When Paul and Linda were in Cannes in 1980, they did several interviews with the press in France. This interview was from a radio interview Paul gave and it was printed in the July 1980 issue of "With a Little Help From My Friends."
Paul McCartney interview with Europe number 1
Q: Do you mind that at each press conference, people always ask the same old questions about the Beatles?
A. Yeah, yeah. You know, it always comes out. It's okay. Pas de problemes (in French, no problem.)
Q : Let us speak about the new album McCartney II. 10 years ago, you did the first McCartney album all alone. Why did it occur to you to do the second album all alone?
A. When I did it the first time, it was only an experiment, and I really enjoyed doing it because it's a very easy way for me to work. I don't have to ask questions, and I just do it. In the meantime, I worked with Wings, and after we finished Egg, I wanted to do something on my own. I just rented a machine like a cassette and just one or two mics, and made this album. Purely again, just for an experiment. I didn't intend to release it, but some people heard it, and they said that it would be a good album, and they twisted my arm.
Q: Is it a concept album, or had you some musical ideas to express?
A: No, the idea for the album was to work in a different way than I ordinarily work. So what I used to do was arrive in the studio early in the morning to play some drums, bass, and guitar. Then I tried to figure out what the song would be. Ordinarily, I write the song before and then I record, but this time I made the recording first and thought about the songs afterwards, which is an interesting way to work for me. It's a reverse of the normal way.
Q: "Coming Up" is really a gimmick?
A: Yes, but you know some of my best records are just gimmicks. It's a very simple song, but some people apparently like it.
Q: We saw the video on TV you made for the single's promotion. How did you manage to play all those characters at the same time?
A: Well, I just had to play the drums first, and then by special techniques, I did all the other people in two days. It was very difficult to imagine that there was somebody near me. It was like working on a cartoon that we would have to add to afterwards. But it was great fun doing it because I had to imagine. 'Oh yes, there you are', and I smiled to somebody who wasn't there. It was fun to do. I just dressed up for two days and made it all up.
Q: We recognize some characters in the video.
A: Yes, I talked with the director, and we settled loosely on using people who actually exist. The bass player-that's me 10 years ago. And there was Ron Hale from Sparks. I had fun doing it, you know. And there is Hank Marvin from the Shadows. Somebody thinks that it could be Buddy Holly, but for me, I wasn't as thin in the face as he was. And the rest were just loosely about some characters we knew. There was a Japanese guitarist whom we don't know really. The drummer is nobody in particular.
Q: And the horns?
A: The horns? Yeah, it's just like Teddy Boys. There is one at the end who's a hippie, but he can't dance. It's fun because I had to dance without my shoes.
Q: About "Temporary Secretary", there's an odd tempo mainly with the keyboards.
A: Yes, on "T Secretary", it's a thing called a sequencer, and it's the same thing. I think The Who used it in "Ballo O'Reilly", but with this one, you could make (Paul makes a noise with his tongue.) It's like a rhythm box (he makes the noise again) I did that for five minutes, and then I just tried to think of the song to go with it, which was great fun.
Q. May I ask you about the last song on the album?
A: Oh, "Waterfalls?" It's a ballad, and some of my friends like it. For me, it's very difficult. When you just end one album, it's hard to say what is wrong or what is good because we are too close to it, but according to the reaction of my friends who phoned me from L.A. and said, 'Oh, that's a great song', "Waterfalls" is the song they seem to like the best.
No comments:
Post a Comment