The track was engineered by Ernie Winfrey at Soundshop Studios in Nashville, Tennessee in 1974. While recording in Nashville, the band stayed at the Lebanon, Tennessee farm of Curly Putman Jr., which accounts for the song's title. Jimmy McCulloch played the guitar solo as his Wings debut. The lyrics are a source of confusion; Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd, McCartney's publisher, omits the third and fourth verses, as per official lyric finder service Lyric Find. An explanation for this could be that there was a 'DJ edit' of the song, without those verses which were controversial. The third verse allude to US President Richard Nixon's resignation over the Watergate scandal and the desire to get rid of him Mafia style, by putting his feet in concrete and dropping him in the riverThames, : At the Houses of Parliament. Everybody's talking 'bout the President. We all chip in for a bag of cement The fourth verse was more explicit, but far less extreme, it simply mocks movie legend Oliver Hardy's investment in the Del Mar Fairgrounds race track,. It is uncertain as to why McCartney chose to single out Hardy, especially as there appears to be no record of him having lost on the investment. Ollie Hardy should have had more sense. He bought a gee-gee and he jumped the fence. All for the sake of a couple of pence The song continued McCartney and Wings' worldwide success after the Band on the Run album. It made number 3 in the US, number 16 on the United Kingdom charts, and was a notable hit elsewhere. The photo for the single's picture sleeve featured the members of Wings dressed in corresponding costumes from the song's lyrics. A sea lion is also mentioned in the lyrics and subsequently, an actual sea lion appears in photo, between 'farmer' McCartney and Britton. However, the photo only appeared on the picture sleeve of the single in Spain and in advertisements elsewhere. In the UK and the US, the single was released in an Apple Records company sleeve. In some other countries in Europe, a black-and-white band photo was used instead. This was McCartney's last release on Apple Records before signing a solo recording contract with Capitol Records in May 1975, following the dissolution of the Beatles' partnership.
The B-side, "Sally G", was also a top-20 hit on the US charts, peaking at number 17. "Junior's Farm" was later released on the McCartney/Wings compilation Wings Greatest in 1978 and the US version of All the Best! in 1987, although it was not on the UK edition of the latter album. The 3-minute radio edit of the song was included on the compilation. "Sally G" was released in 1993 as a bonus track on Wings at the Speed of Sound in The Paul McCartney Collection. Both songs are now remastered and featured on the Hear-Music version of Venus and Mars released in November 2014.
Cover versions
In 1994, "Junior's Farm" was covered by Lee Harvey Oswald Band on their album A Taste of Prison. In 1996, "Junior's Farm" was covered by Galactic Cowboys on their Feel the Rage E.P. In 2014, "Junior's Farm" was covered by Steve Miller on The Art of McCartney covers album.
