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Going For a Song (1991)

 Going For a Song

By J. Randy Taraborrelli

The Blade (Toledo, Ohio)

May 31, 1991

    While Michael Jackson was on the road with the Victory Tour, he made headlines in 1984 by purchasing the ATV Music Publishing Co. for an astonishing $47.5 million. The purchase, believed to be the biggest publishing acquisition of its kind ever by an individual, was the culmination of 10 intense months of negotiations. 

    The seed for this venture had been planted a few years earlier, when Michael was in London to record the number-one hit "Say Say Say" with Paul McCartney at Abbey Road Studios. Michael became friendly with Paul and Linda McCartney during his stay. He ate most of his meals at their home outside of London. One evening after dinner, Paul displayed a thick booklet of song titles to which he owns the rights, including most of Buddy Holly's material and standards, such as "Autumn Leaves", "Sentimental Journey", and "Stormy Weather."

     "This is really the way to make big money," he explained to Michael. "Every time someone records one of these songs, I get paid. Every time someone plays these songs on the radio or in live performances, I get paid."

     "You're kidding me, right?" Michael said. 

    "Do I look like I'm kidding?" Paul countered with a serious expression. McCartney reportedly earns more than $40 million a year from record and song royalties. Paul explained that the world of publishing can provide lucrative opportunities, especially thanks to the CD explosion and the increased use of popular songs in advertisements, movies, and television. 

    Songwriters often lose the copyrights for one reason or another. Sometimes they sell them for profit, a short-sighted thing to do, especially nowadays when so much money is generated in the music industry, and often they lose them out of ignorance, as in the case of the Beatles, who simply signed away rights when they were naive and didn't know any better. 

    As it happened, Paul McCartney and John Lennon had sold their copyrights to a publisher named Dick James when they were young. James ended up making a fortune on the Beatles' songs. Then, in the late 60s, when the Beatles were on vacation in Rishikesh with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, James sold Northern Songs, the company that continued to hold the rights to the Beatles' compositions, to Lew Grade's ATV Music Ltd. for tax reasons. ATV was later purchased by Australian businessman Robert Holmes, a Quartz Bell Group.

     For the next couple of hours, Paul and Michael discussed publishing, and Michael observed and absorbed everything. Paul would one day regret this conversation. When Michael said to him, "Maybe someday I'll buy your songs." Paul laughed. "Great," he said. "Good joke."

     But Michael wasn't joking. "I gave him a lot of free advice," Paul would later say, "and you know what? A fish gets caught by opening its mouth. Someone rang me up one day and said, 'Michael bought your songs', and I said, 'What!?!'  I think it's dodgy to do things like that," Paul complained, "to be someone's friend and then to buy the rug they're standing on."

     Michael tried to phone McCartney and discuss the matter, but every time he did, Paul hung up on him. Finally, Michael said, "Paul's got a real problem, and I'm finished trying to be a nice guy. Too bad for him, I got the songs, and that's the end of it."

     Robert Hilburn, in an excellent analysis of the ATV acquisition for the Los Angeles Times, explained what Michael's purchase meant, and the dollars and cents. "If, for instance, 'Yesterday' earned $100,000 a year in royalties from record sales, airplay, and live performances (it probably earns more). The Lennon Estate and McCartney, as co-writers, divide about 50% of that income, about $25,000 each. The publisher, now Michael Jackson, collects another 50%. The publisher also controls the use of the songs in terms of films, commercials, and stage productions. If bought at a reasonable price and well-administered, catalogs are considered an excellent investment. They are such good investments, in fact, that it is increasingly difficult to find one on the market."

     As soon as Michael made the purchase, he and his representative investigated ways to make it pay off for him. He hired people to develop an anthology series of four films using the Beatles' music, including Strawberry Fields, an animated feature, Back in the USSR, a movie based on Russian rockers, and films based on "Eleanor Rigby" and "The Fool on the Hill". Michael also planned musical greeting cards and music boxes. 

