BILL HARRY. THE PAUL MCCARTNEY ENCYCLOPEDIA

Pads, Paws And Claws

A number co-written by Paul and Elvis Costello and included on Costello's 1989 album Spike.

Commenting on the collaboration of the number, Costello says that Paul 'was like, "We've got two verses, now we need a bridge!" He really writes like that, he really thinks about telling the story - that it's all very good to have a good hook line but maybe you need to explain what it means. I got an education in that, about being a bit more disciplined about these things. I always take for granted that people are going to understand everything I'm saying. Though he's not pedantic. He'll also go, "I like that," when you suddenly throw in something for effect that might not otherwise seem to make sense.'

Paice, tan

Born in Nottingham on 29 June 1948, Paice was given a violin at the age of ten, but at the age of fifteen opted for playing drums and joined his father's dance band. In the mid-60s he joined Georgie and the Rave-Ons and during his career has appeared with numerous groups and solo artists. He is a mainstay of Deep Purple, having been in at least eight of the re-formed line-ups since he first became a member of the band in 1968.

He has performed or recorded with George Harrison, the Velvet Underground, Jackson Heights, Paice Ashton & Lord, Whitesnake and many other artists and groups.

He became a member of Paul McCartney And Friends in the spring of 1999 and recorded the album Run Devil Run with the group. Paice had never played with Paul before and was chosen after Ringo Starr was unable to make the sessions.

He also appeared on various live shows, including the PETA concert on Saturday 18 September 1999 and the Cavern appearance later that year. He also appeared with the band on TV shows such as Later With Jools Holland and the German Wetton, dass ... ?

Palace of Auburn Hills

Venue in Auburn Hills, near Detroit, Michigan where Paul appeared on the fourth leg of his world tour on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 February 1990.

On the second night he held a press conference.

Question: You made a comment last night about how you took a lot of your musical roots from this city. Were you referring to Motown or were there other things?

Paul: I mainly meant Motown, yeah. We were major fans of black American music, a lot of which came from this city.

Question: You've met a lot of the Motown people over the years; any particular favourites?

Paul: Oh, I love them all, you know. They kind of happened alongside us happening. The English people and the black Motown boom was great. So we were good mates, like Diana Ross and the Supremes. We were kind of contemporaries happening together.

Question: Did you think of having any Motown artists do a guest slot with you last night?

Paul: It's kind of difficult to work in guests. We've sort of got the show set now. Really, the only person who's guested so far is Stevie in LA, who is very much Motown, as you know. But that was easy because we do 'Ebony And Ivory' in the set. It's not too easy to open up the set when you get to this stage with the production.

Question: What made you decide to tour after thirteen years?

Paul: Maybe the fact that I got a good band. You know, I've been recording and doing solo stuff and little guest spots like Live Aid and shows like that but during the recording of the Flowers In The Dirt album the band felt really good. We've got a sense of humour in common and they're good musicians, too. So it was either a question of saying, 'Goodbye, see you next album,' or like, 'Should we stay together, and if we stay together, what should we do? Let's go on tour.'

Question: A lot of critics are quick to judge anything that you or any of the other Beatles do. How did you get into this LP mentally? Do you ever get to the point where you thought, 'To heck with them. I'm going to shove one down your throat?'

Paul: Yeah, I get to that point. I was not that pleased with the album before it, which is Press To Play. So I wanted to make this one better and shove it down a few people's throats. I'm quite happy with the album itself. It has some of my best songs on it.

Question: Has coming out on the road re-inspired you to go back in the studio a little earlier than you have in the past?

Paul: Not really, but it's good for you, getting on the road. It's a stimulating thing, actually seeing your fans instead of just getting letters from them. It really lifts you.

Question: In your programme last night, I noticed you said the best thing about touring is the audience. Was the audience last night as good as you expected?

Paul: It was a serious audience last night, really, because we've always been playing ...

Question: What do you mean by that?

Paul: Seriously good, seriously fab. Seriously doody. We've just come from England and Wembley, which was a great series of concerts. We did eleven on the truck, I think, but the English are a little bit more reserved, you know. They get going, but it takes them like half an hour. This audience, it didn't take them but a second, and then the screams.

Question: Paul, a lot of the people said your show was an emotional experience. Why did it take twenty years for you to come back out and finally play the classic Beatles songs?

Paul: When the Beatles broke up, it was a little difficult, it was a bit like a divorce and you didn't really want to do anything associated with the ex-wife. You didn't want to do her material. So all of us took that view independently and John stopped doing Beatles stuff, George, Ringo, we all did. Because it was just too painful for a while. But enough time's gone by now. On the last tour I did in 1976 with Wings, we avoided a lot of Beatles stuff because of that. So now it feels really kind of natural to do those songs. It's a question of either getting back to those songs or ignoring them for the rest of my life. And, as I say, some of them I haven't actually done before and I didn't realise that until we were rehearsing with the band and I said, 'This feels great, "Sgt Pepper". I mean, why is this so great?' And someone reminded me, they said, 'You've never done it.' It's like a new song to me. It's just the right time to come back with that stuff.

Question: Will there be a time when you get together with George and Ringo? Not really a reunion without John but kind of a jam maybe?

Paul: I don't know. That's always on the cards but a reunion as such is out of the question because John's not with us. The only reunion would have been with John. But, like you say, we might easily get together. There's a couple of projects that are possible now that we've solved our business differences. I don't know, I haven't actually seen them. I've been living this whole thing through the press. People say to me, 'George said he won't do it.' I haven't spoken to him yet.

Question: Why did it take so long to resolve your business differences?

Paul: Have you ever been in a lawsuit? I was in one for the last twenty years. It just took forever. What happens is you get your advisors and they get theirs and then lawyers, I think, are trained to keep things like that going. The first rule in law school, you know, 'Keep it going.'

Question: Do you regret that the four ex-Beatles never got together again before John died?

Paul: Well, I regret it, you know, but I mean, this is life. It just didn't happen for a number of reasons. It would have been great, but John not dying would have been even better.

Question: What's going on in Eastern Europe?

Paul: I think it's very exciting. To me it seems like the sixties kicking in again. That's my point of view. It's all the stuff that was said in the sixties: peace, love, democracy, freedom, a better world and all that stuff. It's finally kicked in. The way I look at it, people like Gorbachev grew up with the sixties and I don't think you can be unaffected by it and I think it's all kicking in now. Look at those people who are coming across the border and a lot of them are wearing denim. It's us coming across that border. I think it's very exciting. I think China's next.

Question: Are you going to play any dates in Eastern Europe now that the Iron Curtain is history?

Paul: I'd like to, but we've got so many dates on this tour and they don't include Eastern Europe. I'd like to go to Russia, but the promoters say it's too cold, so we went to Italy.

Question: What are your plans after the tour?

Paul: I'll be writing after the tour. I've got a lot of writing I want to do. I'm doing a very interesting thing. It's a classical thing for an orchestra which is due to be performed by the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in the Liverpool Cathedral in 1991 and that's like a serious work, so I've got a lot of writing to do.

Question: Why don't you write your memoirs?

Paul: I don't know, really. I always thought that you had to be like about seventy before you did.

Question: What new things are you listening to right now?

Paul: Um, I listen to everything. I listen to all sorts of things.

Question: James and Stella are travelling with you right now. Would you ever invite either of them on the stage?

Paul: Not really. It's too sort of showbizy, that kind of thing. I know a lot of people do that. If they really wanted desperately to do it then I'd help them, but it's got to come from them. I'm not going to push them on stage because it's a tough game.

Question: How do you compare the thrill of performing in the sixties with performing today?

Paul: It's very similar, actually. That crowd last night was strangely sixties. It's very good, you know.

Question: But now you can hear yourself.

Paul: With the new technology, yeah. I mean, you compare all this equipment here and you've got like Cape Canaveral. But when we started out it was like two guitars and a bass and one amp.

Question: There's a big controversy now over garbage, there's too many landfills and it's causing a lot of toxic ...

Paul: I think they're basically just trying to address some of the more serious problems we got ourselves into. We're the only species of animals on earth that fouls its own nest. Everybody else, all the other birds, they go over there to take a dump. But we don't; we do it right here, right where we live. We put all our toxic waste into our lakes and stuff. I mean, Britain's got this great business where we accept waste from, like, Japan and we put it in cans and put it under the sea. And they said, 'It'll be all right for a hundred years.' Well, I say, 'What about a hundred and one years when it blows up? What's going to happen?' So, I mean, I think we've got to be clever. I think we're clever enough to address all of that, but it's going to take some doing.

Question: What was your inspiration for the film presentation before the concert? How did you go about putting the film footage together?

Paul: I talked to Richard Lester, who made A Hard Day's Night and Help! and we were thinking of having a support act before our act, but the promoters told me that it was going to get difficult. So I suggested, 'Well, how about if we do a film?' So I rang Dick Lester and said to him, 'Could you do a film that says, "First there was the Beatles, then there was Wings and then there was now?"' He said, 'Let me think about it,' and he came back with the film, which I like. It's kind of uncompromising, it's a very grown-up film, gives people something to think about.

Question: Are you going to change the show when it comes to stadiums?

Paul: Yeah, we will magnify it a little bit. This style of show is fine in an arena like this, but when you get into a forty-thousand arena it starts to look a little small, so we'll just make it bigger. But basically keep the same show.

Question: There's been a flood of unreleased Beatles recordings, very high quality like the Ultra Rare Trax you probably heard about. What are your feelings on the release of those things and would you like to see EMI release them officially?

Paul: That's kind of a difficult question. It's like, as far as the Beatles were concerned we released all our good material, except for maybe one or two little things that at the time we didn't like. And there are one or two tracks I think are worth looking at.

'Leave My Kitten Alone', John sings, which I think is very good. But in the main we released all our best material, so now you know, it's like memorabilia. People just like to hear tracks that were the takes we didn't use or something. If people are interested it's fair enough. I mean, I don't get uptight about bootlegs. What are you going to do?

Question: I just wondered if you plan to tour again after this.

Paul: Yeah. It's funky because I think a lot of people come to the show and think, 'Well, it's the last time you'll see him.' I don't know why they think that, but, yes, the Stones and I, well, we're 'getting up there' kind of thing, but as far as I'm concerned I feel twenty-seven, not forty-seven.

Question: Will you rock and roll after you're fifty, do you think?

Paul: I think there probably is like after fifty, yeah.

Question: Paul, of all the songs you've written, what would be your favourite, if you still have one.

Paul: That's a very difficult question. I mean, musically, I might say 'Here, There And Everywhere', but as far as success is concerned, it has to be 'Yesterday', because it's just done more than I could have ever hoped for.

Question; Does 'Yesterday' mean something different to you now that you're forty-seven?

Paul: Yes, it sure does. When I wrote it I was a twenty-year-old singing, 'I'm not half the man I used to be'. It's like, it's very presumptuous for a twenty-year-old. At forty-seven, however, it means something.

Question: At that time did you ever think you'd be rocking now?

Paul: I didn't think we'd still be rocking now. The great thing, as I say, is you look at what a lot of us have done recently and you look at people like Muddy Waters and think, 'It didn't matter that he was seventy, he'd still be singing the blues.' Instead of a youth-orientated thing, it's become a music-orientated thing, so I think as long as you can still deliver ... I mean, you look at the age of these audiences. I'm very surprised, the sort of young people, I thought it just would be my age group mainly, but there's a lot of young kids and they know the material.

Question: Are they simply looking for nostalgia?

Paul: I don't know, I'm always talking to my kids about that. You tell me. What songs are going to be remembered? It's going to be, I don't know. Some rap song ...

Question: Are you enjoying alt of this, Paul?

Paul: Yes, it's great. I really am.

Question: How do you like your music today?

Paul: My music? I still like it.

Question: How do you feel when you look out into the crowds and you see parents holding their children to see you?

Paul: It's really beautiful because I've got four kids and the great thing about me and my kids is that there isn't this generation gap that I thought would be there.

Question: Do they listen to any music that bothers you?

Paul: No. But I know what you mean. I thought that they'd get into some odd punk music and I'd be saying, 'Well, the sixties was better,' but they're not. My son loves the Beach Boys. His big new turn-on album that I turned him on to is Pet Sounds. And he loves James Brown, Otis Redding, the Commodores, he's got some good taste.

Question: Are your children musically inclined?

Paul: Yeah, they are, but Linda and I have always said that we'd never push them because it's a tough game and unless they're really keen ... But they're all very good, they're all very interested in music and they can all carry a tune and stuff.

Question: Are you surprised how many young people on this tour are responding to your music?

Paul: Well, kind of. But a couple of years ago I started to notice how kids like my nephews, who are eighteen now, but who I've known since they were two or whatever, started getting into the Grateful Dead. Now they're all Deadheads, it's incredible. I think maybe it is because modern music is a little bit synthetic and shallow that they're looking back to the sixties. And the great thing about a lot of that sixties stuff is that it does stand up still.

Paul returned to the venue on 1 May 2002 as part of his 'Driving USA' tour.

Palais de la Musique, Lille, France

The venue that hosted the French premiere of Paul's Liverpool Oratorio on Sunday 15 November 1992.

Paul, Linda and their children attended the performance, arriving in their private Lear jet at Lesquin Airport a few minutes before Diana, Princess of Wales also touched down. Diana was in France for three days and attended the performance.

The event was part of a 'British Festival' in Lille and was also attended by Pierre Mauroy, the local Mayor, who had once been Prime Minister.

The performance was by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra with Choristers of the Liverpool Cathedral, conducted by Carl Davis. The other artists were Marie McLaughlin, soprano, as Mary Dee; Sally Burgess, mezzo-soprano as Miss Inkley, chief mourner and nurse; Thomas Randle, tenor, as Shanty; William White, bass, as Headmaster, Preacher and Mr Dingle, and Andrew O'Connor, soprano, as boy soloist.

Paolozzi, Eduardo

Internationally renowned Scottish sculptor who tutored former Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe at Hamburg Art College. Paul bought one of his works called Solo and used another on the cover of Red Rose Speedway. Paolozzi also designed the artwork for Paul's Off The Ground album.

Paperback Writer

Paul had the idea for the song on his way to Weybridge to meet John. He thought he'd read something in the Daily Mail that morning about people who were paperback writers. He told John of the idea of trying to write to publishers, wanting to be a paperback writer and suggested that the song be in the form of a letter. Paul began to work on the number in front of John, finished it and they both went upstairs and put a melody to it.

John Lennon confirmed that this number was mainly penned by Paul saying, 'Paul wrote this. I think I might have helped with some of the lyrics. Yes, I did. But it was mainly Paul's tune.'

George Harrison was also to say, 'The idea of "Paperback Writer" is Paul's. I think John gave him some of the chords, but it was originally Paul who came up with the story line.'

Some sources claim it was written in connection with John's two books, hence the mention of nonsense writer Edward Lear in the fourth line.

A young man working for the Daily Mail wants to become a paperback writer. It is also suggested that Paul even worked out the man's name, a character called Ian Iachimore, which he devised because it sounded like his own name after it had been played backwards on a tape loop. The number was used quite successfully as the theme tune to a television book series in Britain called Read All About It.

Apart from singing lead vocal, Paul played Rickenbacker bass on the track. Recording engineer Geoff Emerick commented, '"Paperback Writer" was the first time the bass sound had been heard in all its excitement. For a start, Paul played a different bass, a Rickenbacker. Then we boosted it further by using a loudspeaker as a microphone. We positioned it directly in front of the bass speaker and the moving diaphragm of the second speaker made the electric current.'

The single was recorded at Abbey Road Studios on Wednesday 13 April 1996 and issued in the UK on Parlophone R 5452 on Friday 10 June 1966 where it entered the chart at No. 2, topping the chart in the second week and remaining at the top for a further two weeks. The flipside was 'Rain'.

It was issued in the US on Capitol 5651 on Monday 30 May 1966 and was also No. 1 for two weeks.

Other countries in which it topped the chart included Australia, New Zealand, West Germany, Austria, Holland, Denmark, Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.

