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| Carl with his friend, Pat 4-23-82 |
My girlfriend Inger and I arrived in London on April 19
(1982) and could not resist the temptation to pay a visit to MPL at Soho Square
first thing. What a change since the
last time I was there, more than six years ago!
Outside MPL there was not a fan, not a McCartney, nothing, until after half
an hour the well-known sound of “Coming Up” came nearer, yes, at last another McCartney
fan. And a very nice one too. She told us Paul probably was due to come
back from the USA any day now.
Well, Tuesday came and went and still nothing outside MPL or
Air studios. Then suddenly at about 2pm
on Wednesday out of nowhere, suddenly Linda came out of a car outside MPL. I went directly up to her and said, “Hello,
Linda, I met you six years ago.” And the
women goes, “Yeah, I remember, I recognize you, from Sweden!” And she stretched her hand out to shake
mine. I was so totally surprised by this
that she actually remembered me after spending about 10 minutes with me six
years earlier. What a memory! Anyway I asked Linda where Paul was and was
told that Paul had gone right up to Scotland for a few days to write songs but
was due in London next week. So no Paul
this week, I thought. But I was so
wrong.
We went over to MPL again on Thursday, and saw Linda again
waving through the window. On Thursday
night we watched “Top of the Pops” on the hotel TV and saw the video of “Ebony
and Ivory” for the very first time. It was beautiful and gave us even more inspiration. “We must meet him this time!”
Friday came and at lunch time we strolled around Soho Square
and suddenly three McCartney fans came up to us and asked if we were the
Swedish Paul fans. No use to deny
that. The girl we’d met at the beginning
of the week was kind enough to send her friends to tell us that Paul had
arrived back in London and was now for sure at Air Studios!
We waited and waited outside Air and sure enough, around 7pm
came Paul’s two roadies out and fetched Paul’s car, and now we knew Paul
McCartney would be out any minute. I
felt a bit nervous now but suddenly
there he was right in front of me, and the nervousness completely went away. It felt like meeting an old, really close
friend, a real warm feeling (not strange after being a Beatle fan for 19 years;
we both became Beatle fans in October 1963 when the Beatles first toured
Sweden). I had prepared myself for this
meeting, so, after saying hello and explaining we were from Sweden, I showed
Paul and big photo showing my friend Stefan and Rune who met Paul in mid-March,
six weeks earlier, during an interview with George Martin for Swedish radio,
and asked Paul, “Well Paul, do you remember these guys?” Paul studied the photograph carefully and
said, “Oh, sure, I remember them,” with a smile like “Oh how could I ever
forget them?” He quickly added, looking
right into my face, “That talked quite good English, but their Swedish was
beautiful, fantastic, just like the natives, wow!”
Both Paul and I laughed, and suddenly he picked up a pen
from his pocket and signed “Paul McCartney” all over the photograph, without me
even asking for it, just like that!
Inger asked for a “quick photo” and Paul said, “Sure” and looked up
while he signed for a girl from Luxemburg.
I followed Paul to the car and we waved as the car drove away. This was my first real meeting with Paul,
though I’ve seen both the Beatles and Wings live in concert before.
He was really nice, friendly and very funny, a sort of
humorous twinkle in the eyes all the time.
Ohyes, the eyes, both Inger and I thought he had a very special color, a kind of
mixture of brown and gray eyes. Anyway
we were very happy having met Paul and talked to him, but we wanted more of
McCartney. So we spent the weekend hoping Paul would
return to Air on Monday as we had to leave for Sweden Wednesday morning, so we
only had two more days and we wanted to see as much of Paul as possible of
course.
