Bill Harry.

"The Paul McCartney Encyclopedia"The Beatles 1963-1970

BILL HARRY. THE PAUL MCCARTNEY ENCYCLOPEDIA

O'Connor, Des
A British singer, comedian and chat-show host. Des appeared on the
bill of Buddy Holly's last tour, two weeks before his tragic death,
and Buddy made a present of his guitar to him. Paul, being one of
Buddy Holly's staunchest fans, tried to buy the guitar from Des, who
said, 'I won't sell unless I'm really hard up! I value it not only
as a souvenir of a good friend but because it has memories of so
many good times. Paul can borrow it if he likes - but only if he
comes on my TV show and plays it!'
Oakland Coliseum
A venue in San Francisco, with a capacity of 14,000, where Paul
opened his 'Driving USA' tour on Monday 1 April 2002. San Francisco
was the city in which the Beatles played their last ever concert
performance.
Paul decided on the venue for the first night of his tour.
During this concert, Paul paid tribute to Linda, John Lennon and
George Harrison.
He performed George's 'Something' on a ukulele. He said 'George was
a great ukulele player and whenever you went to his house, he'd play
it at the end of the night. 1 showed him I could play the song on
the ukulele and tonight I'd like to do it now as my tribute.'
Towards the close of the song he introduced some humour by saying,
'Of course, if George was here, he'd say, "No, it doesn't go like
that, it should be like this," and he doubled the tempo of his
playing in the style of George Formby.
He also received a standing ovation when he performed 'Here Today'
for the first time before an audience, the song he wrote after
John's murder. He announced it following his rendition of 'Fool On
The HilP, saying, 'When people are around, it's not always easy to
tell them what you feel. After my dear friend John passed on, I
wrote this song.'
The number had originally been included on his 1982 album Tug Of
War.
Another tribute was 'My Love', the song he wrote for Linda.
During the two-and-a-half-hour show Paul performed 36 songs,
including 21 by the Beatles and 10 by Wings. They included 13 No. 1
hits.
He said, 'When I was picking what song to play I imagined myself
sitting in the audience and thinking, "Right, what would I want to
hear him play?"'
Paul also played his first live performance of 'Getting Better'
which had his fiancee Heather Mills dancing in the aisles.
Other numbers included 'Back In The USSR', 'Can't Buy Me Love', 'All
My Loving', 'Live And Let Die' and 'Jet'.
Paul's group comprised Rusty Anderson on guitar and Abe Laboriel Jnr
on drums, both of whom played on his Driving Rain album, plus Paul
'Wix' Wickens on keyboards and Brian Ray on guitar and bass.
At a press conference prior to the show, some journalists were
wondering whether the tour would be Paul's farewell tour. He said,
'I'm a little cynical about saying something is a farewell tour
because so many people have said they were gone and they came back.
Besides, I always thought I would live until about ninety, and the
estimate is going up! I will probably be wheeled on stage, singing
"Yeeeessss-teeer-daaaay"!'
Oasis
A Manchester group, popular in Britain in the 1990s, led by the
brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, whose music showed an obvious
homage to the Beatles.
In the New Statesman dated 26 September 1997, Paul made some
comments about Oasis. He said, 'They mean nothing to me. They're
derivative and they think too much of themselves.'
He was to add, 'They're not my problem - Oasis's future is their
problem. I sometimes hear their songs and think, "that's OK". But I
hope they don't make too much of it and start to believe their own
legend because that can start to cause problems, as others have
discovered.'
Despite this, when Paul made a special limited edition run of 200
copies of Flaming Pie he sent one to various friends in the music
business, including Liam and Noel Gallagher.
When Noel and Meg Mathews were married in Las Vegas, the organist
played 'Yesterday' and 'All My Loving'.
In 1999 Paul commented on the fact that Liam Gallagher and his
actress wife Patsy Kensit had named their son Lennon, after John.
He said, 'I think it's a cool name. It's a nice tribute. Liam has
always been a mega-fan of John's.
'I suppose it's like calling your baby after the Liverpool football
team. I think it's a good name - but then I would, wouldn't I?'
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
Paul was inspired to use the title of the song from the name of a
reggae band: Jimmy Scott and his Obla Di Obla Da Band.
Paul said, 'A fella who used to hang around the clubs used to say,
"ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on," and he got annoyed when I did a
song of it, 'cause he wanted a cut. I said, "Come on, Jimmy, it's
just an expression. If you'd written the song you could have had the
cut." He also used to say, "Nothin's too much, just outta sight." He
was just one of those guys who had great expressions, you know.'
The number was recorded over five sessions during July 1966 and
appeared on The Beatles double album.
Paul had wanted it to be a single but John Lennon and George
Harrison voted against it. John actually hated the song. They were
also annoyed at the length of time it had taken to record the
number.
Second engineer Richard Lush was to comment, 'After about four or
five nights doing "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" John Lennon came to the
session really stoned, totally out of it on something or other, and
he said, "All right, we're gonna do 'Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da'." He went
straight to the piano and smashed the keys with an almighty amount
of volume, twice the speed of how they'd done it before, and said,
"This is it! Come on!" He was really aggravated. That was the
version they ended up using.'
John's friend Peter Shotton was to describe the scene when Paul,
after what seemed like a flawless performance, then burst out
laughing and said they'd have to do it again.
'Well, it sounded OK to me,' John yawned.