It was also later featured on several album compilations, including 'A Collection Of Oldies (But Goldies)', 'The Beatles 1967-1970', the 1979 'Hey Jude' album and 'The Beatle Box.'

Michael Lindsay-Hogg made a promotional film of the number on 20 May 1966 at Chiswick House in London, which was screened on Top Of The Pops on Thursday 9 June 1966.

A live version of the number, 2 minutes and 37 minutes in length, was recorded at the Blockbuster Pavilion, Charlotte on 15 June 1993 and included on the Paul Is Live album.

Parkinson

Michael Parkinson, a Yorkshire-born former journalist who became a television chat-show host, was one of the celebrities featured on the cover of Wings' Band On The Run.

When the photograph was taken in 1973 Parkinson told Paul he could return the favour by appearing on his show and Paul agreed.

The long-standing promise was eventually honoured on Friday 3 December 1999 when Paul was the sole guest for one hour on Parkinson.

A studio performance with Paul's new band on 'Honey Hush' opened the show.

Paul then sat with Parkinson and played 'Twenty Flight Rock' and 'Yesterday' with an acoustic guitar. He also played an unreleased number, 'When The Wind Is Blowing', which was intended for the full-length movie Paul had wanted to make about Rupert Bear. Paul then went to the piano and played 'The Long And Winding Road' followed by three unreleased songs, including 'Suicide', which had once been rejected by Frank Sinatra.

Paul then discussed various topics, including how he was affected by Linda's death. 'I didn't expect to be sitting here being asked about her death. It was just a terrible blow for me and the kids, and all her family.' He discussed the Beatles and John Lennon saying, 'He was a complex guy, because he had a lot of tragedy in his life. I think he was very guarded, and the wit and everything was the shell that came down. But, having said that, he was a very lovable guy, very warmhearted and a great friend.' Discussing how they got in contact again he said, 'We had some really good conversations, and thankfully, for me, we were really good friends by the time he died. I would hate to have left it on another note.'

At the close of the interview, Parkinson said, 'It was every bit the event I expected it to be. It was worth waiting for.'

Parnes, Larry

Major British music impresario of the 1950s who once booked the Silver Beatles to back Johnny Gentle on a tour of Scotland in 1960. In 1983 he filed a suit against Paul and the BBC over comments made by Paul on his Desert Island Discs appearance in January 1982. Paul had said that the group had never been paid for their Scottish tour.

The legal dispute was eventually settled on the 28 July 1984 edition of the programme when Roy Plomley made a formal apology, although pointing out that Paul had only meant it as a joke.

Parsons, Alan

A recording manager and technician. He originally applied for a job at Abbey Road Studios. He was hired and within weeks was working as technical assistant at the Abbey Road recording sessions.

In an interview with the German edition of Penthouse, published in May 1995, he recalled the first time he met the Beatles.

'I will probably never forget it. The Beatles had just moved into their new "Apple" studio and had technical problems. I was sent there, entered the wrong room, and there they were sitting. All four of them, including George Martin, their producer. I stood there very astonished and had to force myself to keep breathing. After I successfully connected all wires at the right places, the studio was kind of ready to kick off working. Immediately the Beatles cried out in Abbey Road, "Can we put this boy into service as a technical assistant until we've finished our LP?" And that's how destiny created the opportunity to look inside the Beatles' frying pan.'

The date he helped to get the Apple studio working was Thursday 23 January 1969.

Parsons was later to form the Alan Parsons Project and also became, for a time, manager of the Abbey Road Studios.

He remained friendly with Paul and after the Beatles had broken up, Paul hired him as technical assistant on his first solo album McCartney. Parsons recalled, 'He played all the instruments himself, and we were in the studio day and night. That was the start of our friendship. Later, in 1973 - meanwhile I'd become Abbey Road's chief technician - Paul claimed my services for Red Rose Speedway.'

Party

A closing track from the Run Devil Run album lasting 2 minutes and 38 seconds and recorded at Abbey Road Studios on Thursday 4 March 1999 with Paul on lead vocal and bass guitar, Dave Gitmour on electric guitar, Pete Wingfield on piano and Ian Paice on drums.

It's actually 'Let's Have a Party', the number Elvis Presley sang in the movie 'Loving You'.

The Beatles used to perform it early in their career at a time when they didn't always get the words of a song right. They had thought there was a line, 'I never kissed a goo' and always sang it like that. When Paul began to record it for Run Devil Run one of his backing musicians asked what a 'goo* was, so Paul looked up the actual words to the song and it was T never kissed a goon'.

Party at the Palace

An event that took place in the grounds of Buckingham Palace during Queen Elizabeth IPs Golden Jubilee celebrations on 3 June 2002.

Two million people had entered a lottery to get tickets for the all-star concert, for which only 12,500 tickets were available.

Performers at the event included Brian Adams, Queen, Eric Clapton, Brian Wilson, Ray Davies, Rod Stewart, Phil Collins, Shirley Bassey, Ricky Martin, Tony Bennett, Tom Jones, Cliff Richard, Joe Cocker, Ozzy Osbourne, Elton John and Steve Winwood.

The backing band included Paul 'Wix' Wickens and Phil Collins. The Corrs performed 'The Long And Winding Road' and Joe Cocker performed 'With A Little Help From My Friends'.

Dame Edna Everage introduced Paul, who was the final act to appear. He opened by singing his own composition, 'Her Majesty', before performing an acoustic version of 'Blackbird'. As a tribute to George Harrison, Eric Clapton joined Paul on 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', following an announcement by Sir George Martin about the Beatles' impact on British music and the contribution made by George Harrison. His touring band then backed Paul when he performed 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely hearts Club Band' coupled with 'The End'.

Paul then asked the crowd to sing along with him on 'All You Need Is Love', saying, 'I think you just might know it.' The song had actually been chosen as the Jubilee anthem and had been sung throughout the country that day.

The Queen then walked on stage with other members of the royal family, and Prince Charles made a speech.

Paul then turned to the audience and said: 'I said to Her Majesty: "Are we doing this again next year?" and she said, "Not in my garden." ' He asked them if they wanted another song and said: 'Good, you're getting one.' He then performed 'Hey Jude'.

On finishing the song he said: 'You don't want to go home; I don't want to go home; so, even though the TV show is over, let's do another. Give me my bass.' He then performed 'I Saw Her Standing There'. This number wasn't included in the two-hour BBC television coverage of the event.

Following the concert, Paul said: 'It was just fantastic. It's been a really buzzy day. When I was singing I just suddenly realised there were people in the Mall, all over Britain and all over the world listening. That's a big audience.'

The live broadcast had an estimated worldwide audience of 200 million.

Two DVDs of the Jubilee events were issued on BBC/Opus Arte and Naxos of America, From At the Palace and Party at the Palace.

Party at the Palace included an eight-page booklet, lasted approximately three hours and was issued by BBC/Opus Arte OA 0857 D (DVD) and on OA 0862 V (VHS).

Party Party (promotional film)

The promotional video for the number required 600 hours of animation works by director Peter Brookes and his three assistants. The four painted 4,500 images on 16mm film, completing it in 12 days. The animation was then intercut with snippets from 'Put It There' to complete the promotional film.

Party Party (single)

This was a number which was credited to P McCartney/L McCartney/McIntosh/Stuart/Whitten/Wickens.

This track, which had previously been unreleased, was added as a bonus one-sided vinyl single to the Flowers In The Dirt (World Tour Pack), issued in the UK on Parlophone R6238 on Thursday 23 November 1989 and in America as a CD single on Sunday 15 January 1990. Five hundred copies of a 12" edition were also pressed specially for British disc jockeys under the catalogue number 12 RDJ 6238. It was also included in a two-CD special Flowers In The Dirt package issued in Japan in March 1990.

Paul

A magazine published in America in 1964 by SMH Publications. It was part of a series of separate publications on each member of the Beatles.

Paul And Friends - The PET A Concert For Party Animals (DVD)

A DVD release of the 1999 Peta concert. The contents include 'The Skin Trade' by Pamela Anderson-Lee, 'Cheap Tricks' by Alex Baldwin, 'Fur Farming' by Stella McCartney, 'Puppy Mills' by Charlize Theron, 'North Carolina Pig Farm Investigation' by James Cromwell, 'Teach Yourself, a music video by Raw Youth and a public service announcement compilation. Music was supplied by Sarah McLachlan who performed 'Angel' to a background of still photographs of Paul and Linda; 'Love Shack' and 'Rock Lobster' by the B-52s; 'Roam' by the B-52s with Chrissie Hynde and Sarah McLachlan; Til Stand By You' by Chrissie Hynde and the B-52s; and Paul McCartney and his band performing 'Honey Hush', 'Brown Eyed Handsome Man', 'No Other Baby', 'Try Not To Cry', 'Lonesome Town' and 'Run Devil Run'.

Other celebrities appearing in the DVD include Jamie Lee Curtis, Ellen DeGeneres, Margaret Cho, Andy Dick, Anne Hecke, Ricki Lake, Bill Maher, Brian McKnight, Kathy Najimy and Alicia Silverstone.

'Paul is Dead'

A bizarre chapter in the Beatles' story arose when rumours that Paul had died in a car accident led to newspaper and magazine features, radio phone-ins, even a television special relating to the alleged death of Paul and his replacement by a double. The Beatles were then alleged

to have introduced into their recordings various clues that Paul had died.

On 12 October 1969 Russ Gibbs, who was a disc jockey on the Detroit radio station WKNR-FM, received a phone call from someone referring to himself simply as Tom, who suggested that, if he listened to certain parts of Beatles recordings, he would find references to the death of Paul.

Listening to the programme at the time was an aspiring journalist, Fred LaBour, who had been asked to review the Abbey Road album for the Michigan Daily. He recalled: 'This guy was saying that if you played part of "Revolution No. 9" backward, they were saying "Turn me on, dead man", and that in "I Am The Walrus" - or was it "Strawberry Fields Forever"? - you could hear "I buried Paul", and that it all meant that Paul was dead. I was astonished at the craziness of this, so the next day I led off the review with those and a bunch of other observations I made up. It was a satire on seeing things that weren't there, but people took it seriously.'

In his review of the album, LaBour claimed that on the Abbey Road album cover the group were leaving a cemetery and that John was dressed as a minister, Ringo as an undertaker and George as a gravedigger, and pointed out that Paul was out of step with the others, which apparently meant that it was in fact either his corpse, or, more popularly, a substitute who'd had plastic surgery. According to the rumours, proof positive of the impostor theory was the fact that Paul was holding a cigarette in his right hand and everyone knew that the real Paul McCartney was left-handed.

Most of his 'clues' could actually be checked out and disregarded as wrong. For instance, the reference to John's lyrics 'Here's another clue for you, the walrus was Paul' on 'Glass Onion', led LaBour to say that 'walrus' was Greek for 'corpse', which was easily disproved.

Gibbs continued to fuel the rumours on his show and suggested that Paul had been involved in an argument with the other members of the Beatles at Abbey Road Studios on 9 November 1966 and had stormed out of the session, driven away in his Aston-Martin and been decapitated in a crash. Brian Epstein had hushed up the death and replaced Paul with a lookalike. Gibbs said that clues could be found on subsequent Beatles albums, including Abbey Road. He pointed out that Paul was barefoot in the picture, which indicated a Mafia (or Grecian) sign of death.

Other clues relating to the Abbey Road album arose when fans discovered that the registration number of a Volkswagen car in the background included 28IF, which indicated that Paul would have been 28 'IF he had lived. In fact, Paul was 27.

Paul would recall: 'I just turned up at the photo session. It was a really nice hot day and I think I wore sandals. I only had to walk around the corner to the crossing because I lived pretty nearby. I had me sandals off and on for the session. Of course, when it comes out people start looking at it and they say: "Why has he got no shoes on? He's never done that before." OK, you've never see me do it before but in actual fact it's just me with me shoes off. Turns out to be some old Mafia sign of death or something.'

Tim Harper, another journalist, had a feature entitled Paul is dead appearing in the college newspaper in Des Moines, Iowa, on 17 September. The article was then featured in the 21 October 1969 edition of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Alan Bennett of the New York radio station WMCA-AM actually flew to London to follow up the clues and said: 'The only way McCartney is going to quell the rumours is by coming up with a set of fingerprints from a 1965 passport which can be compared to his present prints.'

Various singles relating to the rumours were released, including 'St Paul', 'Paulbearer', 'So Long Paul' and 'Brother Paul'.

Further articles appeared claiming that Paul had been replaced by a double; names varied from William Campbell to Billy Shears. There was a Paul Is Dead magazine issued, a National Lampoon satire and even a television programme hosted by a noted defence attorney F Lee Bailey.

Fans began finding clues in previously released albums such as Sgt Pepper, Rubber Soul, The Beatles Yesterday And Today, Revolver and The Beatles.

In the case of the Sgt Pepper album they pointed to the fact that a cardboard cutout of the comedian Issy Bonn had his hand slightly raised over Paul's head, which they alleged was an Indian sign of death. They said that the flowers on the sleeve represented a symbolic grave.

In the centrefold of the album Paul is wearing a badge with the initials 'OPD', which fans suggested meant 'Officially Pronounced Dead'. The patch on Paul's sleeve does sport such initials, but they stood for 'Ontario Provincial Police'. Paul was given the official patch while the Beatles were appearing in Toronto on Tuesday 17 August 1965. The back cover had an image of George, John and Ringo with a back view of Paul. Fans said that this was because someone substituted for the dead Paul. This wasn't so, as other pictures from the same session reveal that it was Paul in the photograph.

Twenty-six years after the 'Paul is Dead' affair began, Paul issued an album, Paul Is Live, repeating his Abbey Road zebra crossing, taking great pains to reproduce items from the original scene, even having some of them computer-generated. This time the registration number of the Volkswagen was 51 IS, referring to Paul's current age and the fact that he was very much alive.

The affair has caused Paul some amusement over the years and in an episode of The Simpsons an animated Paul, with Paul's actual voice, says, 'Oh, by the way, I'm alive.'

Paul Is Dead (film)

A German film written and directed by Hendrik Handloegten who originally wrote it as a film school thesis. A teenager hears the 'Paul is Dead' rumours on the radio and sets out with friends to discover more of the death clues. The 75-minute film was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in America in January 2001.

Paul Is Live (album)

All 24 tracks on this album were recorded during the 1993 New World Tour in either Australia or the USA by former Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick. He commented, 'What we captured was the energy that came from the stage. With this album you really get the feeling of being there, because we've captured the ballsiness.'

The album was released in Britain on Monday 15 November 1993 and in America on Tuesday 16 November on Capitol CDP 7243. A five-track sampler CD was issued in Europe by Parlophone on PMLIVE1, but was immediately withdrawn, partly because of an error on the cover artwork. The sampler contained five tracks: 'Magical Mystery Tour', 'Biker Like An Icon', 'My Love', 'Paperback Writer' and 'Live And Let Die'.

Paul's PR man Geoff Baker provided sleeve notes for the sampler in which he pointed out that both the title and album sleeve photograph was a parody on the 'Paul is Dead' rumours sparked off by, among other things, the Abbey Road album cover. Computer artwork placed the 1993 Paul into the original Abbey Road shot of 1969.

For the sleeve photograph Paul engaged photographer Iain Macmillan, who had taken the original Abbey Road cover shot.

In the new image, instead of the Beatles, Paul's only companion on the crossing now is an Old English sheepdog, the latest in a line of such pals he's had since Martha.

Commenting on the parody, Paul said, 'Back in the sixties the wild rumour was that I was dead because of certain alleged "clues" in the Abbey Road sleeve. Because I was barefoot, it being a scorching summer's day, it was taken as a bizarre Mafia sign of death. Then they said that because part of the number plate of the Volkswagen parked behind us read 28IF, it meant I - being 27 at the time - would have been 28 IF I'd lived.

'So we're having a little parody of that on the sleeve of Paul Is Live. This time I've got my boots on (veggie Doc Martens, by the way, so they're not dead either). The original Volkswagen is still there. This time the number reads 51 IS.

