3 Classic Rock Songs That Took Years To Produce

Music production is rarely a quick process. While it’s certainly a faster process than it was back in the 20th century, music production is an often tedious process that requires some patience. But when it comes to the following classic rock songs, it took years (or, more accurately, decades) to produce them. Let’s take a look, shall we?

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“When Winter Comes” by Paul McCartney

A song from the year 2020 would not be considered part of the classic rock era at all. But Paul McCartney is about as classic rock of a musician as one can be. So, I’m including his song “When Winter Comes” on this list, considering it took literal decades to get here. This is more or less the case for every entry on this list, honestly.

Paul McCartney had a lot of time to go through his likely endless log of recorded yet unreleased material during 2020, since touring was a no-go. McCartney III was his homegrown project during lockdown. And one song popped up on the record that boasted a distinctly younger-sounding McCartney on it. The track, “When Winter Comes”, was actually recorded in the late 90s. The demo didn’t make it to Flaming Pie. Instead of letting it collect dust, McCartney threw it on his third self-titled album.

“Turn The Lights Back On” by Billy Joel

Some musicians get to a point where they’re so wrapped up in performing, particularly at routine-friendly residencies, that they stop recording new music for a while. That was more or less the case for Billy Joel, whose Madison Square Garden residency seemed to be a bit more important than hitting the studio. But for someone like Joel, the songwriting never stops intentionally; the conditions just have to be right to record new tracks.

Producer Freddy Wexler was that right condition, and he worked with Joel to release “Turn The Lights Back On” in 2024. And it was a Top 10 hit upon its release. The Piano Man’s still got it!

According to Joel, after River Of Dreams in 1993, songwriting had become “painful” and he avoided it. When Wexler showed Joel the early workings of “Turn The Lights Back On”, though, he was inspired. Funnily enough, the only reason Wexler and Joel connected was because Wexler’s wife hunted down Joel’s old family physician for a connect. Ah, the good ol’ journalist technique.

“Somewhere Under Heaven” by Tom Petty

Tom Petty had a ton of bits and pieces left over from the Wildflowers sessions. One such song was “Somewhere Under Heaven”, which didn’t make the cut back in 1992 to the already hefty Wildflowers. This classic rock tune makes it to our list of songs that took years to finally produce because Petty eventually revisited it in 2015.

“Somewhere Under Heaven” was released as a promo in 2015 for the re-release of Wildflowers, titled Wildflowers & All The Rest. The project, though, was postponed until it finally got a proper release in 2020. It’s a good thing that Petty revisited this Mike Campbell co-written effort, because it’s a gorgeous tune.

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