'Yeah!' George agreed. 'It was perfect.'
'But didn't you notice?' Paul demanded.
'Notice what?' said John.
'I just sang "Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face ..." I
should've sung "Molly"!'
The others refused to believe him - until George Martin played back
the tape and proved Paul right.
'Oh, it sounds great anyway,' Paul concluded. 'Let's just leave it
in -create a bit of confusion there. Everyone will wonder whether
Desmond's a bisexual or a transvestite.'
The number was actually covered by two British bands, Marmalade and
the Bedrocks, both of whom entered the British charts with the
number. Marmalade topped the charts and the Bedrocks reached No. 20.
Capitol actually issued it as a single in America on Capitol 4347 on
8 November 1976 and it only reached No. 36 in the American charts,
becoming the first Beatles single on Capitol not to break into the
American Top 30.
Ocean View, The
A book published by MPL Communications/Plexus Publishing in 1982.
It is a collection of paintings and drawings by Humphrey Ocean from
the Wings American Tour that took place between April and June 1976.

Paul commissioned the works, as he wanted pictorial documentation of

the tour.
He explains in a preface to the book that Captain Cook, who took an
artist to record the discovery of Australia for posterity, inspired
him. As Humphrey actually managed to do the work during the tour, it
is hard to see why six years should have passed before publication.
There are sixty illustrations in the book ranging from brief
sketches to completed paintings. A number of them are Hockneyesque,
but they serve as a fresh visual record of the momentous tour.
Humphrey also kept a diary and his entries are reproduced in eight
pages of text. They also illuminate life on the road.
The entry for Friday 18 June, which was Paul's 34th birthday, reads:
'The road-crew gave a birthday party with tortillas, enchiladas and
a ten-piece Mexican band.'
Wings were in Tucson, Arizona at the time.
Ocean, Humphrey
A former member of Kilburn 6c the High Roads, who became a painter.
Ocean contributed to the inner sleeve of the Wings At The Speed Of
Sound album and Paul commissioned him to join the Wings tour of
America and document it as 'artist in residence'.
The result was the book The Ocean View.
Humphrey was also commissioned to work on a painting by the Imperial
Tobacco Portrait Award. This turned out to be a portrait of Paul.
Paul sat for him for a total of thirty hours in six separate
sittings in his Sussex home. The painting was unveiled at the
National Portrait Gallery, London on 2 February 1984.
A gallery spokesman commented, 'This is a painting that puts the
singer in a very unusual light. He looks nothing like he does on the
record sleeves - it's bound to cause a few surprises.'
Humphrey said, 'I'm happy with it. I believe it shows Paul in a
relaxed setting.'
Off The Ground - The Complete Works
The 1993 album Off The Ground was reissued in Germany in 1994 as a
double CD set with eleven bonus tracks under the title Off The
Ground-The Complete Works. Issued on Parlophone 8282772, it was
exclusive to Germany.
The album included all of Paul's B-sides and CD-single tracks from
1993, with the exclusive of remixes such as 'Deliverance' and 'Off
the Ground (Bob Clearmountain Remix)'.
The bonus CD contained: 'Long Leather Coat', 'Keep Coming Back To
Love', 'Sweet Sweet Memories', 'Things We Said Today' (from the 1991
Unplugged sessions), 'Midnight Special' (also from Unplugged),
'Style Style', 'I Can't Imagine', 'Cosmically Conscious' (the full
length version), 'Kicked Around No More', 'Big Boys Bickering',
'Down To The River' and 'Soggy Noodles'.
Off The Ground (album)
Paul's 18th solo album was released in Britain on Tuesday 2 February
1993 and in America on Tuesday 9 February 1993. It reached the
position of No. 19 in the US charts. The cover was photographed by
Clive Arrowsmith and showed the feet of, from left to right: Robbie
Mclntosh, Linda, Paul, Blair Cunningham and Hamish Stuart.
Paul asked his friend, the poet Adrian Mitchell 'to look through the
lyrics as if he was an English teacher checking my homework'.
Mitchell then advised him on a number of things. On the number
'C'mon People', for example, he suggested that Paul find a stronger
adjective than 'coming' in his line 'we got a future and it's coming
in'. Paul revised it to 'rushing' and in another verse, to
'changing'.
The tracks were: Side One: 'Off The Ground', 'Looking For Changes',
'Hope Of Deliverance', 'Mistress And Maid', 'I Owe It All To You',
'Biker Like An Icon'. Side Two: 'Peace In The Neighbourhood',
'Golden Earth Girl', 'The Lovers That Never Were', 'Get Out Of My
Way', 'Winedark Open Sea', 'C'mon People'. There is also an
uncredited fade-out track. This is 'Cosmically Conscious' which Paul
wrote in 1968 in India.
Paul and Julian Mendelsohn produced the album and two of the tracks
'Mistress and Maid' and 'The Lovers That Never Were' were
collaborations between Paul and Elvis Costello.
EMI Toshiba released Off The Ground in a double CD case with a bonus
3" CD of 'Long Leather Coat' and 'Kicked Around No More' on TOCP
7580.
Off The Ground (single)
The title track of the album, penned by Paul and lasting 3 minutes
and 38 seconds in length. The single was issued in America on Monday
19 April 1993 as two versions had been prepared for the US market,
one 'The Bob Clearmountain Remix', the other 'The Keith Cohen
Remix'. It was not released in the UK.