'It was strange to go back to the Abbey Road crossing again. The deja vu hit in. It was a summer's day again. The cops held the traffic again. The crowd of surprised onlookers gaped again. But the only difference was, instead of the Beatles, it was one man and his dog - but, please, don't start reading anything into that.'

He was to add, 'But there is absolutely no significance in the fact that, on the Paul Is Live sleeve, I am on the crossing with a dog -except that, on this New World Tour, we're supporting animal rights.' Paul also said, 'As I've said, it's all just a bit of light-hearted parody of the crazy rumours that were dismissed as nonsense at the time of Abbey Road. The idea for the title came to me after I received a letter from a young Hollywood film director, who had written to tell me about a movie she is planning for next year called Paul Is Dead. Apparently the film is about this girl having a breakdown and being institutionalised. She told me that during her breakdown, this image of me would come to her in her dreams and help her work through it. That set me thinking about the album title.'

Comparing the covers of Abbey Road and Paul Is Live, Paul also said, 'There's another coincidence, as the guy who made my original suit that I wore on the Abbey Road shot - which was thought at the time to be an "Oxfam suit", but was in fact a Savile Row suit - this guy, Edward Sexton, is the same tailor who made the suit I wore for the sleeve of Paul Is Live, and who has also made the stage clothes for me, and the band, on the New World Tour.'

Paul Is Live (video)

The home video Paul Is Live was issued in Britain on Monday 21 March 1994 on Picture Music International MVN 4912453. The 85-minute film included a pre-concert 'home movie' in which there were excerpts from 'A Quiet Moment' 'Sexual Ealing', 'Jam 18', 'Jam 22' and 'Liverpool Suite'. There was also some animal welfare footage in the 'home movie' section which resulted in the video being given a '15' certificate, which meant that anyone under fifteen years of age couldn't buy it.

It was directed by Aubrey Powell and produced for MPL by Steven J Swartz with video remix by Kevin Godley and Jerry Charter.

The track listing was: 'Drive My Car', 'Let Me Roll It', 'Looking For Changes', 'Peace In the Neighbourhood', 'All My Loving', 'Good Rockin' Tonight', 'We Can Work It Out', 'Hope Of Deliverance', 'Michelle', 'Biker Like An Icon', 'Here There And Everywhere', 'Magical Mystery Tour', 'C'mon People', 'Lady Madonna', 'Paperback Writer', 'Penny Lane', 'Live And Let Die', 'Kansas City', 'Let It Be', 'Yesterday' and 'Hey Jude', A 72-minute Paul Is Live video was issued By Vap Video in Japan on VPVR-60736 on 1 January 1994. The same company also released a laserdisc of it on VPLR-70352 on 1 February. The release featured twenty tracks: 'Drive My Car', 'Let Me Roll It', 'Looking For Changes', 'Peace in The Neighbourhood', 'All My Loving', 'Robbie's Bit', 'Good Rockin' Tonight', 'We Can Work It Out', 'Hope Of Deliverance', 'Michelle', 'Biker Like An Icon', 'Here There And

Everywhere', 'My Love', 'Magical Mystery Tour', 'C'mon People', 'Lady Madonna', 'Paperback Writer', 'Penny Lane',' Live and Let Die' and 'Kansas City'.

Paul Is Live In Concert On The New World Tour

A 70-minute video that tied in with the release of the Paul Is Live album. This comprised footage from several of the concerts on the tour, edited in to fit the overdub-free soundtrack of the album. Aubrey Powell directed the video and the 'video remix' was by Kevin Godley and Jerry Chater.

Paul, Les

A legendary guitar player who also revolutionised the design of guitars. He was born on 9 June 1915 in Wankesha, Wisconsin, USA. Les Paul also introduced innovations in studio recording and had a series of chart hits with his wife Mary Ford. On Saturday 16 April 1988 he gave Paul a special custom-built left-handed guitar when Paul was visiting New York. He'd originally intended presenting it to him at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame event on 20 January, but Paul (McCartney) had decided not to attend at that time.

Paul McCartney (single)

Title of a single by Manchester band Laugh that was issued on the Remorse label on LOSS 5 on Friday 14 August 1987. The record sleeve featured a picture of a walrus.

Paul McCartney (single)

Title of a single by singer/songwriter Tony Hazzard, issued on the Bronze label.

Paul McCartney (TV documentary)

A documentary produced by Ardent Productions that was first screened on the Biography Channel on Saturday 3 November 2001. It included an exclusive interview with Paul.

Paul McCartney, The

A rose named after Paul. This was a gift EMI Records made to Paul on his 47th birthday on 18 June 1989. It was a medium-pink hybrid tea rose grown in France which was described as 'a vibrant pink with a strong fragrance'. As the Paul McCartney it was officially registered in Meillard, France in 1995.

Paul McCartney and Friends (DVD)

A DVD from Image Entertainment of the PETA Concert featuring five songs from the Run Devil Run album. It was issued in America on 4 September 2001.

Paul McCartney and Friends (event)

A fundraising evening held at St James' Palace, London in the presence of Prince Charles the Prince of Wales, on Thursday 23 March 1995, in aid of the Royal College of Music.

RCM director Janet Rimmerman said, 'This will be a memorable one-off occasion. Paul McCartney has had a considerable influence on classical music. His interest in classical music is part of the broadening out and cross-fertilisation of different musical genres which is taking place at the moment.'

Paul said that he had decided to premiere his new piece, A Leaf at the RMC because he 'was glad to be given the chance to help young aspiring musicians. In today's competitive world, it is very difficult for people to get a good start. I hope this concert will help give musicians of the future a much needed boost, and the rest of us an enjoyable evening.'

The orchestral night included performances from Paul, Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet, soprano Sally Burgess and baritone Willard White.

Tickets were limited to 300, sent to the college's subscribing members, by invitation only, requiring a donation of £250 each.

Paul was Master of Ceremonies and began the evening by announcing, 'Your Royal Highness, my lords, ladies, gentlemen - and the rest of us - thank you for your generous support for the Royal College of Music. I'm here to support the young musicians of the future, so thanks for coming, and for caring. We've got a varied programme tonight - and thanks to all the talented performers ... for showing up sober!'

He then announced the first artist describing her as 'an ex-student of the Royal College of Music, the 22-year-old daughter of Dmitri Alexeyev, performing a new piano piece wot I wrote!'

This main performance of the evening was the world premiere of Paul's composition A Leaf, a solo performance by the Russian pianist Anya Alexeyev, a former prize-winning student at the college. The ten-minute solo piano suite had been specially written by Paul for the occasion.

At the end of the piece, Paul said 'Fantastic!' He then introduced 'a friend called Willard'. This was baritone singer Willard White who reprised selections of his work on Paul's Liverpool Oratorio before singing 'We're all Dodging'.

Paul then introduced Sally Burgess who was joined by the New London Children's Choir as she and Willard sang the schoolroom song from the Oratorio. Sally next sang a ballad from the Oratorio, 'Do You Know Who You Are'. She next sang a number from the musical Showboat, 'Can't Help Loving That Man'.

Next were the Brodsky Quartet who had formerly teamed up with Elvis Costello on his album The Juliet Letters. They performed 'Harold In Islington' and were joined on stage by Costello, who Paul introduced as 'someone I've written a few songs with over the last few years'.

Together with the quartet he performed some of the songs from The Juliet Letters and they then went on to perform some popular numbers such as 'God Only Knows'.

Elvis was joined on stage by Paul and announced, 'If I sing any wrong notes, you have to blame him, 'cause I got my musical education from singing along with his records.'

The two performed 'Mistress And Maid', which they had co-written and which was included on the Off The Ground album and they also sang John Lennon's 'One After 909'.

Paul then sang 'For No One', accompanied by the Brodsky Quartet with Michael Thompson on French horn. He then played an up-tempo version of 'Lady Madonna' on the piano. Paul then asked the quartet to take a bow before singing 'Yesterday'.

After the enthusiastic applause, Prince Charles took the stage to say, 'I hope you agree with me that we've been incredibly lucky this evening. Personally, I'm enormously grateful to Paul McCartney for having given up so much time and put so much into this evening.

'When I was at school in the sixties, I remember getting out of an airplane, coming back from school in Scotland to London Airport. As I got out, a strong gust of wind blew, and my hair fell over my head like this.' He indicated a fringe-like effect. 'In the papers the next day, it said: "Prince Has Beatles hairstyle". I could do it in those days, I can't do it now.'

He referred to the importance of the evening in raising funds for the students, saying, 'One of the great requirements is for video recording equipment so that all the students can see what they look like when they're playing. This makes a huge difference to their technique.

'The wonderful thing about this evening is that it reminds one that the music he wrote with John Lennon never fades; it is still just as good as it always was. That's the test of real music, I think.'

The Prince turned to Paul and said, 'In recognition of everything you've done, in particular for the Royal College of Music, the College wanted to offer you an honorary fellowship, which I hope you'll come and accept when they give out degrees.'

The hour-long performance was followed by a vegetarian dinner.

The concert was broadcast in Britain by Classic FM at Easter.

A Leaf was a piano piece that was difficult to play, which is probably why Paul himself did not want to perform it on this occasion. EMI's classical division released a version of A Leaf in Britain on 24 April. Lady Elizabeth Arnold, chairperson of the invitation committee for the gala evening described the piece as 'absolutely wonderful. It's a soliloquy piece. You can hear this little leaf drifting around.'

Paul McCartney Band, The

The name Paul chose for his group, which backed him on the 1989/90 World Tour. They were: Paul McCartney, vocals, bass; Hamish Stuart,

guitar, bass, vocals; Linda McCartney, keyboards, vocals; Robbie Mclntosh, lead guitar, vocals; Chris Whitten, drums; and Paul 'Wix' Wickens, keyboards, synthesisers.

Prior to deciding on that name, Paul had initially considered several others, including the Flowers In The Dirt, Game Play, Lumpy Trousers and Paul McCartney's Think Tank.

The group were originally assembled by Paul in July 1987 to record the album Flowers In The Dirt, and were then reunited for the world tour which began on 26 September 1989 and toured Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Holland, United States, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Britain, New Zealand and Australia.

Paul McCartney: Beyond The Myth

An audio cassette/CD issued by Laserlight in 1995, part of a series of cassettes of interviews compiled and collated by Geoffrey Giuliano, and packaged as a Beatles audio set, taking advantage of the massive worldwide publicity for The Beatles Anthology. The tape was produced by Giuliano, Fred Betschen and David St Onge and contained no music, only interviews.

The tracks were:

1. Introduction by author (Giuliano). 2. Paul's younger brother, Mike McCartney. 3. Mike McCartney. 4. Paul McCartney. 5. Cavern club compere, Bob Wooler. 6. Beatles personal assistant, Alistair Taylor. 7. Early Beatles compere, 'Father' Tom McKenzie. 8. Mike McCartney. 9. Cavern doorman, Paddy Delaney. 10. Paul McCartney. 11. Paul McCartney. 12. Apple executive, Peter Brown. 13. Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band Member, Roger Ruskin Spear. 14. Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band Member, Neil Innes. 15. Roger Ruskin Spear. 16. Neil Innes. 17. Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band drummer, 'Legs' Larry Smith. 18. Paul McCartney. 19. Mike McCartney. 20. Denny Laine. 21. Denny Laine. 22. Steve Holly. 23. Mike McCartney. 24. Denny Laine. 25. Paul McCartney. 26. George Harrison. 27. Paul McCartney. 28. More exclusive reminiscences from Paul McCartney and Julia Baird (bonus track).

Paul McCartney Collection, The

The title given to the back catalogue of Paul McCartney/Wings releases, remastered for Parlophone by Peter Mew. They were issued on both CD and cassette to tie in with Paul's New World Tour. In addition to the sixteen titles there was also a promotional sampler containing tracks from all the albums. They were released in two sections. The first set was issued on Monday 7 June 1993. It comprised McCartney, Parlophone 7 89239 2, with no bonus tracks; Ram, Parlophone 7 89139 2 with the addition of 'Another Day' and 'Oh Woman, Oh Why'; Wild Life, Parlophone 7 89237 2, with the addition of 'Give Ireland Back To The Irish', 'Mary Had A Little Lamb', 'Little Woman Love' and 'Mama's Little Girl'; Red Rose Speedway, Parlophone 7 89238 2 with the addition of 'C Moon', 'Hi, Hi, Hi', The Mess' and 'I Lie Around'; Band On The Run, Parlophone 7 89240 2 with the addition of 'Helen Wheels' and 'Country Dreamer'; Venus And Mars, Parlophone 7 89241 2 with the addition of 'Zoo Gang', 'Lunch Box'/'Odd Sox' and 'My Carnival'; Wings At The Speed Of Sound, Parlophone 7 89140 2 with the addition of 'Walking In The Park With Eloise', 'Bridge On The River Suite' and 'Sally G'; and London Town, Parlophone 7 89265 2 with the addition of 'Girls' School' and 'Mull Of Kintyre'.

The second set was released on Monday 9 August 1993. It comprised Wings Greatest, Parlophone 7 89317 2 with no bonus tracks; Back To The Egg, Parlophone 7 89136 2 with the addition of'Daytime Nighttime Suffering', 'Wonderful Christmastime' and 'Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reggae'; McCartney II, Parlophone 7 89137 2 with the addition of 'Check My Machine', 'Secret Friend' and 'Goodnight Tonight'; Tug Of War, Parlophone 7 89266 2 with no bonus tracks; Pipes Of Peace, Parlophone 7 89267 2 with the addition of 'Twice In A Lifetime', 'We All Stand Together' and 'Simple As That'; Give My Regards To Broad Street, Parlophone 7 89268 2 with the addition of 'No More Lonely Nights' (extended version) and 'No More Lonely Nights' (special dance mix); Press To Play, Parlophone 7 89269 2 with the addition of 'Spies Like Us' and 'Once Upon A Long Ago' (long version); and Flowers In the Dirt, Parlophone 7 89138 2 with the addition of 'Back On My Feet', 'Flying To My Home' and 'Loveliest Thing'.

Paul McCartney Collection CD Sampler, The

An 19-track promotional-only Paul McCartney sampler CD that was not for sale in regular record shops. It was issued in 1993 in a CD-single jewel case with the catalogue number CDPMCOLDJ 1 and different from previous compilations in that it included several album tracks that weren't considered classic McCartney cuts.

The track listing was: 'Every Night', 'Maybe I'm Amazed', 'Too Many People¹, 'Tomorrow', 'C Moon', 'Let Me Roll It', 'Treat Her Gently', 'Lonely Old People', 'Beware My Love', 'Girlfriend', 'Another Day', 'Live And Let Die', 'Daytime Nighttime Suffering', 'Waterfalls', 'Ballroom Dancing', 'The Man', 'No More Lonely Nights', 'Footprints' and 'You Want Her Too'.

Paul McCartney - Composer, Artist

A book crediting Paul as author, published by Pavilion Books in 1981 in both hard and soft covers. In many ways this was a disappointment because pre-publicity had led people to believe that the book was Paul's equivalent of George Harrison's J, Me, Mine.

A book of Paul's songs on which he had actively worked with the publishers should have resulted, it was felt, in something better than this.

Personal comments from Paul on all the numbers, some incisive background as to how he came to write the songs, some replicas of the material (papers, tissues, menu cards) on which he had originally penned his ideas and so on would have produced a publication which provided some insight on Paul as 'composer/artist'.

In fact, what is given is a hundred-word introduction, three photos of Linda, forty-seven doodles and forty-eight songs.

Described as 'an extra-special glimpse into McCartney's creative mind ... revealed through songs and never-before-published drawings', it fails to deliver. The music and lyrics are as beautiful as ever -but they are available in many songbooks.

This is, in fact, a glorified songbook. The spidery drawings don't even illustrate the actual songs they are placed alongside and the majority of them are merely sketches of faces, while the general standard of the drawings is uneven, to say the least.

Paul actually sent a special collector's edition of the book to the Artists For Animals group, which is an anti-vivisection organisation. The idea was for them to auction it and raise funds for their cause. It proved to be an embarrassing move because they had to send the book back.