    When he licensed the song "Revolution" to Nike for a sneaker ad, he obtained Yoko Ono's consent, but not Paul McCartney. In fact, McCartney, like many Beatles fans, was incensed because he felt Michael was cheapening the music. In the end, McCartney had to accept Michael's decision. "I have no question of his owning it," he said. "It was perfectly for sale, fair, square, and all above board."

     So now every time someone performs one of the songs he wrote between 1964 and 1971, he has to pay Michael Jackson. Also, ATV owns a life insurance policy on McCartney, which Michael now retains. So, if Paul McCartney dies, Michael Jackson could end up with millions. 

    When Michael sold "All You Need Is Love" to Panasonic for $240,000, McCartney contacted him and told him he was "going too far", but Michael felt that by using the Beatles songs in commercials, he was enabling the music to reach a new generation of fans who would buy the Beatles records. "Well, I don't like the idea that Michael Jackson is the only guy in the world who gets to sit in judgment as to which Beatles songs can be used in commercials," Paul countered. "He's drawn up a list! I don't see how he should have that power."

     Yoko Ono seems satisfied with what Michael is doing with the Beatles catalog, and has called his ownership "a blessing." She said, in November 1990, "Businessmen who aren't artists themselves wouldn't have the consideration Michael has. He loves the songs. He's very caring. There could be a lot of arguments and stalemates if Paul and I owned it together. Neither Paul nor I needed that. If Paul got the songs, people would have said Paul finally got John, and if I got them, they'd say, 'oh, the dragon lady strikes again.'"

     In 1990 Paul and Michael met to discuss what Paul called "this problem". McCartney recalled the conversation. "I put it to him this way: when we signed our deal, John and I didn't even know what publishing was. We thought songs were in the sky, and everyone owned them. These days, even kids know better than that.

     "Last year, 'Yesterday' passed the 5 million plays mark in America, which no other song has ever done, not even 'White Christmas', but no one has ever come up to me and said, 'Hey, man, I really think you need a bonus, you've done great for this company.'"

     Michael acted as though he didn't understand what Paul was saying, so Paul spelled it out for him. "I wanted him to recognize in the deal that I'm a big writer for this company that he now owns." McCartney recalls Michael told Paul that he "didn't want to hurt anybody", and McCartney said he was happy to hear that. "He's a genuine bloke, Mike is," Paul would say of him. Michael promised that he'd try to work something out for him.

     The next day, John Eastman, Paul's attorney, telephoned John Branca and told him that Paul and Michael had agreed to renegotiate a higher writer's royalty for his songs. Branca checked with Michael. "Heck, no, I didn't tell Paul that," Michael said."He's not getting a higher royalty unless I get something back from him in return."

     Branca passed Michael's decision on to Paul's attorney. "Then we'll sue," Eastman threatened. "Hey, be my guest", Branca told him.

     A former employee of Branca's recalled that when Branca told Michael that Paul might sue, Michael scoffed." Let him sue. Meanwhile, go license some more songs, Branca. Let's go out there and make some money. Let's run this thing like a business."

     Said an associate of Michael's privately. "Michael's feeling is this: Paul McCartney had two chances to buy the company. Both times, he was too cheap to spend the bucks. Mind you, Paul is said to be the richest entertainer in the world. The man is worth about $560 million. His royalties in one year come to $41 million. As Mike told me, 'If he didn't want to invest $47.5 million in his own songs, then he shouldn't come crying to me.' "

    He's a hard-hearted son of a gun; Michael Jackson is just like his father. And when it comes to Paul McCartney, Michael doesn't want to know anything. "I've got those songs fair and square", he said. "They're mine, and no one can tell me what to do with them, not even Paul McCartney. He'd better learn to deal with it."

     By acquiring ATV, Michael Jackson proved himself a perceptive, hard-headed businessman. He's probably exactly the kind of businessman his father, Joe, would like to be, but isn't. Where Joe bullies Michael in gravitates, where Joe shouts, Michael listens. Michael has had the wisdom to surround himself with brilliant people and then allow them to do their jobs without interference. Joe never did. It's almost as though Michael studied Joe's techniques and then did exactly the opposite. What father and son shared was that they trusted no one and could be ruthless toward those they had vanquished. Neither father nor son allows anyone a second chance.