The flip was 'Cosmically Conscious'.
A limited edition in white vinyl was issued on Capitol/CEMA 17318.
���� was a special markets label.
Mathew Robbins directed the 'Off The Ground' promotional film.
Ogden, Richard
Record company executive, former PR for United Artists in Britain,
who became managing director of Paul's management and publishing
companies on 5 May 1987 after a period as managing director of
Polydor Records.
When he took over as Paul's manager he commented that before taking
up his position: 'I wanted to know that Paul wanted to have a
full-time career, including playing concerts, which are very
important in the overall picture. I was convinced that he did.'
He also said that he wanted: 'to get Paul back on the road, to see
his records in the charts and to encourage and help him find
inspiration as a musician and a writer. We're having weekly
"get-togethers" with musicians and Paul's playing the bass and
singing great.'
There was controversy surrounding his leaving Paul's employ in July
1993. MPL maintained that his contract had run out, stating, 'He
resigned because his contract ended and the departure was quite
amicable.' Ogden claimed that he had resigned. The situation
probably resulted from the claim that there were disagreements
regarding the high costs and poor publicity on the New World Tour.
Ogungboro, Adi
The man who inspired Paul to conceive the idea of LIPA. The Toxteth
man told the Liverpool Echo that Paul had promised him that a
special bursary scheme to help unemployed people, especially the
black and working-class youngsters, would be named after him,
although LIPA management denied this.
Oh Woman, Oh Why?
A number that developed from a studio jam session and ended up on
the flipside of 'Another Day' and as a track on Wild Life.
Oh, Darling!
A blues ballad, penned by Paul, part of which appears in the Let It
Be film. The Beatles recorded it at Abbey Road in April 1969 with
John on piano and George running his guitar through a Leslie
speaker.
John was later to comment, '"Oh, Darling!" was a great one of Paul's
that he didn't sing too well. I always thought I could've done it
better - it was more my style than his.'
Alan Parsons, who was second engineer on the recording, said, 'He'd
come in, sing it, and say, "No, that's not it. I'll try again
tomorrow." He only tried it once per day, I suppose he wanted to
capture a certain rawness which could only be done once before the
voice changed. I remember him saying, "Five years ago I could have
done this in a dash," referring, I suppose, to the days of "Long
Tall Sally".'
Paul was to explain, 'When we were recording this track, I came into
the studios early every day for a week to sing it by myself because
at first my voice was too clear. I wanted it to sound as though I'd
been performing it on stage all week.'
The number was included on the Abbey Road album.
In the Robert Stigwood movie Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
the number was sung by Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees and issued as a
single, which reached No. 24 in the American charts in 1978.
Old Siam Sir
A Wings single released in Britain on Friday 1 June 1979 on
Parlophone R6026 with 'Spin It On' on the flip. The number reached
No. 27 in the British charts.
On Our Way Home
A number Paul wrote specially for a teenage trio from New York
called Mortimer, who comprised Guy Masson, Tony Van Benschoten and
Tom Smith. The trio played acoustic guitars and conga drums. Paul
recorded them performing the number in April 1969. Apple intended
releasing it as a single, but never did. The number eventually
re-emerged, with a different title 'Two Of Us', in the film Let It
Be and was recorded by the Beatles for the album.
On The Wings Of A Nightingale
A number Paul wrote specially for the Everly Brothers, who had
reunited after being estranged for ten years. Paul also remixed the
track and played acoustic guitar on it. Phil and Don issued the song
as a single in a picture bag by Mercury Records on MER 170 on Friday
24 August 1984. The flipside was a non-McCartney composition,
'Asleep'.
The song was also included on EB '84, their first studio album since
1972, which was produced by Dave Edmunds and issued on Friday 5
October 1984 on MERH 144.
Once Upon A Long Ago
A single by Paul that was issued in Britain on Parlophone R6170 on
Monday 16 November 1987 where it was to reach No. 10 in the charts.
'Back On My Feet' was on the flipside.
There was no US release of the disc although in Britain there was a
7", two 12" vinyls and one CD version.
It was released in Germany on Parlophone 1C006-2021857.
Interestingly enough, a composer called Pat Doyle adapted the tune
of 'Once Upon A Long Ago' and used it in a TV play of Twelfth Night
in a BBC Shakespeare season in which he set Shakespeare's lyrics to
music. The credits named the song 'Come Away Death' and credited it
to Pat Doyle and Paul McCartney.
'Once Upon A Long Ago' was a track from the All The Best album,
produced by Phil Ramone, orchestrated by George Martin and featuring
classical violinist Nigel Kennedy.
One And One Is Two
A number originally written for Billy J Kramer. It was a
collaboration between Paul and John, although Paul was responsible
for most of the composition. When the two of them had taped a demo
of the number for Billy J, John commented, 'Bill J's career is
finished when he gets this song.' Billy J rejected the number and
chose to record 'Little Children', which took him to the top of the
charts. The number was eventually recorded by Mike Shannon &c the
Strangers in 1964, but failed to make the charts.
Oddly enough, in his book Many Years From Now, when discussing the
number 'One And One Is Two' Paul says, '"One And One Is Two" is OK,
it's a memorable title, it's not wonderful. The Strangers were mates
of ours from Liverpool.'
The Strangers with Mike Shannon were a group totally unconnected to
the Liverpool band the Strangers, whose lead singer was Joe Fagin.