Their spokeswoman Viv Smith commented, 'We don't criticise Paul. He's a compassionate guy who gives a lot of support to animal causes. But if we were to auction the book we would be accused of animal exploitation because it is bound in skin!'

Paul McCartney - Freeze Frame

A 30-minute TV programme aired in some ITV areas of Britain late in the evening of Friday 7 September 1984.

A film of Paul and George Martin during the recording of Tug Of War was followed by a conversation in which Paul discussed the album. The programme also included four complete Масса videos: 'Take It Away', 'Coming Up', 'Tug Of War' and 'Ebony And Ivory'.

Paul McCartney: From Liverpool To Broad Street

A two-hour radio programme on Paul's career, syndicated in America to coincide with the release of Give My Regards To Broad Street.

Paul McCartney Fun Club, The

Also known as the Wings Fun Club, it was founded by Paul and Linda as the only official fan club. A glossy news magazine Club Sandwich was issued and the club also provided a mail order service with special offers for fans. Paul also invited members to special recordings and appearances. In 1989 McCartney's Fun Club had 7,000 UK and 3,000 US members. The club was officially disbanded due to Linda's death and a letter of notice was sent to each member on 2 October 1998.

Paul McCartney Goes Too Far

This was to be the title of an album of his avant-garde music, which Paul once considered releasing, but decided against.

Paul McCartney In The World Tonight

A one-hour documentary surrounding the making of the Flaming Pie album which was produced and directed by Geoff Wonfor and edited by Andy Matthews. Wonfor had suggested the idea to Paul and the documentary features Paul discussing the individual songs, with shots of him recording them in the studio. There is also a tour of the studio and details of the preparation of the artwork for the album cover, designed by Rick Ward. Mark Lewisohn and Geoff Baker then interview Paul who discusses the songs, track by track. Paul is seen taking Oobu Joobu producer Eddy Pumer around his Mill studio, giving a demonstration of the various instruments there.

Filming of the documentary began in February 1997 and was completed on Friday 11 April with the rooftop concert Paul gave on top of his MPL building in Soho, although this segment wasn't used in the documentary. In fact, 35 hours of material was edited out of the final one-hour special.

'Paul McCartney In The World Tonight' was previewed to the British national press at the BAFTA headquarters in Piccadilly, London on Tuesday 13 May 1997 and then received its television premiere on VH-1 in America on Friday 16 May and its British premiere on ITV on Sunday 18 May.

An insight into the Flaming Pie album was given during the VH-1 documentary with the question-and-answer session conducted with Paul by his publicist Geoff Baker:

Geoff: Is this new album, Flaming Pie, timed for release to coincide with certain important anniversaries this year?

Paul: No, it's not timed to fit in with those anniversaries, that's just coincidence. But it's true, there are these big anniversaries: the album is out on 12 May, which is around the time, thirty years ago, of the release of Sgt Pepper and it's also the thirtieth anniversary, that week, I believe, of me and Linda meeting for the first time.

Geoff: Isn't it the fortieth anniversary this July of you meeting John, for the first time?

Paul: No, it can't be, because I'm not even that old.

Geoff: But you did meet him forty years ago. And here you are, forty years on, and one of you gets knighted. Wonder what you'd have thought of that back then?

Paul: We'd have collapsed in fits of laughter, the mere idea of it was so unthinkable, that we'd have thought it was a joke. Maybe we might have looked at a posh sports car and thought, 'Umra, maybe one day,' but a knighthood, no way. It would just be an impossible dream.

Geoff: So does that mean that Linda's Lady Linda or Lady McCartney now?

Paul: It's both isn't it. The nice thing about it really is when me and Linda are sitting away on holiday, watching the sunset. I turn to her and say, 'Hey, you're a lady.' It's a giggle, but it's nice because you get to make your girlfriend a lady, although she always was anyway.

As for myself, it's like a school prize. You don't go after it but if you do some good drawings, then you can get the art prize and they give it you because they think you're all right. And that's the way 1 take it, really. It's just something nice that's offered and it'd be rude to turn it down, wouldn't it?

Geoff: Is it four years since the last studio album, since Off The Ground?

Paul: Yes. Actually, after the last album we were all gearing up to do the Anthology and someone from EMI gave me the message that 'we don't need an album from you for a couple of years because we're doing the Anthology'. And at first I was a little pissed off. I thought, 'Oh yeah, ye of little faith. Typical record company!' But then I thought, 'They're right.' Number one, I wanted to concentrate on the Anthology, did a lot of work there getting it right. And also it would be very unseemly for any one of us to release a solo album in the middle of all that. Also stupid, to try to go against the Beatles sales. So I waited, worked on the Anthology and all the while I kept writing, as I do.

Geoff: Are all the songs on the album written by you?

Paul: Yes, apart from those that aren't. 'Listen To Be Bad' I wrote with Steve Miller and 'Really Love You' I wrote with Ringo. It's our first composition together, I think, we just sort of made that one up on the spot.

Geoff: Is Ringo playing drums on the album, then?

Paul: Yeah, just on a couple of tracks, 'Really Love You' and 'Beautiful Night'. The only other drummer, on all the other tracks, is me. I sort of learned how to do that, way back before Ringo joined the Beatles. When we didn't have a drummer, or when one didn't turn up, it was always me who got lumbered with that.

Geoff: So there are a lot of other musicians on this album?

Paul: It's basically me and a bunch of pals - Ringo, Steve Miller and Jeff Lynne in various combinations but not all of them together on any one track. So it's a bit of a solo effort, really, getting back to McCartney and Ram.

Geoff: Anybody else?

Paul: Yes, there's a couple of members of my family.

Geoff: Who's producing?

Paul: I co-produced most of the tracks with Jeff Lynne, eight of them. My old friend George Martin produced 'Calico Skies' and 'Great Day' with me and the others were produced by me and the seat of my pants. It's pretty much a home-made album.

Geoff: There's been a rumour going round that this album was going to be called Don't Sweat It. Is that true?

Paul: No. The album's called Flaming Pie. But 'Don't Sweat It' is the attitude with which we made this album. I've been telling everyone involved in the promotion of the album not to sweat it and there's to be no waking up in the middle of the night worrying about this album, because it's just an album. If you like it, you like it, if you don't - don't buy it.

Geoff: What brings you to that frame of mind?

Paul: Just having all the time and the freedom and the relaxation of doing the Anthology. Just having two years off, basically, but wanting to do music. So all the music that I did was just for my own pleasure. Normally you ring a producer and say, 'Right, put aside two months, six weeks at the least to get it together.' And then there's the mixing and then there's the overdubbing bit, and it can get very boring. It can get very horrible, actually. You can just think, 'I wish I could just have a day off.'

So I rang up Jeff Lynne, told him I had a bunch of songs and said could he come over. He said, 'How long? A month or six weeks or so?' I said, 'No, two weeks. We might get bored with each other after that.'

If you look at a Beatles album and look down the track list, they're all good little songs. So I thought I'd make an album where there wouldn't be a stiff on the track list - as far as I was concerned, anyway. I wanted to make sure that I liked every song on this album.

One of my theories is that the enjoyment you have in the studio communicates itself to people. If I'm having fun, which I am, maybe it'll sound like fun.

Geoff: Is there anything else, besides the influence of the Anthology, that has given you this calm, more relaxed approach?

Paul: Drugs. There's these drugs you can take, every morning you get up. Forty in each foot. Not easy but, boy, it gets you so relaxed.

Geoff: Much of the guitar on this album is heavier than you've recorded before. Have you got a new guitarist?

Paul: Not as such because I'm not playing with a band on this album. As I said, Steve Miller's on a few of the tracks and I love Steve's guitar playing. I'd been told that he was very difficult to produce because he's said to be very fussy, a great perfectionist. Somebody told me that he can sometimes take up to three hours to decide what guitar to use. But I found him very comfortable to work with. I'd just say, 'Whack that guitar up, Steve. Bloody hell, that sounds good,' and we got on with it.

My guitar playing on this album is a bit heavier than you may have heard before. Linda's into all that. When Linda and I first met she'd say, 'I didn't know you played heavy guitar like that, I love that,' and she'd get me to play like that at home.

So I did. It's a little naive, my guitar style. It's not amazingly technical, it's a little bit like Neil Young; I feel a bit of affinity with Neil. We drove up to see him at the Phoenix Festival last year and I know that we like similar things, like he's a big Hendrix fan too.

Geoff: Does anyone else play guitar on the album besides you and Steve Miller and Jeff Lynne?

Paul: My son, James, plays on 'Heaven On A Sunday'. That was great to do. He's getting really good on the guitar now and I thought it would be a nice idea to record with him. When you've known someone for twenty years, you read them and they read you, so you can trade licks.

So we did; I played the acoustic sort of part, like an old blues guy, and I left the young Turk to play the hot electric stuff.

Of course, as a dad, I was just so proud, it's just brilliant to be playing with your kids. He came up with some very nice phrases.

Geoff: Have you been keeping your eye on him over the years, waiting for this moment?

Paul: People have often asked me if any of my kids are musical and I've always said that yes, they are all musical, but I've never pushed them into music because of that 'he's the son of, she's the daughter of,' syndrome. I always feel a bit sorry for kids coming into that. So I decided I would never push them into it but if any of them had a passion for it then I won't stand in their way, I'd support them.

James got a guitar when he was about nine or ten and he's been playing it ever since, for about ten years now. He's got steadily better and better and he loves it. He used to come home from school and go straight to his guitar.

He hasn't had a tutor. I said to him early on exactly what my dad said to me. 'Son, if you want to learn, get proper lessons.' He said to me, 'You didn't, Dad,' which is exactly what I said to my dad. So the saga continues.

No, he wanted to teach himself I suppose, seeing that I'd done it that way and it seemed all right for me and of course I couldn't stand in the way of that.

Geoff: Talking of family, didn't Linda influence the speed of writing a couple of songs?

Paul: Yeah, 'Same Days' and 'Young Boy' were written against the clock on a couple of little bets that I made with myself while Linda was working on her vegetarian cookery projects.

Sometimes I'll drive Linda to one of her cookery assignments and I'd driven her to a photo session she was doing at a farmhouse in Kent. As she got on with that, I kept out of the way, I asked the lady of this house if I could borrow a room and she let me use her son's bedroom upstairs.

So I went up there with my acoustic guitar and I made up a little fantasy for myself to write a song in the time that Linda would be doing this photo session. I knew she'd be about two hours doing the shoot. And that was 'Some Days'. I wrote the whole song in that time.

Normally you might get most of it down and think you'll finish it up next week or whatever. But I thought I'd finish up the whole song so that when Linda would say, 'What did you do? Did you get bored?' I could say, 'Oh, I wrote this song. Wanna hear it?'

It's just a little game that I play with myself. John and I used to play this game and I don't think it ever took us more than three hours to write a song. And I did the same with 'Young Boy', I wrote that against the clock too. And that was when Linda was doing another veggie cooking thing for the press.

We were in Long Island then and Linda was cooking a lunch with Pierre Franey for an article in the New York Times. So while she cooked lunch, which was Vegetable Soup, Aubergine Casserole and Applesauce Cake, I went off into a little back room with my guitar and started playing some chords and a song came up. Actually, it started as, 'He's just a poor boy ... he's just a poor boy looking for a way to find love.' But poor boy reminded me too much of like an Elvis song, so I made it young boy, which I liked better. So I started making up this song thinking about all the young people I know who are in that position, a lot of my kids' friends.

I remember that position myself. I remember thinking as a kid, 'There's somebody out there who's for me, but how am I ever going to meet her? There's three hundred bloody million of them, how the hell am I ever going to meet the right one?' It's very perplexing at that age.

Anyway, they got on with the lunch and then they came in and said, 'What have you been doing?' 'Oh, funny you should say that. I've written a song.' I really just do it for that moment, because I know that people don't know how you write songs.

Then I went to Idaho, where Steve Miller's got a studio, and we recorded the song with just me and him doing the track.

I hadn't seen Steve since one night in the sixties when there had been an unfortunate Allen Klein meeting with the Beatles in the middle of all our troubles. I'd resisted their efforts to sign some business deal. I thought we should think about it. It all got a bit heated and they all went off with Allen Klein and I was left at the studio and Steve stuck his head around the door and said, 'Hi man, does that mean the studio's free?'

He asked me if I fancied doing something together in the studio: I said, 'OK, but just let me drum.' I wasn't in a very good mood after that meeting and I just wanted to thrash something. So we developed this process that we've used now on Flaming Pie. I drummed, Steve played some guitar. I put bass on it, he played a little more guitar solos. He sang it, I sang some harmonies. And by about three or four in the morning on that Beatles occasion out at Olympic Studios in Barnes we'd done a track, which was called 'My Dark Hour'.

I played the track recently to my son and he liked it and that reminded me, so I rang up Steve, who we played with in '93 when we did the Earth Show at the Hollywood Bowl, we got our friendship going again, and I told him I had this song called 'Young Boy' and I thought we could do it together.

So I went out to Sun Valley, to Steve's place. I took Geoff Emerick, my engineer, our old Beatles engineer, and we did the same process that we'd done with 'My Dark Hour'. It was good. It was like falling back into an old habit.

Geoff: Talking of Beatles links with these new songs, what's the story behind the title track 'Flaming Pie'?

Paul: Over the years there's been some conflict of memory over who actually thought of the name the Beatles. George and I have a very clear memory about that. We were at Gambier Terrace in Liverpool, where John and a couple of art school mates had a first-floor apartment. We used to stay there; it was so exciting as kids, kipping out on an old mattress. It was exciting - stroke - tiring listening to Johnny Burnette records, staying up all night doing wild teenage things.

Anyway, one night John and Stu (Stuart Sutcliffe) came out of the flat, we were walking towards the Dingle and John and Stu said to me and George, 'Hey, we've had an idea for what to call the band - the Beatles, with an A.' George and I were kind of surprised and John said, 'Yeah, me and Stu thought of it.'

This is what George and I remembered, but over the years some people have thought that John had single-handedly come up with the idea for the name the Beatles and, as their reason for that, they've cited a bit of writing that John did for a publication called Mersey Beat in the early sixties.

John wrote this piece for Mersey Beat called 'Being A Short Diversion On The Dubious Origins Of Beatles', in which at one point he wrote, 'there were three little boys called John, George and Paul ... Many people ask what are Beatles? Why Beatles? How did the name arrive? It came in a vision. A man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them, "From this day on you are Beatles with an A".'

Obviously John hadn't had a vision. It was a joke. It was a joke in the Goon humour of the time. However, certain people maybe didn't understand that humour and over the years they have truly believed that John really did have this vision. Which he didn't.

It's quite easy to see the joke, in the language. 'It came in a vision.' OK at that point. But, 'a man said unto them'. Now when you say 'unto' you start to go into the joke, because it's biblical. 'A man appeared on a flaming ...' OK, now if you said chariot or phoenix then that would still be all right - a flaming chariot. But the minute you mention 'pie' then humour has crept in in a big way. And, of course, if John had had a vision at the age of twelve, how come his first band was called the Quarry Men?

Anyway, when I was doing 'Souvenir' on this album with Jeff Lynne we decided we wanted some raw, heavyish guitar and while the engineers were getting the sound I started vamping riffs. Jeff joined in and I began shouting a bit of a melody. We decided to stick it on the tape, just as it might be handy later.

At the same time, Jeff and I had been talking about old recording techniques and how, in the Beatles, we'd record two songs in the morning, go down to the pub for an hour, and record another two songs in the afternoon. So, just as an exercise, we decided that we should try that and try to record a complete song, using this jam that we'd taped, in just four hours. Just for the hell of it.

I then had the problem of thinking of some words and I was out horse riding with Linda, just musing some words, and I was going to start the song, 'making love underneath the moon, shooting stars in a purple sky ...' So I was thinking of a rhyme for 'sky' and, as you do, went through the alphabet ... 'bye' ... 'cry' ... and I got to 'pie'. I thought, 'No, no, no, that's a joke.' But then this story came back to me - 'pie' ... 'There's no way we would work that in, is there?' And I suddenly thought, 'Oh, flaming pie!'

