{"id":874,"date":"2017-02-15T16:19:09","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T16:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=874"},"modified":"2017-02-15T16:23:00","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T16:23:00","slug":"ftv-man-on-the-run-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=874","title":{"rendered":"FTV: Man on the Run – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0How does a Beatle stay undercover in New York City? \u00a0Paul McCartney grew a beard, dressed down in a GI coat and jeans looking every bit \u201clike just another junkie.\u201d \u00a0He and Linda had decamped from London to escape the legal wranglings and vitriol that resulted from his suit against his bandmates in order to finally lay The Beatles to rest. \u00a0Quietly and unobtrusively, they began the process of auditioning musicians for Paul\u2019s second album sans The Beatles.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0New York guitarist David Spinozza and drummer Denny Seiwell were both given low key auditions without the fan fare that recording with one of The Beatles one would expect. \u00a0Both recall that working with McCartney was both efficient and creatively successful, but they were employed with what Seiwell referred to as \u201ca hippy handshake\u201d agreement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The legal case of McCartney vs the other three Beatles (and Alan Klein of ABKCO) took a turn in Paul\u2019s favor when a justice hearing the case agreed that The Beatles business holdings needed to be run by an receivership until a permanent fix was arranged. \u00a0McCartney returned to America and his troupe decamped from NYC to LA to mix the <\/span>Ram<\/span><\/i> album. \u00a0In Paul\u2019s absence, John, George, and Ringo showed up at the McCartney\u2019s \u00a0London home in Lennon\u2019s white Rolls Royce. \u00a0Lennon proceeded to throw bricks through the windows. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As for his newly finished album, McCartney said, \u201cI tried to avoid any Beatle cliches and just went to different places . . . songs became a little more episodic or something. \u00a0I suppose I was just letting myself be free.\u201d \u00a0A strange, rambling promo disk (<\/span>Brung to Ewe<\/span><\/i>) baffled the press and radio stations it was sent to with sheep noises, in jokes, and nonsensical dialog. \u00a0The album itself produced a surprise hit in the US as <\/span>Uncle Albert\/Admiral Halsey <\/span><\/i>went to Number 1 on the charts. \u00a0There were numerous thinly disguised digs taken at \u00a0The Beatles in some of the songs and artwork, but Paul dismissed much of the speculation with, \u201cOh, I didn\u2019t really think about it at the time.\u201d \u00a0To my ears, it sounds a bit like revisionist history, but only Paul knows for sure. \u00a0Both camps took potshots at each other via the press and in private. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cWell, he started it\u201d \u00a0finger pointing was indeed \u00a0just as childish then as it sounds today.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With the success of <\/span>Ram<\/span><\/i>, Sir Paul began considering options for a touring band. \u00a0He could see himself going the supergroup route, but ultimately asked himself., \u201dHow do you start a band?\u201d \u00a0He settled on a tried and true method: \u00a0\u201cStart with nothing and you just learn and improve. \u00a0The idea was to get a bunch of mates together. \u00a0I wasn\u2019t interested in putting it together professionally.\u201d \u00a0His first thought was to get Linda involved. \u00a0He set about teaching her some rudimentary keyboard skills. \u00a0\u00a0She made slow progress but, \u201c(Paul) had no patience. \u00a0I had to learn it myself. \u00a0The few things he\u2019d show me, if I didn\u2019t get it right, he\u2019d get really angry so I said, \u2018like, forget it\u2019.\u201d \u00a0Some of his future sidemen would complain amongst themselves about Linda\u2019s musicianship, but Paul felt it was a way to keep the family together and have a band at the same time. \u00a0He wanted the camaraderie of a band, but there were no illusions about who was in charge. \u00a0The new guys in the group also realized that if not for Linda, Paul might well be drinking himself to death in Scotland rather than making music. \u00a0Linda grew into the role of bandmate and the subject never really surfaced again.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Beatles feud carried on as John Lennon recorded a track called <\/span>How do you Sleep?<\/span><\/i> For his <\/span>Imagine <\/span><\/i>album. \u00a0He later claimed it was \u201ca moment’s anger\u201d in response to McCartney\u2019s lyrical tweaking of John and Yoko on <\/span>Ram<\/span><\/i> (<\/span>Too Many People <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>3 Legs<\/span><\/i>), but the attack stung McCarney just the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0McCartney set about to find a name for his new band. \u00a0After rejecting subpar monikers like \u2018Turpentine\u2019 and \u2018The Dazzlers\u2019, a name came to Paul when Linda needed an emergency cesarean section to deliver daughter Stella. \u00a0A shaken Paul found himself alone and \u201cpraying like mad\u201d for his wife and child. \u00a0An image of an angel\u2019s wings came to mind. \u00a0With Linda\u2019s crisis past, McCartney had a new daughter, a new band name, and a new album to release (<\/span>Wild Life<\/span><\/i>).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The album received lukewarm acceptance at best. \u00a0McCartney professed to be happy with it, but later concluded that some of it (<\/span>Mumbo <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Bib Bop<\/span><\/i>) was a little \u201ctoo playful.\u201d \u00a0In an effort to toughen up the band\u2019s sound, he invited Henry McCullough to join them at High Park Farm. \u00a0A member of Joe Cocker\u2019s Grease Band that appeared at Woodstock, McCullough brought both rock \u2018n roll cred and a sense of fun with him to Scotland. \u00a0The next piece of the master plan formulated in McCartney\u2019s mind was to take the band on the road.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The tour began on February 8, 1972 and Paul looks back with pride and describes it as, \u201cA bunch of nutters on the road.\u201d \u00a0A transit van and a lorry of equipment set off to find civic halls or other similar small venues to play unannounced shows. \u00a0These so called \u201cguerrilla gigs\u201d were literally day to day affairs: \u00a0dig out the map, pick a location, book a hall on arrival, and play the gig. \u00a0The band would get half of the gate and Paul enjoyed something he hadn\u2019t done since 1962 – actually being paid straight out for a gig. \u00a0By February 23, eleven dates had been played and the band was ready to get off the road. \u00a0Paul\u2019s little experiment helped them bond as a band and March would see them commence sessions for their next LP <\/span>Red Rose Speedway.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0From December of 1973 to December of 1976, Wings released four highly successful albums: <\/span>Band on the Run, Venus and Mars, Wings at the Speed of Sound, <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Wings over America – Live. \u00a0<\/span><\/i>Paul McCartney, ex-Beatle, had climbed from his deepest, darkest depression to back to the rarefied heights of success. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fame being fickle, there would be troubles with some of his band members, but Sir Paul would soldier on. \u00a0Linda\u2019s death in 1998 at the age of fifty six was of course devastating. \u00a0It took him a year to resurface after her passing, but no doubt his determination to carry on was inspired\u00a0<\/span>by her role in rescuing a sinking Paul thirty years earlier. \u00a0If Linda hadn\u2019t been there to kick start Paul\u2019s musical therapy, McCartney\u2019s story would no doubt have a much different ending.<\/span><\/p>\n

Top Piece Video: \u00a0Denny Laine discusses various things McCartney and Wings:<\/p>\n

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