One And Only, The
One of the numbers Paul wrote during a holiday in the Virgin Islands
in 1964. It remains unreleased.
One Hand Clapping
A 50-minute 1974 film from McCartney Productions, directed by David
Litchfield, who had previously directed another MPL film Empty Hand.
It was a short documentary of Wings rehearsing and recording in
Nashville, Tennessee, which opens with a motion of a hand and then
has the group perform 'Jet' and 'Soily'. The group then listen to
the playback in the control room, which was manned by Geoff Emerick.

'C Moon' is the next performance and Paul says, 'I like a little
team. I like the fun of all having a cup of tea together, getting
your heads down and working on a piece of music. I've never been a
solo performer.'
His little team on this venture includes himself and Linda, Denny
Laine, Jimmy McCulloch, Geoff Britton and Howie Casey.
Voice-overs are used and Geoff Britton asks Denny, 'Do you think
parents are important?'
Denny says, 'If I hadn't been pushed by my old man, if he didn't
take me down to the Jackie Cooper School Of Dancing, then I wouldn't
have started 'cause I was not interested in going. I was interested
in music, yeah, but I wasn't interested in going through all the
crap that you have to go through to get there.'
McCulloch's voice-over is partly biographical telling how he
practised guitar while getting ready to go to school and how he left
Scotland to arrive in London.
The band performs 'Maybe I'm Amazed' and 'My Love' and when Paul
sits at the piano and plays he mentions a song 'Suicide', which he
wrote for Frank Sinatra.
There is also a voice-over from Linda who says, 'Paul shows me what
to play on some of them. On others, I just get the chords and find
out what the chords are, and pick it up from there. If you don't do
it, nobody can do it for you.'
Denny refers to Paul, 'He's an old man. He has his own band. His
family are as talented as he is.'
The band performs 'Band On The Run', 'Live And Let Die' and '1985'.
One Love
A single by the legendary Bob Marley. It was issued posthumously by
Island Records (IS 169) on 6 April 1984. It leaped high into the
British charts and Paul made a fleeting appearance on the
accompanying video. He is seen clasping Don Leets, who directed the
video, and his lips voice the words 'one love'. The video was also
included on the video compilation 'Legend', issued by Island Video
in May 1984.
One More Kiss
A track from the Red Rose Speedway album. It was copyrighted under
the title 'Only One More Kiss'.
One Of Those Days In England
A track on the Roy Harper album Bullinamingvase, originally issued
in February 1997. Paul and Linda were featured on backing vocals on
the track, on which former Wings guitarist Henry McCullough also
played. It was re-released by EMI Records in their mid-price range
on Monday 24 August 1987 and also reissued on Harper's compilation
album Hats Off, on 19 June 2001.
One To One
A British weekly television series. Disc jockey Anne Nightingale's
24-minute interview with Paul was featured on the series and
screened on some parts of the ITV network on Thursday 14 December
1989 prior to a repeat screening of 'The Birth Of The Beatles' TV
movie and on London Weekend Television on Sunday 21 January 1990.
Only Love Remains (remix)
A track from the Press To Play album, recorded live at Paul's
48-track studio, Hoghill, East Sussex. Tony Visconti arranged it.
Commenting on the number, Paul said, 'People ask if I feel an
album's incomplete without a ballad, and I do think so, a little
bit. I know there are people who like them who will inevitably
gravitate towards the track. People who've heard the album say,
"That's the McCartney I like," so I sorta put it on for them - and
for myself, because I'm pretty romantic by nature.'
The song, 4 minutes and 16 seconds in length, was released as a
single in Britain on 1 December 1986 where it reached No. 34 in the
charts. It was issued in America on Capitol B-5672 on Tuesday 17
January 1987.
In Britain the 7" was issued on Parlophone R 65148 and the 12" on
Parlophone 12R 6148.
'Tough On A Tightrope' was on the flipside.
Ono, Yoko
Yoko Ono first met Paul at a gallery opening for the artist Claes
Oldenburg in 1966. She also went to Paul's Cavendish Avenue house to
ask if he had any spare manuscripts of Beatles lyrics that she could
give as a present to John Cage for his fiftieth birthday, as he
collected musical scores. Paul regarded his own lyrics sheets as too
precious, but referred her to John and gave her John's address - and
this was prior to her Indica Gallery exhibition, which puts paid to
the false story that Yoko had never heard of John until he turned up
at the exhibition.
John actually gave her the lyric sheet of 'The Word', which was
reproduced in Cage's book Notations. Cage had been collecting a
diverse range of musical scores for the Foundation of Contemporary
Performance Arts.
Paul recalled the incident vaguely, saying, 'There was a charity
thing - it was rather avant-garde, something to do with John Cage
... .She wanted lyrics, manuscripts. I really didn't want to give
her any of my lyrics - you know, selfish, or whatever, but I just
didn't want to do it. So I said, "But there's a friend of mine who
might want to help - my mate John." I kind of put her on to John and
then they hit it off - it was like wild fire.'
It was suggested that when Yoko began her omnipresence at Beatles
recording sessions, Paul got back at her in the song, 'Get Back'. It
was said that when Paul was singing, 'Get Back! Get Back! Get Back
to where you once belonged!' he was looking at Yoko. However, Paul
has said that the song was about the Beatles 'getting back' to their
roots in rock 'n' roll.