Monday, April 26 came and that day was the release date for
Paul’s new album. Everywhere in the shops,
radio, TV, “Ebony and Ivory” was heard, and now the new album. There was a kind of McCartney magic feeling
everywhere, exactly the right week to be in London. Around 1:00pm, I went to Air again, asked a doorman
there if Paul was recording again, but he did not know, Paul was not booked in
advance anyway, so…and suddenly the man says, “Well, here he is!” and sure
enough, I turned around and Paul comes up half-dancing not walking like an
average man, no, half-jumping, half-dancing, music all through the body,
smiling “Hello again” recognizing me from the Friday meeting. I was so totally taken by surprise I could
not watch the man jumping to the lift and say “Hello, nice to see you Paul.” Well, now I knew Paul was there, and what
comes in must come out, so I decided I must try to get a copy of the new album
and hopefully get it signed. At 4:30I
finally managed to get the album, at last it was out in the shops.
Around 5, Linda and James arrived at Air. James was a sight, complete with a Batman
suit, with Batman dark glasses mask!
Around 7, Paul came out.
Linda and James went straight away to the car, but Paul stopped and
talked and was in a great mood again. I
showed Paul and “Tug of War” album and said, “I just managed to get hold of the
new album.” Paul jokingly took a step
back when he saw the cover and said, “What
kind of record is that?” looking at me with a shocked look and he face full of
distaste. “well, it’s actually your
record, Paul,” I said, “Your new album,” in a school-mast type of voice. “Oh,”
Paul said, “my record??” “Yes, would you
like to sign it?” “Well, if it’s my
record, sure,” said Paul looking very proud and happy again.
Oh, Paul was really hamming it up, full of charm and humor,
that man!
Monday night was also the night Paul got kissed by a young
girl fan. There were only Inger, me and
two or three girls there. She suddenly
kissed him very near his mouth, perhaps it was meant to be on the cheek,
anyway, Paul took it really cool, held his hand on his cheek and said, “Oh oh,”
looking all around, and cried out, “Did you see that, did you see that? With an
expression like this was the first time he’d ever got kissed in his life!
Tuesday April 27 was our last day in London and we caught
Paul and Linda arriving together at Air promptly at 1:00, but we just watched
them from a distance, saving the encounter for the evening. Our last meeting with Paul was also the
longest and best one.
Just before 7pm, Paul and Linda came out arm-in-arm, very
slowly, very relaxed, and very friendly indeed.
I went directly up to Paul and said, “Well, this is our last night in
London, we have to go home to Sweden tomorrow, so we just want to say goodbye
for this time.” Paul tilted his head to
the side looking like a lost little puppy, and said, “Do you have to go back? Oh
why?” “Well, you know…” I said, and Paul
took over, “Well, then, have a wonderful trip home and have a beautiful
journey.” Paul and I shook hands, then
Paul turned around, stretched out his hand to Inger, and shook hands with her
as well, and repeated the well-wishes.
He looked like he really meant what he said, he was so touchingly nice
to us. Then I suddenly remembered the
interview that Swedish TV did in 1976 with Paul and Linda, where they suddenly
started to mention Jarl Kulle. Well,
Jarl Kulle is a well-known actor in Sweden, and I have been wondering since
that interview how on earth Paul and Linda knew of him. So to test them, I said, “I just have one
thing to tell you now.” Paul just looked
at me and Linda said, “What?” I just said loud and clear, “Jarl Kulle!” They laughed, especially Linda, and then they
asked me how I knew that they knew of this Swedish actor. I told them all about
the TV interview and now I wanted to know the story relating to Sweden’s actor.
They told me Jarl Kulle had been in a cast in London around
1976 acting in English with a neat Swedish accent. They thought he was a “really good actor but
of course also the name just stuck” in their minds. Jarl Kulle sounded so very strange, but most
of all so funny, that they just used to say “Jarl Julle!?!?!” without any
special reason now and then in those days, and that’s what happened in that TV
interview as well! At last the secret
was out.
Well, after this pleasant conversation, Paul and Linda again
wished us both a nice trip home and waved goodbye as their car drove away. After this beautiful encounter, we went out
to dinner to celebrate. It’s not every
day you’re discussing Swedish actors with Paul McCartney, is it?
During our conversation, a London friend of ours took a few
photos. They’re so nice to have
afterwards. I must add that Paul wears
his success and fame very well indeed.
To sum it up: Paul
was extremely funny and nice all the times we saw him, looking good, and so was
Linda. Certainly a week to remember!
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