Ringo the Gardner

 May 31, 1966 

Making the rounds

 May 30, 1986 

Music in Mid-America (Kansas City 1976)

 

Wings Carry Fans to Seventh Heaven

By Bill Turque

Kansas City Star

May 30, 1976

    It was the ex-Beatle, Paul McCartney, both for what he was and still is for many, who packed more than 18,000 excited fans into Kemper Arena for last night's Wings concert.

     "Once a Beatles, always a Beatle," said Kathy Dent, 27 of Kansas City, expressing a widely shared sentiment. Diane Canterbury, 19, of Wellsville, Kansas, got her first Beatles record when she was in first grade. Wings or no wings, she said. She will always be hooked on the charismatic McCartney. "I love Paul McCartney for what he was, is, and will be," she said, beaming. "He's got Beatles sound and Wings sound, and he's put it all together."

     Some would have plunked down their money (unscalped tickets ran from $7.75 to $9.75 for the concert) even if McCartney had never warbled a single "yeah, yeah, yeah."  Brad Nichols, 20 of Wichita, said he thinks the Wings band is a better vehicle for McCartney's talent. "I think he shows his talents much better now. I like Wings. They're a good group," Nichols said.

     "I think most people are coming to see him tonight for the group he has got and the songs he has," said Bob Wages, 27th of Kansas City North. 

    Still, when McCartney and his entourage swept into Kemper in a fleet of chauffeured limousines, a couple of hours before showtime, the screams and cheers of fans brought back a fleeting burst of old Beatlemania. 

    "I love it, it's 10 years ago!" shrieked one frizzy-haired man, as the limousine filed straight into the arena. "He's magical to me", said Joyce Maslow, 23 of Omaha. "He makes me feel so good inside. He's one of God's chosen people. I used to cry when the Beatles were on television. Paul was always my favorite."

     The audience included others who were caught in a time warp of sorts. One grandmother was taking her 10-year-old granddaughter to the concert because the girl's father had been a member of a local group that played Beatles music exclusively. From Lincoln, Nebraska, a couple who have handed down their old Beatles records to their two young sons have been following the tour from city to city, hawking Wings T-shirts. 

    Lines started forming outside Kemper nearly three hours before the 8pm concert, with cars, chartered buses, and campers jamming the arena's parking lot. Ticket scalpers did a brisk business yesterday, with prices ranging from $15 to $80 depending on the location of the seats. Security for the concert was tight, with 85 brawny blue-shirted security men provided by a local firm.  Twenty-four police officers also were used for the event, but with the exception of a few frisbees, the crowd was generally mellow, well-behaved, and in a good mood to enjoy the first visit of a Beatle to Kansas City in a dozen years.

Music in Mid-America

By Robert W. Butler

Kansas City Star

May 30, 1976

     Before last night's Wing concert at Kemper, I had a long list of things I felt were wrong with silly love songs. 10 minutes into the show, I couldn't remember a one. 

    Paul McCartney and the band put on what must go down as one of the best concerts ever seen in this town. From the first number, "Venus and Mars", all 18,000 in the Arena knew this was something special. 

    For more than two hours (This is being written 90 minutes into the show, and the performers show no sign of letting up), the Kansas City crowd heard what must be one of the world's best live rock bands whip through an avalanche of songs ranging from the heyday of the Beatles to McCartney's latest LP.

     Some of McCartney's recent songs have been criticized for an overabundance of sentimentality, but this live show is a joyous kick-out-the-jam rock fest, and offers so many good tunes presented virtually nonstop that even two hours seems to pass by in minutes.

     Everybody in the band carries this weight. McCartney, of course, was the star of the show, and between tunes he mugged at the audience, flashing the V sign, and waved at those aiming cameras at him. Denny Laine wielded a double-neck guitar, and it was a sign of the band's professionalism that he snapped a string on the first tune and kept on playing as a roadie fitted him with a new one. He never missed a note. Joe English proved himself to be one of the most energetic drummers around, and Jimmy McCalloch, guitarist, offered some hefty lead solos on some of the tunes. 

