remastered Red Rose Speedway

Red Rose Speedway

-Additional tracks:-Original LP Recording:Originally planned as a double album, this is the tracklisting from the acetates of the early incarnation of the album dated 13 December 1972...

in 1993.