Paul was the only other member of the Beatles on 'The Ballad Of John
And Yoko'.
It was John, under Yoko's influence, who brought Allen Klein into
the Beatles' lives, against Paul's wishes. Paul blamed Yoko. He
said, 'We were pretty good mates ... until Yoko came into it. The
thing is, in truth, I never really got on well with Yoko anyway. It
was John who got on well with her - that was the whole point.'
He was to add, 'Klein, so I heard, had said to John - the first time
anyone had said it - "What does Yoko want?" So, since Yoko liked
Klein because he was giving Yoko anything she wanted, he was the man
for John.'
Apple executive Peter Brown was to say, 'McCartney was placed in an
impossible position. John wanted to go in another direction and
McCartney couldn't follow him because there was Yoko in the middle
and Yoko didn't want them to continue. Yoko wanted John for herself.
And she was very single-minded.'
Paul gave an interview to Ray Connelly and said, 'John's in love
with Yoko and he's no longer in love with the other three of us.'
In the same interview he also talked about his songwriting
collaboration with John. 'It simply became very difficult for me to
write with Yoko sitting there. If I had to think of a line, I
started getting very nervous. I might want to say something like, "I
love you, girl," but with Yoko watching I always felt that I had to
come out with something clever and avant-garde. She would probably
have loved the simple stuff, but I was scared.'
Paul had been in the habit of sending anonymous cards, notes and
letters to people, which caused one particular strain between
himself and John Lennon. John and Yoko were staying at Cavendish
Avenue at the time and a card arrived one day addressed to John and
Yoko. It said, 'You And Your Jap Tart Think You're Hot Shit.' John
placed it in front of Paul, who confessed that he'd written it as a
joke. John and Yoko then packed their bags.
Paul was living with Francie Schwartz at the time and she was to
comment, 'One morning I noticed there was an envelope with a typed
address on it. No stamp or return address, it just said "John and
Yoko". They thought it was a piece of fan mail and they opened it up
and it was a typed unsigned note that said, "You and your Jap tart
think you're hot shit," and John was wounded by it. He loved her and
couldn't understand why people would hate her, and Paul came into
the living room and he says, "Oh, I just did that for a lark!" The
letter was from Paul, and John looked at him and that look said it
all, "Do I know you?"'
In 1970, Hunter Davies, the Beatles' official biographer, stated
that Yoko Ono was the main cause of the Beatles break-up. 'If there
was one single element in the split, I'd say it was the arrival of
Yoko,' he claimed. He said that under Yoko's influence, Lennon began
taking charge at Apple and this 'was a blow to Paul's pride ... Paul
fell by the wayside and ... they were no longer bosom buddies ...
George Harrison and Ringo Starr are not exactly dotty over Yoko
either.'
In a statement he read to the court on Friday 26 February 1971 Paul
said that one of the reasons George Harrison left the group was 'he
could not get on with Yoko'. He also said that Allen Klein had told
him on the phone, 'The real trouble is Yoko Ono. She is the one with
ambition.'
When Geraldo Rivera, ABC television journalist, wanted John and Yoko
to perform at a benefit concert at the end of August 1972 for the
One to One Foundation, Yoko suggested that they phone Paul and ask
him to appear. Paul refused.
In 1981 Paul had an opportunity to purchase the Beatles' songs from
ATV Lew Grade's company had been having problems over the
astronomical costs of the film Raise The Titanic,, and seemed set to
sell ATV Music. Paul had lunch with him and asked if he would be
willing to separate Northern Songs from ATV Music and sell Northern
Songs to him. As Northern Songs was the jewel in ATV Music's crown,
Grade was advised against it, but he told Paul, 'I'll pull it out
for you. I'll sell it separately. Only to you. The price is going to
be twenty million pounds.'
Grade gave Paul one week to accept the offer. He took advice from
his lawyers and felt that the money could be raised and also felt a
moral twinge if he took control himself as that would mean bypassing
Yoko, Sean, Julian and other parties. 'There was no way I was going
to be seen as the guy who had stolen John's songs.'
He decided he'd call Yoko and the two of them could own the company.
He said, 'I rang her up and I said: "Lew Grade has just offered me
the company. He said it's twenty million pounds. We should do it.
You'll have half of it; I'll have half of it. That will feel good to
me. John will have his half back. It's ten to me and ten to you. I
don't know how easy it's going to be to find it. But that's the
deal."
'And she said: "No, no. Twenty is way too high a price."
'I said: "Well, you may be right. Certainly as I wrote 'Yesterday'
for nothing! It certainly seems a little expensive for me, but
that's the ball game and we can't ignore it."
'And she actually did say to me: "No, we can get it for five."
'I said: "Well, I'm not sure that's right. I've spoken to the man
who's selling them. He says twenty million. But you'd better get
back to me."
'She said: "No, let me talk to a few people. I can do something
here."
'And of course, it fell through, obviously,' said Paul. 'We couldn't
get it for five.'
In 1990, when recalling these events again, he said, 'She's since
denied that. I don't want to have friction with anyone. Particularly
not John's widow. I loved John. If John loved her, I'd like to love
her. That's the way I'd like it to go. But that is the truth as far
as I can see it. If she wants to deny it, fine ... I know in my mind
what happened.'