    Linda McCartney, Paul's wife,  who has had to bear more than her share of criticism, may not have exhibited all the instrumental prowess of the four men, but she acquitted herself well as a second-string keyboardist, providing some eerie sounds on the synthesizer on tunes such as "Spirits of Ancient Egypt" and playing the organ on most of the tunes. She also sang backup vocals.

     Another star was a band stage setup, a series of platforms that lit up like a stained glass window and featured what appeared to be a laser gun. That last bit of hardware got a workout during a rendition of "Live and Let Die", when it shot thin beams of green light the length of the Kemper Arena. 

    The show offered songs from all phases of McCartney's career. "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Lady Madonna", and "The Long and Winding Road" were cheered as McCartney presented his own personal golden oldies. After an hour of hard rocking, the members of the band pulled out their chairs and sat down for some acoustic picking, offering "Picasso's last words", "Richard Cory", "Blue Bird", and "I've just seen a face". One by one, they left the stage until McCartney, alone in the spotlight, began strumming the opening chords to "Yesterday." There was a burst of applause that quickly died down, and soon not a sound could be heard from the audience as 18,000 persons shared a memory.

Old Beatle Looks at His New Career (1976)

 Old Beatle Looks at His New Career

By Brad Balfour

The Cincinnati Post

May 28, 1976

    Paul McCartney denied Time magazine's suggestion in the recent cover story on him that he was afraid of snipers. McCartney cleared the air about this in an interview backstage after his appearance at Riverfront Coliseum with his new group, Wings. 

    "Snipers? I'm not afraid of them. Unfortunately, Time magazine writes its own articles, and I don't write them. I actually didn't say that, but the researchers think it's true. I've got my idea where they got it from. I was just on stage joking, saying to someone, 'Oh, this is it', and I was joking, and there was probably some Time magazine researcher just lurking about."

     Paul's wife, Linda, suggested this would make the situation bigger, saying, "That's sick, because it starts you asking questions about a fantasy that isn't, and then you write about it, and then everybody starts to know about something that isn't."

     To that, McCartney added, "Let's not make it any bigger, folks, it's just a mistake."

     If anything else, the McCartneys strive to be just natural folks (even down to Linda's unshaven legs) and downplay the sensational, but the sensational can't be helped, considering the significance of former Beatle McCartney's return to touring with Wings. The significance that carries a $50 million price tag for a one-time Beetle reunion.

     Was Paul insulted at such commercial value being placed on their creativity? "It's not an insult. I just think it's life. Before that, Sid Bernstein made a couple of offers, though not quite as seriously. They were big offers, but this fellow has just made a massively huge offer. I don't think it's a real offer at all, but even if it were, it's nothing that the four of us would want to do at this time. That's not because of any lousy reason; it's just not anything anyone is interested in."

     For Paul and Linda, Wings is just fine. They are filming a couple of the shows and plan to do a live record, as Paul says, "If it's good enough." Wings is being defined with this tour, just as the McCartneys are relaxed and unassuming, Paul in his Hawaiian shirt, and Linda in her simple jacket and muslin skirt.

     The show is assertive with rock energy. The band comes through completely live and is still uncertain on the recordings --that has been said. "I think it's true to an extent. I think it will be remedied with the next recordings we do. I think it does come across stronger on stage. All the live things do," McCartney said.

     The McCartneys' approach to the live show has been simple and direct, having let it develop naturally. "We could do a lot more slower numbers, but the truth is this is what we ended up with after a few weeks of thinking about it. It's what we like to play. We just put it into order, and the nice thing about that is that when we've got a show around it, it all seems to mean something. We just take a bunch of songs in order and go up and sing them, but it all comes out as a show."

     Does live performance influence work in the studio? "Sometimes you think about that, but sometimes you think, well, however, we're making a record, and that shouldn't be the consideration. We're trying to make an audio trip, so maybe we'll want to do something we wouldn't be able to get, but mind you, we're able to get stuff most of the time. 

    "If you work with tapes, you can get anything. We use a Mellotron, on which you can have sound effects that simulate strings. It's a keyboard instrument. You hit a key, and any given tape will click for you; you can select all kinds of things."