So Jeff and I did it, in our four hours. I sang it live and we got it all mixed in the time. Then, when I was looking for an album title, I mentioned Flaming Pie and everyone I mentioned it to just sort of smiled.

Geoff: There's a line in 'The World Tonight' that sounds rather Beatley too, that line 'I go back so far I'm in front of me'. What's The World Tonight' about?

Paul: People talk about this mystery thing about songwriting. Where does the song come from? This started off, 'I saw you sitting in the centre of a circle, everybody wanted something from you' and I still haven't figured who I really mean by that. It's not anyone in particular, it's a lot of people. There's a lot of us sitting in the centre of a circle with everyone wanting something from you. We all know that one.

The words aren't about anyone specific, they were just gathering thoughts and that line, 'I go back so far I'm in front of me', I don't know where that came from. It's one of those that if I'd be writing with John, I might have questioned it, but I think he would have said, 'OK, leave that one in. We don't know what it means but we know what it means.'

Geoff: Is it true that there will be a TV documentary screened around the release of Flaming Pie?

Paul: Yes. I was asked to make it with Geoff Wonfor, the director of the Anthology. However, unlike the Anthology, we didn't take a couple of years to film it. In fact we knocked it off in under a month, a couple of days here, a few more there. That's very much the way I like to do things now. I don't like to wait around. It's like with writing 'Young Boy' or 'Some Days', knock 'em off in a couple of hours. It's more fun like that. Working like that reminds me of something my dad used to say - D.I.N., Do It Now.

Geoff: Have they made a radio show for Flaming Pie too?

Paul: Yeah. A couple of years back in the USA they aired this radio show called Oobu Joobu which was a series of programmes that I presented myself and which I'd recorded at spare moments over the years. That was a lot of fun to do and it seemed very popular, so we kind of did that again with me hosting a show, just a one-off this time, talking about the new album.

Geoff: You mentioned that you are painting these days. What does painting give you that music doesn't?

Paul: When I turned forty, everyone said life begins at forty, so I looked around for a couple of days and nothing appeared to begin. So I thought I had better start some stuff. So I started jogging a little bit, because I'd never done that before. That was good fun. Then I thought that I would love to paint, as I have always liked drawing - at school I did get a little art prize, nothing major, but I've always liked to fiddle around that area.

But I'd always had this big block in my head, that it was those people who paint and not us. I didn't see it as my place to paint. I never even dreamed about it. But when I got to forty I thought now it was time to get down to an art shop and buy a canvas or two - which was odd for me, the thought of me buying a canvas was like being arrogant. It was like an ego trip.

So I bought a canvas, a few paints and a couple of brushes and I just started and I discovered that I really enjoyed it. And what painting gives me is very similar to what music gives me; if your day isn't going that great it's lovely to go into a room with a guitar and make the day go great by making some music and getting involved in the magic of that.

Painting's a bit similar for me. And so I've been doing it for about fourteen years now and I just love it. If I'm on tour, in the middle of all that craziness, I'll just have a day off sometimes and do a painting. It's like a therapy. I can put my feelings into it. It's a freedom thing for me, which in many ways is very similar to music.

Geoff: You recently returned to the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, but this time to meet with the students reportedly for a master class. How did it feel to go back to your old school as a master?

Paul: Well I didn't think like a master, that's for sure. That's that terrible thing about Us and Them. When I was at school there were some teachers who were quite nice and groovy, who you could get on with and you felt like they respected you as a person instead of just being someone to hit about the ears. So I felt more like one of those good older guys, hopefully, and I just kicked around some ideas for a project with the students.

It felt very good. I tried to get them to give me their ideas because I've always said that if I come in to give a songwriting class, which this wasn't, the first thing that I'll have to say is that I don't really know anything about how to do it. Because I don't, and I also don't want to know how to do it. Because the minute I know how to write a song I'll be bored. To me, writing a song is like magic. Every time it happens. It's like, 'who lit that candle?' I'm always like amazed by it and that's what I follow. It's not like I'm doing it, it's doing it and I'm merely following it.

Geoff: You said a few years ago that you doubted if you'd ever achieve all that you wanted to. But now, with the knighthood, the paintings, the symphonic piece, the world tours, are you getting close to achieving what you want?

Paul: Since I was forty, I have decided to try to do all of those things that you thought you'd never do. There's always something more, although at the moment I couldn't tell you what it is.

But there's lots of little things that I'm doing that I always wanted. I've got a little sailboat now because I've always wanted to sail. It's not a yacht, it's literally just a one-man sailboat. I love that and that's another of those things that if you were brought up where I was brought up, you didn't go sailing. They sailed. We rolled our trousers up and paddled.

And one of the things I'm discovering about myself is that because I never had any lessons with music, I like that primitive approach in discovering other things. I like not knowing and working it out for myself. And I think you also get a bit of an original take on it; if it's out of a book fifty thousand people could have read that book, but if you work it out yourself you sometimes learn things that although you may later find out you would have learned from a book, you've got a bit of an original angle on it.

It's a good feeling out there in the wind; it's just you, the boat and the sail and it's very quiet and I think the first primitive men who sailed, it must have been a bit like this. It's fascinating for me.

I can't think of too many more ambitions. I'm knocking them off one by one. But there will always be something.

Geoff: Have you always tried to retain that primitive approach to your work?

Paul: Yeah, me and John started off writing songs and didn't know how to do it. Nobody said to us, 'This is how you do it.' So we just tried and the first few songs you can tell that we were trying because they weren't that good. We had to learn our way.

I like the primitive approach because it makes it more exciting.

And also, there's no rules. No one's told you the rules yet. George Martin always used to say, 'Oh Paul, you're not supposed to double a third.' But because it was a rule, we'd say, 'George, double it, we don't care what it is, if it's a rule not to do it, do it.' So George would have to do all this terrible stuff we'd force him into, but it meant that our songs weren't like the next man's.

And sometimes when you did it, 'posh journalists' would write about 'the Aeolian cadences and panatonic clusters'. We'd say, 'What's he talking about?' and they'd say it's the end of 'She Loves You'. So we were obviously coming up with it, without knowing. It's just that they had the names for it all, they had all the technique and the rules. And we were just winging it, just flying out there and having fun.

Geoff: With all these various and numerous projects that you get involved in, do you feel that you have room in your life for your life?

Paul: No. Definitely not. Sometimes you feel that there's not enough time in a day to fit in all that you want, but I have a pretty good go at it because I enjoy working. Some people call me a workaholic but I don't really think that I am because I enjoy it. I always assume that workaholics work too hard and don't really enjoy it. I like working, there's a lot of people out of a job and who want a job, so I'm always grateful to be in work. I like teamwork.

But I like my time off too, because of the balance. So I like to go off into the woods and just make a path through the woods with an axe or a chain saw. Then it's just me and my life, doing something that I want to do that I don't have to do really. I like to go off on an hour's horse ride with Linda: that's often why I'm late for things, because 1 can't get down off that horse quick enough.

I get a lot done, that's for sure. But when it gets too crazy and hectic I try to just stop it and I want to get back and make some music. Somebody said to me recently, 'Oh, I see you still enjoy your music then?' But it hadn't occurred to me that anyone would think that 1 could ever go off it.

Geoff: The National Trust of Britain has bought your old home in Liverpool for the posterity of the nation. How did you feel about that?

Paul: If, when we were kids, me and John were wandering around with guitars slung over our shoulders walking down from Forthlin Road to Menlove Avenue, where he lived, and back again, if you'd just ever said that it'd be a National Trust house ... well, the idea is still fairly laughable. It's only a little terraced house. There's no way we'd have believed that would happen. If somebody had predicted it, we'd just have thought they'd had a few too many drinks.

But it's great. I love it, it's an honour. Someone chooses your house and sticks a plaque on it and reckons its famous. Though, if you listen to the National Trust reasons for doing this, it's not bad; because it's from where we launched to Hamburg and the guy next door, Mr Richards, made our jackets, our purple jackets that we took to Hamburg. In that area John and I showed my Dad the final version of 'She Loves You' and we used to rehearse 'To Know Him Is To Love Him' or 'To Know Her Is To Love Her', as we changed it to. And I wrote the tune 'When I'm Sixty-Four' on the family piano there when I was fifteen or sixteen.

I think the National Trust is thinking of the house as a bit of a tourist attraction, because the tourist buses go past there anyway. Actually, when I go up to Liverpool with the kids I get in my car and I like to drive myself. So I was driving myself around Liverpool one evening, I drove down Forthlin Road and I pulled up right outside the house and I was telling the kids, 'that was my room there, my Dad planted a mountain ash right there, he used to have a favourite lavender bush right here and the ginger torn cat from next door used to come out and pee in the lavender'.

Anyway, I'm sitting there, telling the kids all these stories, we're crouched down in the car and some bloke walks past, leans down to the car window and says, 'Yeah, he did used to live there.'

Geoff: We mentioned your new classical piece, what is it and when will it be heard?

Paul: EMI, which is my record company, celebrates its one hundredth anniversary this year and to mark that they commissioned me to write a piece which has become what they call a 'symphonic poem'. It's called Standing Stone, it's four movements and will be performed by the London Symphony Orchestra at the Albert Hall in London on 14 October. I've written it myself, just me, a computer and a little help from my friends.

Geoff: Are you still playing your old Hofner bass?

Paul: I played my Hofner throughout the making of this album and it's my favourite bass again. I love the lightness of the Hofner, it's like it's made of balsa wood and you can really move around with it instead of being weighed down as you are with some other models, which are like playing some big chunk of heavy oak.

But on one of the songs on the album, 'The Song We Were Singing', I'm playing the Bill Black double bass. Bill Black was the bass player with Elvis and I'm such a fan of Elvis and Bill that Linda bought me Bill's bass as a birthday present a few years ago. She quietly tracked it down without me knowing. A birthday pressie! Are you kidding me! It's like an icon, really. It's the wrong way round for me, because Bill was right-handed, but I always try to give it a go. I can't really play the stand-up bass, the bull bass, you need a different set of chops. You need bigger hands. But I try; I can just about play 'Heartbreak Hotel'.

Geoff: Flaming Pie is said to have a very relaxed feel to it. Is this because a lot of the album was written while you were on holiday, even though most people don't work on holiday?

Paul: As I said, because of my obligation to the Beatles Anthology projects, I didn't have to produce an album. I thought great, what a lovely, lazy couple of years. So then the only music I made was for the fun of it. I always say that if I had to retire I'd still do this as a hobby and so it was; I was taking time out, having holidays, not scheduled to be in a studio and the songs just came to me, I couldn't stop them.

I get like that on holidays. I know that on holiday you are supposed not to work but, as I say, the songs just came to me. Holidays are when I'm most relaxed. For me they are the equivalent of being a teenager - you know what it's like, that time when you've got nothing to do except maybe do a gig in the evening. It's like that, like being in a band but the band's not big yet. You ring up John, you go up to his place and play guitar and then it's, 'Now what shall we do? Oh, dunno, suppose we could go to the pictures.' It's like having endless deserts of time. And this, having the Anthology and holidays, was a bit like that for me.

So these songs were written purely for fun. There's not one of them that was written with the idea of 'this is for my next album' in mind. I couldn't stop them - like 'Calico Skies', that came after we were in America in the wake of Hurricane Bob. Bob had blown out all the power and so as I couldn't play records I just sat around with my acoustic as Linda cooked meals over a wood fire. Our family loves all that simplicity and while Linda was cooking up these wood-fire meals - once for twenty people - I was sitting about providing the acoustic soundtrack to it all. And 'Calico Skies' came out of that relaxation, it was just a simple little powercut memory.

Geoff: One of the distinct elements of Flaming Pie is that you are playing all these instruments - guitar, bass, piano, drums - yourself and in that it appears that you are going back to what you did with your first solo album after the Beatles, McCartney.

Paul: People are often saying to me, 'We want to hear you on record, we don't want to hear you and lots of other people, we just want to hear you.' So I thought, 'Well, great, I'll do that, I'll drum then,' because I did it on McCartney and I did it on Band On The Run. And one of my great compliments was off Keith Moon, when he and John and others were going through that manic lost weekend episode. I went out to see them and Keith Moon asked me who drummed on Band On The Run. I said it was me and Keith said 'Fucking great'. Coming from Keith, that was high praise for me.

Geoff: Was it difficult to get back to this spirit of simplicity that you can hear on Flaming Pie.

Paul: It was very easy for this album to get back to that and I'm not sure why. I think probably because I was listening to a lot of early Beatles stuff, seeing how quick we were, hearing the directness of it and all that. But in recent years it has been hard because one tends to equate something being complex with being good and, similarly, something being simple with being not good. As I've said before, the melody of 'Yesterday' came to me in my sleep. You can't get much simpler than that. And when I first did 'Yesterday' I told people the tune had come to me in a dream - but maybe I shouldn't have done that, because it makes it seem too simple. Maybe I should have said that it was a song I'd been working on for eight months, in Tibet.

I think that the natural thing in a career is to view it as a progression. I've got my feel and throughout my career I have made efforts to try to get away from it and go in some other direction. I'm willing to try all these other things because you've got to, just to see if they are any better.

But on this album I've started thinking that I don't really need to go in another direction. And somebody pointed out to me that a lot of what those new groups are doing is 'your sound'. So it's actually mad if I don't do it and just let everybody else do it and admire how well they sound when they do it.

Geoff: You mentioned the calls on you to heavily promote the album, are you heeding them?

Paul: I had a lot of fun making this album. I really enjoyed making it and what I basically want to do now is to have a good time. So I've started to say to myself, 'What's it been worth to do all that Beatles career, earn all this money and get all that fame if at some point I don't go, "Now I can have a good time"?'

If I keep on going on like some manic preacher for the rest of my life, it just seems so pointless.

Geoff: But does the industry, the great rock and roll industry, allow that in this day and age?

Paul: Exactly. When we started out in the business, the suits were in charge. The Beatles changed all that and turned that over. But I feel that the suits are back in charge now and I want to be subversive and break that lock.

In my mind now I don't make a record for the industry. I make a record for the kid in the bedroom who's been out on the bus to buy the record. He's read the sleeve notes on the way home and he's back in his bedroom hearing it. Whether that kid is in Minnesota, Kansas City, Rotherham or Speke, I identify very strongly with that kid. I've been that kid.

Somebody recently said to me how much they'd love it if the record industry could learn from the Beatles Anthology what we'd learned from the Anthology and I say right on to that. It's absolutely where it needs to go now. It's like suing Neil Young for not having a hit is the wrong way to go, business people, and letting the talent flow and not putting too many demands on it is the right way to go. It really is; you've got to nurture talent instead of beating them about the head. You've got to give them a bit of freedom.

It's like I've been saying to people, with this album I really don't give a shit if it is a hit or not. I've been saying that and I mean it. Sure, everyone likes to have a hit, but not at the expense of having fun.

Paul McCartney: In The World Tonight

A 72-minute DVD or videocassette, released in November 1997, which was a documentary on the recording of Flaming Pie and featured studio footage and performances of 'In The World Tonight', 'Oobu Joobu', 'Little Willow', 'Beautiful Night' and 'Calico Skies'.

There was also a 5 5-minute DVD issued by Rhino Home Video in America in 1998 on R2 4462. It was described as: 'An intimate look at the making of Paul McCartney's 1997 Grammy-nominated album, Flaming Pie, with a little help from friends Ringo Starr, Steve Miller, Jeff Lynne and George Martin.'

Paul McCartney Job, The

The name by which the Newhaven CID referred to the 1984 plot to kidnap Linda McCartney. Detectives said that they had uncovered a kidnap plot in which Linda was to be snatched in a military-style operation on a country lane near the Sussex farm. The kidnappers intended to hold her hostage in a woodland lair and demand £10 million ransom. Paul was reluctant to discuss the matter, commenting; 'Any talk of a kidnap plot is bound to give ideas to all sorts of nutters.'

