By Chris Welsh
Liverpool Daily Post
March 26, 1976
"I'm not going to be blackmailed into going." Paul McCartney wasn't talking about the much-publicized and debated reunion of the Beatles, nor even the Wings tour of America. He was in the throes of attempting to opt out of a dinner invitation. Pressed home with persistence by one of the throng milling at the west end hotel. Paul, Linda, and Wings were on the loose in a suite where sandwiches piled up around bottles of beer, DJs tripped over journalists in a merry-go-round of interviews at a press conference convened only hours before the band were due to depart for Copenhagen.
It was a private conversation, but it underlined the kind of pressure still exerted on the famous ones of rock. Paul extracted himself from the situation with a mixture of firmness and diplomacy born of long practice. For just a few seconds, the warning signals flashed, and you could sense the old Liverpudlian cutting edge being honed and made ready.
I remember the days when all four Beatles were ready to cut through if threatened or surrounded, but Paul relaxed and seemed eager and happy to talk about the new Wings album, Wings at the Speed of Sound, with an enthusiasm and courtesy rare among lesser talents. He was even prepared to commit on the $25 million offer currently being made by the US promoter Bill Sargent to reform the Beatles, despite his having made clear in the past that his interest is now in Wings and not the past.
But first, he discussed Wing's recent adventure. "We had fab fun in Australia," said Paul slipping into Merseymania dialog. "It was the first real tour we'd done in a while. The audiences were great, and we just dug playing. It was more like a holiday. "
What happened about the trip to Japan that was canceled when the Japanese authorities wouldn't let them in due to an old dope smoking offense? "It was the Minister of Justice's fault. I suppose he'd say it was my fault for having smoked some of the deadly weed. But we had our visa signed by the London Japanese Embassy. Everything had been cleared. David Bailey was coming over to do a film, and we were in Australia. Just about a week out from going to Japan, a little note arrives, saying 'sorry, the Japanese Minister of Justice says, No.'" Did Paul feel angry about being barred? "Oh, yeah, a bit over the top. It was just one of those things, but we felt a bit sick about it. It was so short sighted."
After the Australian tour, they sent a televised version of their show to Japan. With all this traveling, when did Paul get time to start working on the new album? "We fitted in, you know, we did Australia, and then, because Japan didn't come off, we had a great holiday. And Hawaii was on the way back, we stopped there, and I got the album together in my head. "
Was it Paul's intention with this album to bring the members of Wings forward as much as possible? "That's always the object with anything I do, and to try to get out of a rut and do something different."
Was he stealing himself for criticism? "Wellllllllll.... you know........ This time, you take it differently. Each time I sit there and think 'Tt's going to be great reviews this time,' and you are disappointed if there is one bad one. But this time, I'm just thinking, 'I'm getting on with it.' I've just made a record. Let them get on with it. "
Were there any major projects for Paul in the coming year, other than the Wings tours? "Well, no, we go to Europe and America, and then we haven't got anything planned, just some breathing time. But Wings is growing, and it surprises me, in a way, because I have expected it not to happen. It was a question of follow that after the Beatles? "
Does Paul get tired about being asked about the Beatles reunion? "I don't mind, as I say, at the moment, we are definitely going on tour of America with wWngs, and that's a nice thing I'm looking forward to. Maybe in America one night we'll loom down to a studio with someone..." said Paul noncommittally. "I'm just playing it by ear.
"The main thing about this huge offer, THE HUGE OFFER, well, the man's an embarrassment. If I were a fellow back in Liverpool, age 18, doing me a first job, well, I'd think 'Nobody can refuse that, can they? It's just too much money.' Even if we were terrible, it would be worth it, right? For me, the trouble is, I've always been so proud of the Beatles thing, and the embarrassment is that so much money is being offered, most in the world would have said, 'You have to accept.' But for a thing like that to actually happen, I wouldn't want it that way because of money.
"It's what people said when we split up all the wise all the Jack the lads, 'Well, they'll be back soon enough, as soon as they feel the pinch.' I talked to John the other night. Just happened to be talking to him on the phone. We chatted for about an hour and a half. He was in New York. We just chatted and rambled about politics, whatever we were interested in a natter, and we never once mentioned the reunion or the offer.
For me, the only way the Beatles would come back together again would be if we wanted to do something musically, not lukewarm, just to get money. It would ruin the whole Beatles thing. For me, if the four of us were really keen on the idea or something the next year makes us keen on it, or I just talk to the others and find out they are really keen secretly, then I must feel I ought to do something about it. But not having talked about it at all, as I say, we talked on the phone for an hour, and didn't even mention it. When I read the papers, which said 'John Lennon was the hottest on this.' So, where do you go from there?
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