     Linda added, "On 'Live and Let Die,' the strings are actually a keyboard, or on 'Silly Love Songs'. I've got some great sound effects, Bugs Bunny's on the tape. You can switch to a keyboard with sound effects, and you have 40 sound effects to choose from."

     "So we use those in the shows as sort of links," Paul said. "I'm successful at the moment, which is great, but I think the others all make very good music. It all depends when they want to do it. At the moment, we're touring, so it looks very consistent, but if we take three months off and John has got out a new  one or  George, everyone looks that way."

     Finally, I asked Paul if he was weary of questions about the Beatles. "It depends what kind of questions. If they harp too much on the sort of legendary bit, I mean it's a bad vibe question. I'm weary of those."

Paul McCartney and Wings Exhibit at the R&R Hall of Fame -- A Review

 

I had the amazing opportunity to attend the "Paul McCartney and Wings" exhibit and VIP gathering (don't get too excited -- I just bought a ticket like everyone) at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio last weekend. 

If you are a Paul McCartney / Wings fan you have to see this exhibit!  I was just completely knocked out by all of the amazing artifacts that were on display.  

This display occupies space on the 6th floor of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  It is a much smaller space than I anticipated, and one of my few complaints is that I wish it were located in a larger location than the small exhibit room on the 6th floor, because if you get more than 20 people up there, it gets hard to see the items on display.   If you are going to visit, you might want to know that you have to take an escalator up to the fourth floor, then walk the stairs to get to the 6th floor -- but there are really great Wings decorations in the stairwells that you don't want to miss.   If stairs are an issue for you, then get on the Wings decorated elevator.  The elevator is large enough to fit 2-3 wheelchairs and people.  

The exhibit has a Wings compilation video showing in a loop while you are there and a big Wings logo on the ceiling. 

This is on the ceiling -- very cool!

The exhibit starts with McCartney and ends with McCartney II.  There are guitars, clothing, ephemera, and other artifacts from every Wings era represented.  Things were donated by Paul, Denny Seiwell, Denny Laine's estate, Jimmy McCulloch's estate, Laurence Juber, Steve Holly, and John Hammel and others as well.  

Highlights for me included:  the original drawing of the Wings logo, Paul's handwritten lyrics to Maybe I'm Amazed, the red "gown" Paul wore in Morocco,  the outfit and guitar Paul used on Top of the Pops for the performance of Junior's Farm, Paul's see-through guitar and handwritten lyrics for Helen Wheels,  all of the items from the tours,  John Hammel's Back to the Egg pin,  Laurence's Japan 1980 jacket and Rockestra scarf.  

But my two favorite things were:  Robbie the Robot and the sweater Paul wore in the Waterfalls video.  I stared at those items for so long and even took a selfie with Robbie.   

The Junior's Farm outfit and guitar

The see-through guitar

Robbie!! You are still with us!

If this wasn't under glass and heavily secured -- I might have taken it -- just saying. 

In the middle of the room is the "Rude Studio" sign, along with a place to listen to and view various songs, live recordings, and photos.   Also in the middle is a replica of the McCartneys' kitchen in Scotland, with Linda's photographs, and Linda's camera is on display!  So amazing. 

I would have liked to have seen more representation of Linda as a member of Wings in this exhibit.  I loved that her camera was on display, but seeing one of her tour dresses, her keyboard, her lava lamp, or something that represented Linda as a band member would have been great.   

But that is really my only complaint (besides I wish it was in a larger space) about the exhibit.  It was beautifully done and it made me proud to be a Wings fan.  

While I was there, I visited the Beatles section of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  And let me say that I was extremely disappointed.  I have been to the Rock Hall 5-6 times since it opened, and the Beatles part is always really cool.  But this time -- not so much.   Four of the Beatles' guitars were missing, with a sign saying "this item has been temporarily removed."  I understand that things get removed, but 4 out of 5 guitars at once?   All of the handwritten materials -- letters, lyrics, and even John's green card are replicas.  I can see a photo of these items online -- I go to a museum to see the real deal in person.   They had Paul's grey, collarless suit on display, but when I read the description more closely, I realized it was the suit made for the Paul wax figure in 1964, and Paul himself never wore it.   The only thing that I thought was cool in the display was John's "This is not here" t-shirt.  