Paul McCartney - Live At The Cavern

The show that was originally broadcast live over the Internet and later broadcast in the US on the satellite channel Direct TV in 2000. It was later broadcast as a 45-minute programme on PBS (Public Broadcast Service) TV in America on Tuesday 5 December 2000.

The documentary opens with Paul's limousine arriving at the rebuilt Cavern club in Mathew Street and then the onstage performance begins.

Paul McCartney Live At The Cavern Club 1999

A 63-minute video featuring the concert, together with two of Paul's music videos, 'No Other Baby' and 'Brown Eyed Handsome Man', together with a 22-minute interview with Paul conducted by Jools Holland, which was issued in America on 19 June 2001 by Image Entertainment.

A DVD version (ID0384MPDVD) was also available with an interview with Laura Gross first distributed as an infomercial on cable TV, plus text biographies of members of the band and three pages of text on the Cavern club.

The releases were issued in Britain on 25 June.

Paul McCartney - The Man

A radio interview with Paul that was recorded on Tuesday 6 March 1984 at AIR Studios in London by Radio Leicester for syndication to local BBC radio stations throughout Britain.

Paul McCartney: The Man, His Music, His Movies

A 30-minute American television special screened on several US stations during April 1984. It was scripted by Rick Sublett, produced by Gayle Hollenbaugh and narrated by Tom Bosley. The programme included interviews with Paul about the making of Give My Regards To Broad Street, in addition to some clips from the movie. The show was part of a series called On And Off Camera. There was a brief history of the Beatles using clips from 'The Compleat Beatles' documentary and music from 'Ballroom Dancing', 'Yesterday' and 'The Long And Winding Road'.

Paul McCartney - The New World Sampler

A 17-track 2-CD in-store promotional record produced by Capitol in America in February 1993 which featured one CD of up-tempo numbers and one of mid-tempo songs.

The tracks were: 'Hope Of Deliverance', 'Maybe I'm Amazed', 'Get On The Right Thing', 'Off The Ground', 'Venus And MarsV'Rock Show'/'Jet' live from Wings Over America, 'Biker Like An Icon', 'Helen Wheels', 'Twenty Flight Rock' from Choba В СССР, 'I've Had Enough', 'Looking For Changes', 'Smile Away', 'Magneto And Titanium Man', 'Stranglehold', 'I Owe It All To You', 'Rockestra Theme', 'C'Mon People' and 'Golden Slumbers'/'Carry That Weight'/'The End' - the Tripping The Live Fantastic medley.

Paul McCartney Night

An evening devoted to Paul on VHI on Thursday 10 August 2000. It began with the screening of 'Paul McCartney Live In The New World', followed by PETA's Millennium Concert in which Paul performs 'Honey Hush', 'Brown Eyed Handsome Man', 'No Other Baby', 'Try Not To Cry' and 'Run Devil Run', followed by Paul 'Live At The Cavern'. Paul then selected his ten favourite songs {see 'Top Ten' for details).

Paul McCartney Paintings

Title of the exhibition of Paul's paintings which opened at the Kuntforum Lyz Gallery, St Johann Street in the university town of Siegen in Germany on Saturday 1 May 1999. It ran until Sunday 25 July 1999.

Paul had been passionate about art since he was a child and used to paint his own birthday and Christmas cards. He also designed some of the Beatles album sleeves.

In London in the mid-60s, under the influence of gallery owner Robert Fraser, he became an art collector and particularly likes the work of Rene Magritte.

Paul also became acquainted with the Dutch painter Willem de Kooning, based in New York, who was a client of Paul's father-in-law. When Paul had turned forty, he was encouraged by de Kooning to take up painting and soon had his own work studios in his homes in the south of England, Arizona and Long Island. An added incentive was a Christmas present from Linda - Rene Magritte's own easel. Since 1983 Paul has produced nearly 600 abstract paintings.

It was Wolfgang Suttner, Cultural Events Officer for the Siegen-Wittgenstein district of Westphalia, who was responsible for Paul deciding on holding the exhibition in Siegen and Suttner and Paul selected 73 paintings for exhibition.

Discussing his decision to exhibit in Siegen, Paul said, 'Wolfgang was the first person to approach me seriously. Many people said, "We'd like to give you an exhibition," and I said, "You haven't seen the pictures!" They said, "That's OK" - they were just willing to exhibit the celebrity. Wolfgang was the first person who came up and said, "I'd like to look at your pictures and examine them." So he took a very serious approach, and that's how it wound up here. This is where he lives, Siegen, this is his gallery. I think it's good, because it's my first experience too, to see if I like it. And then if an offer comes for London or New York, I'll maybe do that then.'

Suttner was to say, 'His talent completely overshadows the artistic efforts of other stars who try to paint. Paul gave me his OK to the exhibition, as Siegen was the birthplace of Peter Paul Rubens.'

The exhibition was mainly for Paul to receive some feedback about his work as none of the paintings were for sale. The exhibition also featured a sound/visual installation that was called 'Feedback' which sported six monitor sculptures designed by Paul, which displayed a video of him playing original music on guitar.

The paintings, which were in oils and acrylic, covered landscapes, portraits and abstracts and included several paintings of Linda. There were also paintings of John Lennon, David Bowie and the Queen of England, the latter entitled A Salute To The Queen. Other titles included John's Room, Yellow Linda With Piano, Egypt Station, Sea God and Tara's Plastic Skirt.

The official exhibition guide commented, 'Most of the paintings on show are autonomous pictures with a strong emphasis on material and composition. In his pictures, McCartney - who is an admirer not only of Willem de Kooning, but also of Rene Magritte - brings together expressive and surreal elements in a synthesis determined by colour processes: the material qualities of the paint and accidental marks on the canvas are taken up and incorporated.'

The 142-page catalogue was more in the style of a paperback book and contained 82 reproductions of the paintings with text in German and a separate English translation. There were introductory pieces by Brian Clarke and Barry Miles, a critique by Christoph Tannert and a lengthy interview with Paul in which he discusses 34 of the paintings.

Paul was to say, 'One thing I have learned is that the more precise you try to be about a thing, the less you achieve. You can go too wooden, you can lose the spirit of the thing.'

Paul had travelled to Siegen a few days before the opening of the exhibition and held a press conference on Friday 30 April 1999 during which he answered questions about his paintings before signing a number of limited edition prints of his work. A reception was held in the gallery that evening with Stella, James and Heather in attendance, along with Paul's brother Mike, Sir George Martin and former Wings member Denny Laine.

Paul McCartney: Rediscovering Yesterday

A BBC Radio 2 programme broadcast on Thursday 18 June 1992.

Brian Matthew narrates it and the hour-long documentary was to celebrate Paul's fiftieth birthday.

Paul McCartney's Musical Ways

A documentary by Telefiction and Zaq Productions written by Gerry Waxier and narrated by Teddy-Lee Dillon. The music was by Carl Abut, a Canadian composer who admired the music of the film The Family Way, originally issued in 1966, when he discovered it almost thirty years later. As a result he received permission to re-arrange the variations and themes based on Paul's original score for the film, which starred Hayley Mills.

Polygram released his album of the music called The Family Way, Variations Concertantes Opus 1 in 1996. The followingyear a 53-minute documentary was produced called 'Paul McCartney's Musical Ways', which was screened on the Bravo cable channel in Canada and the US. It told the story of Abut's project and included interviews with George Martin, Elvis Costello, Jerry Hadley and Paul.

Paul McCartney's Theme From The Honorary Consul

A single by guitarist John Williams released on Island Records IS 155 on Monday 19 December 1983. This was a version of Paul's instrumental title music for the film The Honorary Consul, starring Richard Gere and Michael Caine.

The film was directed by John McKenzie, who had directed Paul's promotional video for 'Take It Away' in June 1982.

In America the film underwent a title change to Beyond The Limit.

Paul McCartney's Town Hall Meeting

An event that took place on Saturday 17 May 1997. This was organised by the American music channel VH-I as part of their 'Paul McCartney Week' and was transmitted live simultaneously in Europe and America from Bishopsgate Memorial Hall in east London.

John Fugelsang hosted the event and questions had been gathered from fans during the previous week for Paul to answer and fifty of them were submitted to Paul. The question and answer session included a question from American President Bill Clinton.

Paul had arrived at the hall at 1.30 p.m. and during the afternoon watched coverage of the FA Cup Final. The audience of 100 comprised 50 American contest winners, 25 members of Paul's fan club and 25 friends and family. Paul brought an acoustic guitar and played part of a number called 'Bishopsgate', which he said he'd written backstage.

Immediately following the 60-minute programme, Paul went to the first floor of the hall and conducted a 30-minute 'Netcast'.

Paul McCartney's Working Classical

An album by the London Symphony Orchestra and the Loma Mar Quartet. Produced by John Fraser, it was issued on EMI Classics 7243 5 56897 2 6 on 19 November 1999.

Paul was executive producer of this 14-track album of short classical pieces, which he composed. The engineers were Arne Akselberg, Keith Smith and Eddie Klein. The titles were: 'Junk' (quartet), 'A Leaf (orchestra), 'Haymakers' (quartet), 'Midwife' (quartet), 'Spiral' (orchestra), 'Warm And Beautiful' (quartet), 'My Love' (quartet), 'Maybe I'm Amazed' (quartet), 'Calico Skies' (quartet), 'Golden Earth Girl' (quartet), 'Someday' (quartet), 'Tuesday' (orchestra), 'She's My Baby' (quartet) and 'The Lovely Linda' (orchestra).

Working Classical, Paul's third major album of classical music, saw its first public performance take place at the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool on Saturday 26 October 1999. The concert was also recorded then and was screened in America on PBS Television in March 2000. It included three new orchestral works played by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrea Quinn - 'A Leaf, 'Spiral' and 'Tuesday'. There were also string quartet arrangements of his popular love songs, written with Linda in mind - 'Maybe I'm Amazed', 'Junk' and 'My Love', played by the Loma Mar Quartet. The quartet comprised Krista Bennion Feeney on first violin, Anca Nicolau on second violin, Joanna Hood on viola and Myron Lutzice on cello.

Paul attended the concert and after the rendition of 'The Lovely Linda' he joined the orchestra on stage for a standing ovation.

Paul was to say, 'Working Classical is a pun because I don't like to get too serious - but I'm also very proud of my working-class roots. A lot of people like to turn their backs, especially when they get a little bit elevated in life - but I am always keen to remind other people and myself of where I'm from.'

At the actual recording session, Paul surprised the quartet by supplying them with two new compositions, which he'd written especially for the occasion - 'Haymakers' and 'Midwife'.

The album was issued only two weeks after the Run Devil Run album and, commenting on the contrast between the two, Paul said, 'I enjoy the fact that I can work both ways. I'm Gemini and we are supposed to like this and that; it's slightly schizophrenic. I got involved in orchestra music because I wanted to stretch myself. But I didn't want to lose my roots. I'm always working class, I'm always from Liverpool and my roots are always in rock ‘n’ roll - but I like the odd cello.'

When Working Classical was released in America it topped the Billboard classical charts for nine weeks.

Paul McCartney Special, The

A television special that was originally produced for the BBC, where it was screened several times, and conceived as a promotional special for the album Press To Play.

It was Richard Skinner of the BBC who persuaded Paul to agree to some in-depth interviews, which took place at Abbey Road Studio Two. Scattered in between the interviews are promotional clips, videos and concert footage.

The Abbey Road interviews were filmed on Friday 18 July 1986 and the special first aired on BBC 1 on Friday 29 August 1986 and followed on BBC 2 on Saturday 20 December 1986 under the name 'McCartney'.

MPL Communications Inc then issued it as a 60-minute home video on MC 2008 on Friday 6 November 1987 in America and on Friday 27 November 1987 in Britain under the title 'The Paul McCartney Special'. The blurb on the video read: 'Filled with rare music and news-reel clips, this is a personal, in-depth retrospective of one of rock's most influential recording artists. McCartney chronicles his life and times, including his relationship with John Lennon, the Beatles and their break-up, his solo career, Wings, the making of Press To Play and everything in between.'

Paul McCartney Story, The (TV special)

Filmed simply as McCartney at Abbey Road Studios on Wednesday 16 July 1986, this was a TV special produced as an MPL/BBC co-production. It was essentially made to promote Paul's new album Press To Play and included him performing the number 'Press'.

The special was initially screened on BBC 1 on Friday 29 August 1986 and then in an extended version lasting 59 minutes on BBC 2 on Tuesday 30 December 1986.

The clip of Paul performing 'Press' was also included in the TV chat show Wogan on Friday 1 August 1986.

The special was eventually released as a home video called 'The Paul McCartney Story' in 1989.

See also 'McCartney' (TV special).

Paul McCartney Week

A week of programming by the American music channel VH-I that began on Monday 12 May 1997. Highlights included the Wednesday 14 May programming which presented a 60-minute 'The Paul McCartney Video Collection' which screened ten of Paul's promotional videos; Friday 16 May which saw the worldwide premiere of the documentary 'Paul McCartney In The World Tonight' and Saturday 17 May which saw the screening of 'Paul McCartney's Town Hall Meeting' and the 1979 'Wings Over The World' MPL documentary, seen for the first time since its original transmission eighteen years previously, together with the concert film Rockestra.

Paul The Fearless Signalman

The character Paul played in the Beatles Christmas Show at the Finsbury Park Astoria over Christmas 1963. Originally, Paul was cast as Handsome Paul the Signalman, but asked if the name could be changed in case people considered him big-headed!

Pavarotti, Luciano

The acclaimed Italian tenor. Paul met him on Monday 27 October 1997 at the Alexander Palace during the Gramophone Awards.

Pavarotti was being acclaimed for his work on behalf of Bosnian orphans. He asked Paul if he would heip him to open a music school in Bosnia. Paul said, 'Luciano is a great singer and talent, and I would be very happy to collaborate.' Pavarotti was to say, 'I just finished making him an offer, and he is just finished telling me he is thinking about it.'

The surrounding press corps thought they had a scoop and pressed Paul for more comments, but he simply told the Reuters representative, 'We have no plans - you have got no scoop.'

Paul wasn't involved in the project and the school opened in Mostar, Bosnia on 21 December 1997.

Peace In The Neighbourhood

A track penned by Paul, lasting 5 minutes and 5 seconds, which was included on the Off The Ground album.

A live version of the number, lasting 4 minutes and 54 seconds, recorded at Boulder, Colorado on 26 May 1993, was included on the Paul Is Live album.

Peasmarsh

The village in East Sussex where Paul bought a house after deciding to move his family out of central London. All his children were educated in the local school, which had been founded in 1841. Apart from Lower Gate Farm, Paul has another house in the area and he also bought Hog Hill Mill in nearby Icklesham. Paul's favourite bar in the area was said to be the Bull in Rye.

Peebles, Andy

A Radio One disc jockey who conducted the final BBC interviews with John Lennon, which were published in book form as The Lennon Tapes. A pre-recorded interview, which Andy had conducted with Paul, was transmitted on Sunday 18 April 1982, when they discussed the new Tug Of War album, track-by-track. The interview was also broadcast on the New York station WNEW FM on 2 June.

Penina

A song written by Paul when he was on holiday in Portugal. 'Penina' was the name of the hotel where he was staying.

Singer Carlos Mendes heard Paul singing the number and liked it so much that Paul allowed him to have the song to record.

That version was issued in Portugal on 18 July 1969 on Parlophone QMSP 16459. The flipside was 'Wings Of Revenge'.

The following year a Dutch band Jotte Herre also recorded it and it was issued in Holland on Philips 369 002 PF. At the time, Paul had forgotten to inform Northern Songs about the number and the fact that he'd let someone record it without telling them about it.

Penny Lane

'Penny Lane', along with 'Strawberry Fields Forever', was the first track originally slated for an album about the Beatles' memories of Liverpool and their childhood there. However, EMI were pressing for a release of a single and George Martin decided to issue the two tracks as a double A-side.

It was issued in Britain on 17 February 1967 and received its first radio play on Tuesday 31 January on Radio London. EMI issued the first 250,000 in special colour-picture sleeves.