In November 1983 Yoko brought Sean to London, primarily to discuss
Apple business with the three remaining Beatles. The meeting didn't
go well. A witness commented, 'The tension was still there. Yoko was
not forgiven. Oh, Ringo was nice. He always was nice. And Paul was
charming in the way that he could always be when he chose to. He
knew how to turn it on and off, and Yoko saw right through it.
George still didn't care. He didn't like Yoko when John first met
her and he didn't like her in London three years after John was
dead.'
It seemed that the long feud between Paul and Yoko had ended in 1994
when John Lennon was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame as
a solo artist on Wednesday 19 January. Paul made the induction
speech and Yoko picked up the award. The two were then photographed
hugging each other and during the following press conference it was
announced that the three surviving Beatles would be recording
together again, with Yoko saying, 'Give the three of them a chance.'

Yoko also presented Paul with four of John's demos for them to use
in their comeback recording sessions.
Discussing how they got together again for the awards ceremony, Paul
commented, 'Yoko was a little surprised to get a phone call from me,
because we'd often been a bit adversarial because of the business
stuff. She told me she had three tracks, including "Free As A Bird".
I'd never heard them before, but she explained that they're quite
well known to Lennon fans as bootlegs.'
When he received the cassettes of John's songs, Paul told Yoko,
'Don't impose too many conditions on us, it's really difficult to do
this. We don't know, we may hate each other after two hours in the
studio and just walk out. So don't put any conditions, it's tough
enough. If it doesn't work, you can veto it.'
Paul once recalled how Yoko had contacted him to say that she needed
him and asked him to come to New York. Paul remembered, 'I said I
was going through New York and so I stopped off and rang her, and
she said she couldn't see me that day. I was four hundred yards away
from her. I said, "Well, I'll pop over anytime today - five minutes,
ten minutes, whenever you can squeeze me in." She said, "It's going
to be very difficult." I said, "Well, OK, I understand. What is the
reason by the way?" She said, "I was up all night with Sean." I
said, "Well, I understand that. I've got four kids, you know. But
you're bound to have a minute today, sometime." She'd asked me to
come. I'd flown in specially to see her and she wouldn't even see
me. So I felt a little humiliated, but I said, "OK, nine-thirty
tomorrow morning. Let's make an appointment." She rang up about nine
and said, "Could you make it tomorrow morning?" So that's the kind
of thing. I'm beginning to think it wasn't all my fault.'
On Saturday 11 March 1995 Yoko and Sean spent a weekend visiting
Paul and his family at their home in East Sussex. Whilst there, Yoko
and Sean went into Paul's home studio, the Mill, and, together with
Paul, Linda, Mary, Heather, Stella and James recorded a track called
'Hiroshima, It's Always A Beautiful Blue Sky' commemorating the
fiftieth anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on
Hiroshima.
Yoko took the lead on her composition, with Paul providing backing
vocals and playing the upright bass, which formerly belonged to Bill
Black. Linda played celeste, Sean and James played guitars and Mary,
Heather and Stella provided percussion and backing vocals.
Prior to Yoko returning to America, Paul gave her a copy of the
tape.
Yoko was able to comment, likening the feud between the families to
that in Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet, 'Montague and Capulet coming
back together was beautiful. It was a healing for our families to
come together in this way. The feeling was very special.' Sean said
that the spontaneous recording session was 'the result of our
reconciliation after twenty years of bitterness and feuding
bullshit. Here were these people who had never played together
actually making music. It was incredible working with Paul.'
On Friday 16 January 1998 Yoko appeared on The O-Zone, a children's
programme on the BBC, where she took the opportunity of sniping at
Paul on a number of points during a 20-minute programme subtitled
'The Ballad Of John and Yoko'.
Yoko attacked him by implying that he was just a second fiddle to
John's genius. 'I know Paul thinks he was leading, or something like
that. The way John led the band was very high-level, on some kind of
magical level. Not a daily level like Paul said, "Oh, but I was the
one who told them all to come and do it. I made the phone calls."
John did not make the phone calls. He was not on that level as a
leader - he was on the level of a spiritual leader,' she said. 'He
was the visionary and that is why the Beatles happened.'
In response to a claim by Paul early in 1997 in which he said that
he was responsible for initiating reconciliation between John and
Yoko following their 18-month separation in the 1970s, Yoko
dismissed this saying, 'Let him say what he wants to say. I feel
that he has to say all of those things. But if he wants to get
credit about it, why not? That's fine, I know that it wasn't true. I
know that he didn't come back because Paul said a few words. Let him
say what he wants to say. I feel sad he needs to say it but if he
wants to get credit for it, why not? That's fine. I know that it
wasn't true. I know that he didn't come back because Paul said a few
words, or something like that. He's put in the position of being a
Salieri to a Mozart.'
She also claimed, 'Because John passed away, people have this
incredibly strong sentiment for him. Paul is always just encouraging
people, not given the same compliment that they give John now. And
naturally, they do that because he passed away. It's a high price
for Paul, to be in the same position as John.'
A clash occurred once again when Paul requested that his name be
placed before John's on the credit for 'Yesterday' on the Beatles
Anthology. Yoko refused.
Paul was to say, 'At one point Yoko earned more from 'Yesterday'
than I did. It doesn't compute, especially when it's the only song
that none of the Beatles had anything to do with.
'I asked as a favour if I could have my name before John's on the
anthology credits for 'Yesterday' and Yoko refused.
'I could question her, but I'm a civil person and life isn't long
enough.'
