The Generation Bridge (1974)

The original of the photo I cleaned up with A.I.

I used A.I. to clean up this photo because the original was faded and the newsprint had turned yellow.




 

The Generation Bridge

By Len Epand

Zoo World

July 18, 1974

    What do you do when Peggy Lee asks you to dinner? Well, if you're Paul McCartney, you don't just buy a bottle of rare champagne to show your appreciation. You sit at your piano and compose her a song. That's what Paul did when the McCartneys were to meet Miss Lee in London earlier this year, and that's why he and a most flattered Peggy, one of the greatest pop vocalists of the era, whose name is certainly known to as many people as the Beatles, were at the Record Plant Studio one day the first week in June.

     McCartney was producing his song "Let's Love" for the title track to what must be Peggy Lee's 40th album. After a hard day's work, Paul, unmustached and dressed sharply in a black satin shirt and washed-out blue jeans, and Peg, looking trim in a tan suede suit, having recently taken off some weight, and youthful, though at 54 years of age she could be Paul's mother, held a mini press conference/photo session around Studio C's grand piano. In high spirits, they casually sang a couple of songs together, elaborated on their surprising collaboration, then took the small mob into the control room to hear the finished track.

     "Well, of course," said Peggy to Paul. "I was a fan of yours before you knew about me."

     "No, that's not right," answered McCartney. "No, I was a fan of yours before you knew about me, Peggy. Yeah, I used to have records of Peggy. I did 'Til There Was You' because I had Peggy's record of it. So I've been a fan of hers for a long time, you know.

     "When she came to London, she invited us for dinner over at her hotel. So I thought, 'I'm going along to dinner. Well, I'm either going to take a bottle of champagne or a song.'"

    " I'd rather have a song any time," added Peggy. "I can always get some champagne, but it would be very difficult to get a Paul McCartney song written, especially for me."

    " So I took a song along, and Peggy said, 'Great, let's do it.' So we got a hold of Dave Gushin (who  with Peggy is producing the rest of the album) and really that's all there is to it. The logistics were no problem."

     "I was delighted, naturally," said Peggy, "and Linda didn't mind."

     "Let's Love," recorded with Paul on piano, is a simple romantic tune, with characteristic McCartney production. From the lone piano introduction, strings and woodwinds enter in stages as Peggy sings in her rich, becalming tones, "Lover, let's be in love with each other. Tonight is the night of the butterflies. Let's love."

     Paul and Linda stopped off in L.A. to record with Peggy and begin arranging for a future Wings tour. John Lennon visited them at the Beverly Hills Hotel before they left for Nashville, where Wings is presently working out material and breaking in a new drummer, Jeff Britton. During their six weeks stateside, they'll probably record. "When they tour," said McCartney's manager Brian Brolly, "they'll play in England and Europe before doing their first American concerts early in 1975."

     When with Peggy, McCartney, very much the gentleman, flatly refused to draw away attention by answering nagging Beatles reunion rumors. But when alone, he did respond to some questions.

     Does going to Nashville reflect a certain style he wishes to adopt? "No, no," he said. And will they record there? "We might actually. Yeah, you know why I seem a bit vague is I play a lot of stuff by ear. I don't really plan that much. So ostensibly, do you like that --ostensibly? We're going to rehearse." They've rented a farm and studio for that.

      How does he feel after selling 2 million copies of Band on the Run? "Aha, good." That's not a new experience, though?  "For me, solo it is."

     When someone asks if he thought the Beatles were that good, Paul replied, "I think it was that good, but I mean, when you listen to the tapes now, it wasn't that good. But you've got to take them in context. I mean, you listen now. Well, I mean, it kills me. There's no drums, no bass, no nothing. But in context for the time, compared with the records that were out, it must have been good." As solo artists, have they received undue criticism? "No. If people don't like it, they say they don't like it. That's criticism. But I think it's fair criticism. Most of what's gone down, I don't like it, but it's pretty fair."

     In May, when he was in town for the Academy Awards, Paul spoke to Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times about how the Beatles went full circle and are probably finished. "I think it did go full circle, and if you try to make the circle stretch, it'll go into a spiral or something. We started off as four kids from Liverpool who wanted to become famous. We became famous, made all the records, all the statements, did the whole bit. Eventually, we came to a point where we wanted to split up. That's the end of the circle. If we try to get back on the circle, there may not be any circle to jump back on. That's the point. We have all started other circles, and it could get very complicated. The Beatles thing could carry on in a way just like a hobby," he concluded. "Just to keep the friendship alive, cause there is friendship there. I mean, we like each other. We dig each other a lot."

     Now Paul is understandably tired of Beetle's speculation. About to leave the studio, he was waiting in the parking lot for Linda, who was nowhere to be seen during the session, and he revealed how he felt about it. It's the same dumb questions all the time. I hate to say it, but it is with the same dumb leading answers. You know what I hate most of all, the same stupid answers every time. Yeah, uh, in mock serious voice. As far as I can see, the Beatles won't be regrouping.