Although one of the Beatles' strongest singles, it failed to reach No. 1 in Britain, being held at the No. 2 spot by Engelbert Humperdinck's version of 'Release Me'. Humperdinck had been a last-minute replacement on Sunday Night at the London Palladium, the TV show with the biggest ratings in Britain at the time, and his rendition of 'Release Me' saw it shoot straight to the top of the charts. George Martin regretted that he had made the single a double A-side, splitting the sales, which could have been another reason why it didn't reach the top of the charts.

Derek Taylor was to comment, 'What a fuss there was in the British music press and in the Schadenfreudian columns of some of the regular press: "Beatles Fail to Reach the Top", "First Time in Four Years", "Has the Bubble Burst?"'

Frieda Kelly, their fan club secretary, said, 'The single was released without the usual A and B-sides because the Beatles wanted you to decide which of the two you like better. An awful lot of John's special fans prefer "Strawberry Fields", but our fan-club mail shows that "Penny Lane" is the overall winner by a short head - and we've got to admit that "Penny Lane" is one of the most catchy songs the Beatles have ever done.'

In America it was issued on 13 February 1967 where it topped the charts and remained in the Top 40 for nine weeks.

Paul composed the number on the piano at his Cavendish Avenue house, jotting down notes of what he remembered of the street - the ladies who stood and sold flags for charities, the barber shop Bioletti's, the Penny Lane cake shop, the Liverpool Victoria Insurance Company office, Winter's fashion store, Woolworths, the fire station, the bus terminus at a big dilapidated roundabout. Paul remembered the barber's shop with hairstyle photos. Of his lyrics he said: 'It's part fact, part nostalgia for a great place, blue suburban skies as we remember it.'

It has been suggested that the song might have been inspired by the Dylan Thomas poem 'Fern Hill', which Paul had been reading at the time, which concerned nostalgic reminiscences of childhood.

Paul said, 'Penny Lane is a bus roundabout in Liverpool and there is a barber's shop showing photographs of every head he's had the pleasure to know. Well, no, that's not true, they're just photographs of hairstyles, but all the people who come and go, stop and say hello. There is a bank on the corner, so we made up the part about the banker in his motorcar. We put in a joke or two, "Fish and finger pie". The women would never dare say that, except to themselves. Most people wouldn't hear it, but "finger pie" is just a nice joke for the Liverpool lads who like a bit of smut.' Another line was a phallic inference - the reference to the fireman who 'keeps his engine clean'.

John came over and helped him with the third verse.

Paul also had the idea of using a 'fantastic high trumpet' that he'd heard at a concert of Bach's Brandenberg Concerto on BBC 2's Masterworks on Wednesday 11 January. He said, 'I got the idea of using trumpets in that pizzicato way on "Penny Lane" from seeing a programme on television. I didn't know whether it would work, so I got the arranger for the session into the studio, played the tune on the piano and sang how I wanted the brass to sound. That's the way I always work with arrangers.'

The person who played the piccolo trumpet was David Mason of the London Symphony Orchestra.

A live version of the number, lasting 3 minutes and 3 seconds, recorded on 26 May 1993 at Boulder, Colorado, was included on the Paul Is Live album.

Perkins, Carl

One of the original American rock-'n'-roll legends, Carl was born on 9 April 1932 in Lake City, Tennessee. He signed with the legendary Sun Records, and wrote and recorded the classic rocker 'Blue Suede Shoes' and a number of other rock-'n'-roll standards.

A serious car accident in 1956, in which his brother and manager were killed, left him hospitalised for a year. His career suffered a number of setbacks and he compounded his problems by drinking too much. He rose from the doldrums when Chuck Berry invited him to tour with him in Britain in 1964 when he met the Beatles for the first time. He met and chatted with Paul at a party in London and his career, personal life and finances were boosted when the Beatles recorded three of his numbers: 'Matchbox', 'Honey Don't' and 'Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby'. With the royalties he was able to buy his parents a farm.

Over the years he kept in touch with Paul, visiting him whenever he was in England. One year, on 9 April, Carl's birthday, he arrived in his hotel room to discover a large box with a blue ribbon around it. When he opened it he found a cake in the shape of a guitar and the message 'Happy Birthday! We love you, Paul, Linda and kids.'

In 1981 he received a phone call from Paul, who asked him what he was doing. Carl said, 'Nothing much' and Paul said he was going to make an album called Tug Of War in Montserrat with Stevie Wonder and Ringo and would Carl like to join them as he had a song he'd like Carl to do.

Carl had no idea where Montserrat was, but Paul said he'd fix up everything with his travel agent. Carl received tickets, took a plane to Nashville, then flew to Antigua. There was a private plane there and the pilot said, 'Are you Carl Perkins? I come for you. Paul McCartney sent me for you.' They then flew to Montserrat where Paul and Linda were waiting on the airstrip for him.

Carl had been so delighted with the invitation that the night before he left the island he sat down and composed a number ⁴My Old Friend', in tribute to Paul.

Paul had composed the number 'Get It' for the two of them to record, but said to him, 'To be truthful, we don't have to do this one if you don't want to. I have others.'

Carl liked the number and they went ahead and recorded it. During the sessions they had a jam in which they played a number of Perkins's classics, including 'Honey Don't', 'Boppin' The Blues' and 'Lend Me Your Comb'.

Paul recorded all the jam sessions, in addition to studio conversations for his personal collection.

Carl played the number 'My Old Friend' on the day he was to leave Montserrat. Paul was moved and said, 'I love it.' He called Linda in to listen to it and she loved it too. He then asked Carl if he had to leave that day and persuaded him to stay and record the number. Carl said they recorded it and 'he (Paul) played bass, organ, rhythm guitar and drums on it. I played a couple of guitar parts and we both sang on the song.'

A few weeks later Carl received a call from Paul who asked him if he'd mind if he did the treatment on the record, saying, 'I hear violins and horns, and I'd really like to make it a big record.'

Carl told him, 'I don't mind if you put the Queen in there.'

Perkins was to say that the number meant more to him than any other song he'd written, including 'Blue Suede Shoes'. On the track Paul added backing vocals and played organ, rhythm guiur, drums and bass, but didn't use it on Tug Of War.

'Get It' was featured on the album and was also issued as the flipside of the 'Tug Of War' single. Carl also included the number, with Paul's vocals, on his own album Go Cat Go, released in America on the Dinosaur label in 1996.

Sadly, Perkins died on 19 January 1998.

Perry, Lee 'Scratch'

A famous Jamaican record producer who had a four-track studio, which he called Black Ark Studios, in the backyard of his home in Kingston, Jamaica. On Monday 20 June 1977 Paul hired Perry to produce three numbers with Linda, which he'd intended to include on a solo album of hers.

The numbers were 'Sugartime', 'Mr Sandman' and 'Dear Hearts And Gentle People'.

PETA

An acronym for 'People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals', one of several charities which Paul has supported. PETA and PAWS (Performers for Animal Welfare) received the proceeds from the sale of the 13-track album Animal Magnetism, issued in 1995. It featured the song 'White Coated Man', penned by Linda McCartney and Car la Lane on which Linda sang lead vocal. Other artists included the Pretenders, Pat Travis, Linda Rondstadt, Edgar Winter and Steve Walsh.

At the end of 1996 Paul and Linda were presented with an award from PETA at a ceremony in Los Angeles. Linda's acceptance speech was her first public appearance since she received treatment for cancer.

In 1997 Paul took part in another PETA publicity campaign. An advertisement appeared in New Yorker magazine for 'Paul's furs', which seemed to offer furs for sale with a message reading: 'Before you buy, let us show you our lively collection of fox, mink and raccoon. You'll be astonished and could save thousands.'

There was a phone number and when people called Paul's voice would answer saying, 'Hello. You've reached Paul's furs. Please leave your name and address for your free video to arrive.'

The video had a 'Paul's Furs' label on it, but when it was played it showed graphic scenes of animals in traps and being killed on fur farms.

It naturally caused some controversy and PETA issued a statement by Paul in which he said, 'Prospective customers will see who pays the ultimate price for fur: the animals.'

Following Linda's death, Paul vowed to continue carrying on her crusade for animals' rights. He gave an interview to the PETA magazine Animal Rights in 1998. Paul commented, 'Animal rights is too good an idea for the next century to be suppressed. It's time we get nice. I want people to be reassured that we're going to keep this torch burning.

'Over the years, because I had the luxury of Linda taking the front role on animal issues, some people would occasionally make out that I wasn't really committed and that I was a secret meat-eater in the background. Just to prove that's not the case, I thought, rather than do some general interviews about how much I miss her, which the newspapers would like, I should do it with the PETA magazine because that's where it's at.'

The PETA Awards is an annual gala and awards ceremony held by PETA. A special PETA tribute to Linda McCartney took place on Saturday 18 September 1999 at Paramount Studios in Hollywood; it was called the PETA Millennium Gala.

In the New York Street area of the studio there was a reception for donors who had paid $350, with live music from the Royal Crown Revue. There was a second reception near the Bronson Gate where 800 donors had paid approximately $1,250.

Two thousand people attended the gala, each paying a minimum of $350 and the event raised $1 million.

The B-52s and Chrissie Hynde performed and then Paul took to the stage at 12.30 a.m., backed by Dave Gilmour and Mick Green on guitar, Pete Wingfield on keyboards and Ian Paice on drums. Paul then performed six numbers from his Run Devil Run album: 'Honey Hush', 'Brown Eyed Handsome Man', 'No Other Baby', 'Try Not To Cry', 'Lonesome Town' and 'Run Devil Run'.

There was a video of the event 'Paul McCartney & Friends: PETA's Millennium Concert' which included acts such as the B-52s, Sarah McLachlan and Chrissie Hynde. Paul performed his set with his Run Devil Run backing band. After a false start with 'Brown Eyed Handsome Man', he said, 'We're gonna start that again 'cause that wasn't awfully good. A little discrepancy there. And we're not having that, are we lads? We're not coming all the bloody way from England and having discrepancies!'

There was also a VHI special of the concert that only featured three of the numbers performed by Paul - 'Honey Hush', 'Brown Eyed Handsome Man' and 'Run Devil Run'.

The main event was the first annual Linda McCartney Memorial Award, which Sir Paul presented to actress Pamela Anderson Lee for her animal rights work.

Sarah McLachlan performed 'Angel', which was accompanied by a film of Linda. Paul then made a speech.

Paul's daughter Stella was present and she was also honoured for her anti-fur work.

At the PETA Gala at the Waldorf-Astoria, New York on 8 September 2001, hosted by Pamela Anderson, Paul accepted a humanitarian award and also presented the Linda McCartney Memorial Award to Chrissie Hynde.

Some controversy was caused in 2001 when Paul backed a PETA campaign to prevent children drinking milk because PETA was opposed to dairy farming.

Pets

Both Paul and Linda loved animals and had numerous pets. In 1968, when she and Paul first became close in London, Linda bought her Old English sheepdog, Martha. Paul bought his father a racehorse, Drake's Drum, in 1964. Paul had a horse called Honour and Linda had an Irish thoroughbred mare called Cinnamon and an Appaloosa stallion called Lucky Spot. Other Appaloosas they were to own included Malice Pina and Mr Tibbs and Paul's horse Blankit. The children had ponies. Heather's was called Coconut, Mary's Cookie and Stella's Sugarfoot. They had a Dalmatian called Lucky and a Labrador called Jet. They also had another Dalmatian called Captain Midnight, a Yellow Labrador called Poppy and a collie called Murdoch. James also had a sheepdog called Arrow. Their cats included Jo and Scotty.

They also included their farmyard animals as pets, particularly since Dragonfly was the lamb that inspired them to turn vegetarian in 1970.

They had two cows called Lavender and Vanessa, two of the many animals they have saved from slaughter. A number of the pets have inspired songs - Martha, Jet and Arrow.

Piano Tape, The

A 61-minute tape that Paul recorded at one sitting on Sunday 14 July 1974. He played a selection of songs on a piano, a number of which have never been released. The tape eventually emerged on a bootleg album called The Piano Tape. During the hour session, Paul ran through 26 numbers.

They were: 'Million Miles'; 'Mull Of Kintyre'; 'I'll Give You A Ring'; 'Baby You Know It's True'; 'Women Kind'; 'Getting Closer'; 'In My Dreams'; 'Rockestra Theme'; 'Now That She Is Mine (Letting Go)'; 'Call Me Back Again'; 'Lunch Box/Odd Sox'; 'Treat Her Gently/Lonely Old People'; 'You Gave Me The Answer'; 'Waiting For The Sun To Shine'; 'She Got It Good'; 'Blackpool'; 'Sunshine In Your Hair'; 'Girlfriend'; 'I Lost My Little Girl'; 'Upon A Hill'; 'Sea'; 'Love Is Your Road'; 'Sweet Little Bird'; 'Partners In Crime'; 'Suicide'; and 'Dr Pepper'.

Piazza San Marco

The famous Venetian square where Wings appeared before 30,000 people on 25 September 1976.

The occasion was a UNESCO-organised series of major events to raise funds for the Venice restoration.

Paul agreed to add the date to Wings' schedule and generously also offered to pay for the equipment and transport costs himself. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) provided the hotel accommodation and organised the actual evening, erecting the scaffolding for the stage and preparing the seating. There was some irony in the event; the press pointed out that Wings did more to destroy the city than to restore it due to the fact that the heavy lorries containing their equipment cracked some paving stones in the ancient square.

Paul commented, 'I can't think of a more beautiful place to stage a concert.'

Seating had been arranged for 15,000 people, with some tickets costing £10. However, thousands more poured into the square, effectively doubling that number. Approximately £54,000 was raised by the concert, which, after all expenses had been deducted, brought the fund a handsome donation of £25,000.

At the climax of the evening, seven lasers were used to provide a spectacular visual display as they alighted on the walls of the cathedral at the far end of the square in the shape of a butterfly.

Picasso's Last Words

A track from the Band On The Run album lasting 5 minutes and 50 seconds. Paul was on holiday near Montego Bay, Jamaica in 1973 and he and Linda joined actor Dustin Hoffman and his wife for dinner. Hoffman was in Jamaica filming Papillon, He was intrigued by the songwriting process and asked Paul if he could write about any subject. Paul said he could, so Hoffman showed him a copy of Time magazine dated 23 April 1973, which featured an article, 'Pablo Picasso's Last Days And Final Journey'. Paul was intrigued by Picasso's last words which were, 'Drink to me, drink to my health ... you know I can't drink anymore.' Paul then wrote the song in front of Hoffman who was to comment, 'It's right under childbirth in terms of great events in my life.'

Pilchard

The name of a play that Paul and John attempted to write in their early days of collaboration.

Paul later described it as 'a sort of precursor of The Life Of Brian, about a working-class weirdo who was always upstairs praying. It was a down-market Second Coming. But we had to give it up because we couldn't actually work out how it went on, how you actually filled up all the pages.'

In 1963 John said, 'I had a bash at writing a serious play with Paul. It was about Jesus coming back to earth today, and living in the slums. We called the character Pilchard. It all fell through in the end, but we aim to do at least one big play or musical together. That's our ambition - a West End production with our own words and music'

Pipes Of Peace (album)

Paul's follow up to Tug Of War. He was originally going to call the album Tug Of War II. In a Radio One interview with Simon Bates on 16 June 1983 he said, 'It's a sequel to Tug Of War and I was going to call it Tug Of War II but I thought the Rocky thing of Rocky /, Rocky II and Rocky III was really boring, so I've called it Pipes Of Peace.'

Some tracks for Tug Of War were never included on the album and Paul thought, 'What would be the opposite of a tug of war? Peace pipes, pipes of peace and stuff.'

In fact he composed a number called 'Tug Of Peace' for the album, and his feelings for the concept of an album about love and peace are evident in the quote by Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, which he placed on the sleeve: 'In love all of life's contradictions dissolve and disappear.'

Paul continued his collaboration with George Martin to produce this eleven-track album that was originally released simultaneously in Britain and America on Monday 31 October 1983. The British release was on Parlophone PCTC 1652301.