Yoko was not invited to Linda's memorial service in New York. Paul
explained, 'We decided to stay true to Linda's spirit and only
invite her nearest and dearest friends. Seeing as Yoko wasn't one of
those, we didn't invite her. People who were maybe doing it out of
duty weren't asked. Everyone who went remarked that there were so
many friends there and it was such a warm atmosphere. Everyone who
spoke, spoke from the heart, genuinely. Linda would have hated
anything else.'
At one point during his CNN interview with Larry King in June 2001
Paul was asked how he got on with Yoko. He said, 'We don't not get
along, but you know, it's like some people you may be destined to
not become great buddies with.
'It's not that we don't get along, just we don't talk much. We talk
if we have to.'
Paul refused to invite Yoko as his guest at his Madison Square
Garden Concert in New York on 26 April 2002 and he was to admit
publicly that they did not get on with each other. He said, 'Yoko
Ono and I are just not the greatest of buddies. Everyone has a
family, and sometimes your Uncle Eddie is not your greatest friend.
It's like that with us. Too many things have gone down in the past.'

Oo You
A track on Paul's debut album McCartney lasting 2 minutes and 47
seconds. The number opened the second side of the album and Paul
initially recorded it at his home as an instrumental, adding the
lyrics later on. He completed the recording at Morgan Studios. Paul
played electric guitar, tambourine and cow bell - he also used an
aerosol spray!
Oobu Joobu
On Monday 29 May 1995 Westwood One began their McCartney radio
series called Oobu Joobu with a two-hour special followed by a
series of one-hour shows and climaxing with a two-hour show on Labor
Day weekend.
Paul had been planning such a series for a long time and had
originally discussed it with the executive producer Eddy Pumer in
1981.
The name came from a BBC Third Programme radio production of Alfred
Jarry's play Ubu ����, which Paul had heard in January 1966. He was
to say, 'It was the best radio play I had ever heard in my life, and
the best production, and Ubu was so brilliantly played. It was just
a sensation.'
The title Oobu Joobu was inspired by the character of Monsieur Ubu
created by the playwright. Paul was acting as deejay and introduced
rare live recordings, studio outtakes, home recordings from Paul's
own Rude Studios, excerpts from interviews and previously unreleased
material from his own 250 hours of archives.
Linda also featured with her cooking recipes and Paul had
conversations with various musicians - duetting with one of them,
Carl Perkins, on 'Honey Don't'. Other musicians he interviewed were
Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde,
Little Richard, Stevie Wonder, Jeff Beck, Elvis Costello, John
Entwistle and Pete Townsend. He also chatted with Mike Myers,
creator of Wayne's World, and Kim Basinger There were eleven
one-hour programmes and the final one in the series was another
two-hour one, broadcast on Monday 4 September 1995.
Paul made a six-minute promotional video expressing his ideas about
the series for the staff of Westwood One. He made the video at his
home in Peasmarsh in 1995.
'Hello there, how are you all doing, all you radio people assembled
there today,' he began.
He then discussed the origination of the series: 'When I was a kid I
used to listen to the radio a lot. I used to sit on the floor and
enter a world where your imagination went wild. In Britain, they
used to have a lot of plays and music and comedy shows. I was a big
fan, still am. In those days, you'd think to yourself, one day I
might be able to put together my own radio show. Through the years
I've had the idea on and off, and a couple of years ago, I thought I
really should do it.'
On the subject of the series title he said, 'For no particular
reason we called the idea "Oobujoobu". What is "Oobujoobu" you ask
me - I can hear you, radio people! Well, it's just a title. Get off
my back! What do you want?'
He then referred to Westwood's previous series, 'The Lost Lennon
Tapes' which included previously unissued tapes that had been
provided by Yoko Ono, stating that he would be providing unissued
tapes of his own.
'We started off by getting hold of a few favourite records of mine,
and looking for outtakes and rehearsal tapes from some of the
recordings we'd done. After saying some silly things into the
microphones, we finally edited the whole thing down into what you're
going to hear as "Oobujoobu" � which we think of as widescreen
radio.'
Paul mentioned that there would be humorous stories of his own and
snippets from comedy shows, saying, 'We have some jams and some
rehearsal tapes that haven't been heard before - certain things from
soundtracks and stuff, which never got to be released at the time
and which we can't really put out on album, 'cos people will feel a
bit cheated. But in a radio show, I think they're quite interesting.

'Now this isn't the kind of show that can just fit into an easy
little format. You have quite a variation in music styles. You'll
have world music, there could be some African music, some reggae,
some rock 'n' roll, old-fashioned rock 'n' roll; coming more up to
date with some soul. You get odd silly moments, with, for instance,
quite a bit of reggae.'
Paul then talks about Caribbean music, using a Jamaican accent. 'I
got introduced to that many years ago on holiday in Jamaica, when we
used to go to a little record shop called Tony's - Tony's Records,
Fostick Road, man, Montego Bay! I remember Linda and I discovering
this place where they had big speakers outside blasting out the
reggae.
There were lots of kids on the pavement checking it out, and we used
to go into the shop and leaf through all the 45s. You'd have some
pretty crazy sounding titles on them. I remember finding one called
"Poison Pressure". I said, "'Poison Pressure', what's that?"
"Lennon-McCartney." I said, this can't be so; we've never done a
song called "Poison Pressure". It must be another Lennon-McCartney.
There are a lot of them about, you know!'