The VIP party was fun.  Steve Holly and Laurence Juber were interviewed, and then they played some Wings songs.  That was really great.  I watched some of the Rock Show film and did some shopping in the gift shop.  They had a ton of Wings stuff for sale: t-shirts, sweatshirts, books, postcards, stickers, buttons—it was heaven!  I bought a long-sleeved t-shirt, a button, and a postcard.   

I was also fortunate to meet many of the fans whose stories are on this site.  A group of fans who went to many Wings concerts in the 70s and met Paul outside the studios during the Wings era held a gathering, and I was able to sit and listen to their stories in person.  I met many fans whom I only knew of by name because I  have typed it up many times on this site over the years.  

The Paul McCartney and Wings exhibit will be in Cleveland at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for a full year and you need to make your way out there to see it!  You will love it.  

McCartney Returns in Bubbles & Strobes (Cincinnatti 1976)

 McCartney Returns in Bubbles and Strobes

By Steve Konicki

Dayton Daily News

May 28, 1976

    Paul McCartney has the rare kind of magic that seems to follow him from recording studio to concert hall, almost unnoticed. It turns everything he does into a golden circus.

     Thursday night at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum proved no exception. The mere appearance on stage of McCartney and his band Wings brought a three-minute standing ovation. There were swooning teenage girls, a barrage of balloons, fluorescent glow lights, and 1000s of soap bubbles that rose from beneath the stage. 

    Some in the audience of 30,000, it seemed, had been waiting to see McCartney since June 1966 when the Beatles played their last concert together at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. A teenage girl in a white halter top asked a friend named Debbie, "Do you think he'll do, 'Michelle'? What about 'Band on the Run'?" Though the teenager was barely seven in 1966, she seemed straight out of the days when what was known as Beatlemania swept the land.

     "Oh, Debbie, I can't stand it," she said.

     Wings responded to the energy of the moment and broke into an impressive medley of "Venus and Mars", "Hollywood Bowl," and "Jet." McCartney, in a black and white satin cowboy suit, carefully directed the band from center stage in front of his bass guitar amplifier and from his elevated grand piano. The surprisingly tasteful use of the standard for a rock concert-- smoke bombs and strobes was complemented by a newer gizmo-- a blue laser beam.

    The music, not the flash, ruled, however.

     The teenage girl begged to know whether McCartney would play any old Beatles songs. "Debbie, is this going to be it?" she said. "Debbie, this is going to be it, isn't it?"  But Wings played the Beatles' "Blackbird", and although Debbie never told her friend whether this was "it," the teenager complained no more.

     Skipping skillfully from the Beatles era to the Wings era, the band allowed the pace to slow only briefly. The second and third standing ovations came back-to-back after McCartney's rendition of "Lady Madonna" and "The Long and Winding Road."

     Linda McCartney's harmonies blended perfectly with her husband's voice. Denny Laine bounced from his rhythm guitar to the bass and then to a piano, filling in wherever he was needed. Laine also provided some rock star hip wiggles.

     McCartney participated in much of the stage craziness. He egged the crowd into a roaring applause at the end of each song, while playing his current top 40 bonanza "Silly Love Songs." He sighted a balloon falling to the stage and kicked it back into the audience without missing a beat on his bass guitar, a feat that brought enthusiastic applause from the audience.

     In a more intimate moment, McCartney sat alone on stage with his six-string Ovation guitar. He drove the crowd to near madness when he said, "See if you remember this one."  He began the classic Lennon McCartney song "Yesterday."

     Several songs, two encores and one near miss with a bottle rocket later McCartney was gone. Daytonian Steve Klein, 24, had waited for nine hours with his date since 11:30am Thursday to get a seat to the 8pm show. "Hell with the Beatles getting back together," Klein said. "McCartney is making it on his own. He doesn't need those other guys." Dorothy Garrett, 19, Klein's date agreed.

Lennon and Dylan

 May 27, 1966

Piano practice

 May 27, 1971