Paul continued describing the show, 'We even, would you believe it,
have a cookery spot with my wife, Linda. It's nice, it's easy,
because she's the cook of the house. And so, as you see, it's a kind
of magazine programme. My idea is that when you're settled and
you've got a little moment to put your feet up, this is the kind of
programme that you could listen to. I think there's a lot of
interesting stuff in it.'
He returned to his Jamaican accent, 'So that ya gonna do, 'cos
you're assembled here to listen to the radio and listen to all the
shows, 'cos you've got to check it out, because it's "Ooobujoobu" on
Westwood One. You check it out, man! Come along listen to widescreen
radio for the first time in your life, man. Why I'm talking Jamaican
I have no idea. But it's that kind of show and so welcome, radio
people, to "Oobujoobu!" Check it out, man.'
Paul commented, 'We started off by getting hold of a few favourite
records of mine, and looking for outtakes and rehearsal tapes from
some of the recordings we'd done. After saying some silly things
into the microphones, we finally edited the whole thing down into
what you're going to hear as Oobu Joobu - which we think of as
wide-screen radio.'
The programmes included a mix of jokes and jingles, music
reminiscences, studio rehearsals, demos, outtakes from sound checks,
excerpts from recording sessions and unreleased masters. In the
introductory two-hour special Paul explained how, in his youth, he
lost himself in the world of radio and that was the spirit he was
trying to recapture. He was also influenced by the anarchy in Radio
One shows with Keith Moon and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band's sketches
and songs. During the first show he included material from 'Ebony
And Ivory', the previously un-issued dance track 'Atlantic Ocean',
'Boil Crisis' and other songs such as 'Don't Get Around Much
Anymore', 'Put It There', 'C Moon', 'Biker Like An Icon' and 'I
Wanna Be Your Man'.
Oprah Winfrey Show, The
When Paul was in New York preparing to conduct the 'Standing Stone'
performance at Carnegie Hall, the ABC TV chat show Oprah, hosted by
Oprah Winfrey, was being moved to New York that week and Sir Paul
had agreed to be a guest.
His appearance was taped on Tuesday 20 November 1997 and aired on
Monday 24 November 1997. The show lasted 44 minutes.
Oprah appeared first and said she was overwhelmed to be introducing
Paul. 'I was the only black girl who was into a group other than
Motown sounds. I used to kiss Paul's picture I had hung next to my
bed everyday.'
She had tears in her eyes as she introduced him and he joined her.
Among the subjects he discussed were Linda, the knighthood ceremony
and the Beatles. He mentioned that Michael Jackson had approached
him for advice and he told him three main things - first, to have
somebody he trusted to look after his money, second, to make more
promotional videos and third to get into publishing.
Paul played acoustic guitar on 'Young Boy' and piano on 'Flaming
Pie'.
The world premiere of two Flaming Pie videos also took place on the
show - 'Beautiful Night' and 'Little Willow', although 'Beautiful
Night' was censored to excise the nude swimming scene and 'Little
Willow' was cut out of the initial transmitted show.
On Sunday 14 December a slightly different version of the show was
aired. In this one, Paul answered questions from the studio audience
and a clip of 'Little Willow' replaced the 'Beautiful Night' video.
The first version of the show was screened in Britain on Sky One
twice on Tuesday 23 December.
Oriental Nightfish, The
A three-and-a-half minute cartoon directed by Ian Ernes and Linda
McCartney and produced by MPL Communications Ltd in 1978. The film
was a fantasy in which an extraterrestrial force descends to Earth
from outer space. It went on general release in Britain in October
1978 supporting the Ryan O'Neal feature film Driver.
Orton, Joe
A talented British playwright who was murdered by his lover Kenneth
Halliwell on 9 August 1967. Orton's play Loot had won the Evening
Standard award as the best play of 1966 and in 1967 Walter Shenson
contacted Orton to see if he could re-write a script he had received
as a possible third film for the Beatles - Shades Of A Personality
by Owen Holder. This was a script about a multiple personality and
the Beatles were supposed to play the four different aspects of
personality of the same person. Orton changed the script radically,
utilising material from a first novel that he had written with
Halliwell in 1953 called The Silver Bucket. He ended up with a
completely different script than the Holder one, which he now called
Up Against It.
Orton wrote in his diary, 'Basically, the Beatles are getting fed up
with the Dick Lester type of direction. They want dialogue to speak.
Also, they are tired of actors like Leo McKern stealing scenes.
Difficult this, as I don't think any of the Beatles can act. As
Marilyn Monroe couldn't act.'
In January 1967 Orton was invited to meet Paul and Brian Epstein at
Epstein's house to discuss the script. Orton considered that Paul
looked
just like his photographs, apart from the fact that he'd now grown a
beard and his hair was much shorter. Paul played him 'Penny Lane',
which he liked, although he didn't like the other side of the record
'Strawberry Fields Forever'.
Paul told Orton that he'd seen his play Loot and said that it was
the only play he hadn't wanted to leave before the end. Paul also
chatted on about various topics, including tattoos and drugs.
Epstein's assistant Peter Brown, together with a French photographer
joined them.
The Up Against It script was rejected.
Over The Rainbow
An evergreen tune immortalised by Judy Garland in the film The
Wizard Of Oz. Paul used to sing the number in the Beatles' early
days, although he'd been inspired by the Gene Vincent version of the
number rather than Garland's.