Tracks were: 'Pipes Of Peace', 'Say Say Say', 'The Other Me', 'Keep Under Cover', 'So Bad', 'The Man', 'Sweetest Little Sorrow', 'Average Person', 'Hey Hey', 'Tug Of Peace', 'Through Our Love'.

There was no detailed listing on the album of the musicians who participated, but Paul was the principal artist and Michael Jackson duetted with him on 'Say Say Say'. Ringo Starr was also a guest drummer and Linda provided backing vocals and keyboards.

An array of other musicians was featured on different tracks. They included: Steve Gadd, drums; Denny Laine, vocals, guitar, keyboards; Dave Mattacks, drums; Eric Stewart, vocals, guitar; Hugh Burns, guitar; Stanley Clarke, bass; Gary Herbig, horn; Jerry Hey, horn; James Kippern, tabla; Chris Hammersmith, harmonica; Ernie Watts, sax; Nathan Lamar Watts, bass; Geoff Whitehorn, guitar; David Williams, guitar; Gavyn Wright, violin. George Martin produced the album and Geoff Emerick was the engineer.

The album received a critical mauling from the British music press. The New Musical Express commented: 'A dull, tired and empty collection of quasi funk and gooey rock arrangements ... with McCartney cooing platitudinous sentiments on a set of lyrics seemingly made up on the spur of the moment.

Melody Maker commented that it was 'slushy', 'watery-weak', 'congratulatory self-righteous' and 'wince-inducing.'

The album reached No. 4 in the British charts and No. 16 in the American.

The title track provided Paul with a No. 1 Christmas hit and a stunning video.

On Wednesday 29 February 1984 it became the first Beatle-related CD to be issued by EMI on CDP 7460182. It was issued on CD in America on the same day.

A remastered CD version was issued on 9 August 1999 on Parlophone CD 7 891372, with three bonus tracks: 'Twice In A Lifetime', 'We All Stand Together' and 'Simple As That'.

Pipes Of Peace (promotional film)

The promotional film received the award for 'Best Video' in the 1983 British Rock and Pop Awards broadcast live on BBC Television on Tuesday 21 February 1984. Paul was on holiday at the time of the awards, but recorded a video message that was screened at the event. Keith MacMillan, who had directed the promotional film, collected the award on his behalf.

Pipes Of Peace (single)

The single credited simply to Paul McCartney was issued in Britain on Parlophone R6064 on Monday 5 December 1983 where it reached the top of the charts.

'So Bad' was on the flip.

It was also released in Germany on Odeon 1C0061655287.

When it was released in America on Columbia 39149 on Monday 5 December 1983 the A and B-sides were reversed.

The American version was also the one issued in France on Pathe Marconi/EMI 1655287.

Playhouse Theatre

A BBC theatre situated in Northumberland Avenue, London. Paul began four days of rehearsals with his Paul McCartney Band at this venue on Monday 24 July 1989. On Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 July he performed concerts for an invited audience who included 400 members of the Wings Fun Club, in addition to staff members from MPL and EMI Records. The shows began at 5 p.m. Their repertoire for both shows was the same: 'Figure Of Eight¹, 'Jet', 'Rough Ride', 'Got To Get You Into My Life', 'Band On The Run', 'We Got Married', 'Put It There', 'Hello Goodbye', 'Things We Said Today', 'Can't Buy Me Love', 'Summertime', 'I Saw Her Standing There', 'This One', 'My Brave Face', 'Twenty Flight Rock', 'The Long And Winding Road', 'Ain't That A Shame', 'Let It Be' and 'Coming Up'.

At a press conference at this venue, which took place between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on 27 July 1989, Paul announced the line-up of his Paul McCartney Band and the dates for his European and British tour. Paul and his band also performed 'Midnight Special', 'Twenty Flight Rock' and 'This One'.

A filmed excerpt from their performance of 'This One' was included on Entertainment Tonight on 31 July.

Poetry

Paul first began to write poetry whilst at Liverpool Institute. One of his first efforts was called 'The Worm Chain Drags Slowly'. He was to comment, 'When I was a teenager, for some reason I had an overwhelming desire to have a poem published in the school magazine. I wrote something deep and meaningful - which was promptly rejected - and I suppose I have been trying to get my own back ever since.'

The person who was a great influence on his reading habits then was his English tutor at Liverpool Institute, Alan Durband.

Paul was to say, 'I did A-level English at the Inny, which is my scholastic claim to fame, and we had Alan "Dusty" Durband, a lovely man, who showed us the dirty bits of Chaucer, you know, the Miller's Tale, and the Nun's Tale, which were dirtier than anything we were telling each other. He had studied under FR Leavis at Oxford, and he brought a rich pool of information to us guys, and when we would listen, which was occasionally, it was great. He introduced us to Louis MacNeice and Auden, both of whom I liked. It was a great period of my life and I enjoyed it.'

He decided to write poetry again when he heard of the death of his childhood friend Ivan Vaughan and said, 'After having written so many song lyrics with and without John Lennon, I wrote a poem on hearing of the death of my dear friend Ivan Vaughan,' and added, 'It seemed to me that a poem, rather than a song, could perhaps best express what I was feeling.'

The result was the poem 'Ivan', which inspired Paul to take up writing poetry again.

After the publication of his poetry in Blackbird Singing edited by Adrian Mitchell, Paul began a series of poetry readings, insisting that the first one be in Liverpool because it was the city that put the poetry in him.

Commenting on Paul's ability as a poet, Mitchell described him as a popular poet rather than an academic one. He observed, 'A few songwriters, although they know you can get away with banal nothingness in pop lyrics, have a vision and try to convey it to us. A few manage to write truthfully about the world - as Paul does in 'Penny Lane', 'She Came In Through The Bathroom Window' and 'Eleanor Rigby'. Paul takes risks, again and again, in all his work. He's not afraid to take on the art of poetry - which is the art of dancing naked. Paul knows the value of words, how they can help us to enjoy living and loving. He also knows how words can work during the deepest grief - not just as therapy, but as a way of speaking to and for others who have lost their loved ones.'

In 2001 Paul said that the favourite poem he had written was 'Her Spirit'.

Poetry Olympics Marathon, The

An event which took place during 'National Poetry Day' on Thursday 4 October 2001 at the Queen's Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, with Paul topping the bill.

This was Paul's first poetry recital in London and he read poems and lyrics from his book Blackbird Singing. In addition, he read a previously unheard poem called 'Sweet Little Girl Next Door'.

Other poets on the bill included Patience Agbabi, Tom Pickard, Fran Landesman, Inge Elsa Laird, Lemn Sissay, Frieda Hughes, Adrian Mitchell and Michael Horovitz.

Portugal

Bruce Welch of the Shadows had bought a holiday home in Albufeira in southern Portugal and in 1963 told Paul that he was free to use the villa at any time. Paul forgot about it but was reminded once again when he bumped into Welch in 1965. Welch said he was going to his home in Portugal for a break and once again offered Paul its use at any time.

When Paul and Jane Asher met up with Welch again at the Pickwick Club in London and the offer was repeated Paul, who had been through a hectic schedule of work, arranged to visit Portugal for the first time and Paul and Jane flew out on 27 May 1965. They took a one-and-a-half-hour flight to Lisbon (Faro airport had not opened at the time) and had a five-hour journey by road. During the car journey the words to 'Yesterday' began to flow. He'd had the tune in his mind almost for years and now the words just seemed to pop into his head. As soon as they arrived at the Welch villa Paul immediately asked him if he had a guitar. Welch said, 'I could see he had been writing lyrics on the way down; he had the paper in his hand as he arrived.'

Welch handed him a 1959 Martin model 0018, which Paul had to play upside down due to being left-handed. He began to sing the song immediately and asked Welch, 'What do you think of this?'

Bruce and his wife had packed and were ready to leave, and as they left for London, Paul and Jane settled down to their holiday, during which Paul completed his classic, 'Yesterday'.

In December 1968 Paul, Linda and Heather arrived unexpectedly at Hunter Davies's holiday home in the Algarve, in the region of southern Portugal. It was literally the middle of the night. Beatles official biographer Hunter woke up to hear someone shouting his name very loudly and demanding to be let in.

Earlier that evening, back in London, Paul had decided impulsively that he wanted to take up Hunter's open invitation to visit him, and so chartered a jet to fly him, his new girlfriend and her daughter out to Faro, the nearest airport. They stayed about ten days with the Davies's, who, as Hunter recalls, were a little bemused as when they had left England earlier that year (Hunter was on a year's sabbatical after completing The Beatles book) Paul had been engaged to Jane Asher.

Post House Hotel, Bristol

A hotel situated just outside Bristol where Paul held a press conference on Thursday 11 September 1975 following Wings' appearance at the Hippodrome, Bristol the previous evening. Here is an excerpt of the question and answer session:

Question; Just what keeps you going?

Paul: Drugs! No, I just like the music.

Question: Have you seen the Beatles lately?

Paul: We run into each other and stuff. We're just good friends.

Question: Is Wings really a logical development from the Beatles?

Paul: Well, I've always written songs, but with the Beatles we only ever rehearsed for three days at the most. With this band we rehearse a lot.

Question: Are you looking forward to playing in Cardiff?

Paul: Of course.

Question: Why did you decide to go back on the road?

Paul: Well, either we sit at home and do it, or we play in front of people. Now it's a pleasure to do it and we want to keep on working.

Question: Will Wings ever become as big as the Beatles?

Paul: I think it could be, funnily enough. The whole thing is bigger now. We're having a great time - we like to play music and people like to come and hear it.

Question: How different is Wings from the Beatles?

Paul: They scream at our concerts, but they don't scream as much. People used to come and scream and didn't hear any of the music. Now they can.

Question: Do you want to bring back the Beatles?

Paul: It wasn't within my power to bring back the Beatles. It was a four-way split and we all wanted to do different things. We're all very good friends. John is keeping very quiet at the moment, while fortunately I'm out working ... I like it.

Powell, Aubrey

Cambridge-born Powell was originally asked to design an album cover by Pink Floyd. He teamed up with Storm Thorgerson in a company they named Hipgnosis and they became influential and innovative designers of album sleeves for a range of artists including Paul McCartney and Led Zeppelin.

Since 1985 he decided to cease designing sleeves and set up a film company with Storm and he continues to specialise in directing, writing, and producing documentaries, commercials and music-related films.

He directed 'Paul McCartney - Movin' On' also 'Live In The New World' and 'Going Home' (aka 'From Rio To Liverpool'), the latter winning a cable equivalent of an Emmy award.

Powell, Colin

The American Secretary of State in 2001 when Paul and Heather Mills met up with him on 19 April of that year.

The couple wished to discuss their campaign against land mines with him.

They commented, 'We had a really good meeting and Secretary of State Colin Powell was very helpful. We basically explained to him our point of view, a lot of which he agreed with. He was very supportive about this whole thing and there are reasons to be very hopeful for the future.'

Powell pointed out to Paul and Heather that the United States had contributed $500 million to the mine clearing programmes - including Heather's own 'Adopt A Landmine' programme.

Following their meeting with Powell, they helo a press conference, which was broadcast on the CNN programme Inside Politics in which Paul discussed the crusade to ban landmines which Heather and himself were involved in.

Power Cut

A number that Paul wrote during the miners' strike in Britain in 1972 when there were widespread power cuts. It was the final number of a four-number 11-minute 15-second medley that closed the Red Rose Speedway album and was 3 minutes and 50 seconds in length. Paul sang lead vocal and played piano, celeste and Mellotron. Linda played electric piano, Denny Laine electric guitar and vocal, Henry McCullough electric guitar and vocal and Denny Seiwell drums.

Power of Music, The

A 40-minute BBC documentary broadcast on BBC 1 on Wednesday 26 October 1988. The documentary was about the benefits of music therapy and Paul appeared with Dr Clive Robbins at the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy centre in Camden, London.

Earlier that year, Paul had received a Silver Clef award from Nordoff-Robbins for the help he had given to the organisation over the years and he was also to perform for their benefit at Knebworth in 1990.

During the documentary Paul performed four numbers, three of them on acoustic guitar. The three were 'You Are My Sunshine', 'Acoustic Guitar Improvisation' and 'Martin Can Sing, Peter Can Play'. The electric guitar number was 'Give Me Your Love'.

The documentary was repeated on BBC 2 on 12 April 1993.

Power, Jonathan

A former Liverpool Institute school friend of Paul's. When they first met, Paul befriended him, buying him an ice-lolly and offering him a cigarette. Later in life Powell became involved in Amnesty International and wrote a book Like Water On Stone - The Story Of Amnesty International, which Paul helped to promote at a ceremony at LIPA in Liverpool on Friday 20 July 2001.

Following the graduation ceremony for 200 students, Paul spoke about Amnesty International and Power followed him, saying, 'Between us we have had forty years of righting wrongs and forty years of writing songs. Today I think the world is a better place.'

Power Station Studios

New York recording studios where Paul began recording several songs, produced by Phil Ramone, from Monday 25 August until Friday 29 August 1986. At the sessions he was backed by Billy Joel's group who comprised Liberty Devitto, drums; Russell Javors, rhythm guitar; Doug Stegmeyer, bass; Mark Rivera, percussion and wind instruments; and David Brown, lead guitar.

Ramone continued the sessions in October of that year at Paul's home studios in Sussex.

Praying Mantis Heart

A demo which Paul recorded in his Rude Studio in Scotland in 1978. An excerpt from the number was heard on Part 13 of the Oobu Joobu radio series.

Presley, Elvis

The most famous solo singer in popular music history, born Elvis Aaron Presley on 8 January 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi. He died on 16 August 1977.

When Brian Epstein once said that the Beatles would become bigger than Elvis, everyone laughed at him. Eventually, the Beatles achieved more No. 1 chart hits than Elvis did, although a posthumous re-recording of Elvis's topped the charts in 2002.

In 1967 Paul told Beatles biographer Hunter Davies, 'Every time I felt low I just put on an Elvis record and I'd feel great, beautiful. I'd no idea how records were made and it was just magic. "All Shook Up!" Oh, it was beautiful!'

In an interview in Melody Maker on Saturday 14 September 1968, Paul said, 'I'd love to produce an album for Elvis. His albums haven't been produced very well and as I am a fan of his I think I'd be able to produce him well.'

Asked why the Beatles didn't include Elvis on the cover of their Sgt Pepper album, Paul told their press agent Tony Barrow, 'Elvis was too important and too far above the rest even to mention. I think we all assumed everyone felt that way, so we didn't put him on the list because he was more than merely a fave rave fab gear pop singer, he was Elvis the King.'

The Beatles actually met with Elvis on Friday 27 February 1965 at his Hollywood home in 565 Perugia Way, Bel Air, Beverly Hills.

Recalling the historic moment, Paul said, 'He met us at the door. The thing that always sticks in my mind is that he had the first remote control switcher for a telly I had ever seen. He was switching channels, and we were, like, "Wow! How are you doing that?"'

Commenting on Elvis, he said, 'I really liked him. He didn't talk much, and he looked great. He was a really cool, casual guy. He was also playing bass, so that was great for me. "You're trying to learn bass are you son? Hey, I play bass too. Sit down, let me show you a few things." I couldn't give him any hints, but I could, at least, talk knowl-edgably about it. I felt a bond with him, like, "Hey, I play bass too".'

During the recording of the London Town album, Paul wrote a number that he specifically intended for Elvis Presley, 'Name And Address', although Elvis died before Paul could send him a demo of the song.

Press

A track from the Press To Play album lasting 4 minutes and 43 seconds. It was released as a single simultaneously in Britain and America on Monday 14 July 1986. The UK release was on Parlophone R 6133. There was also a 12" disc in a picture sleeve on Parlophone 12R 6133, containing an alternative mix to the track by Julian Mendelssohn and American producer Burt Bevans. The American release was on Capitol B-5597.

The flipside was 'It's Not True'.

The record reached No. 22 in the British charts and No. 21 in the American.

The British single was replaced on Saturday 20 July 1986 by another mix of the number labelled 'video edit'.

It was also released in Germany on Parlophone 1C006 2013417.

Press To Play

An album co-produced by Paul and Hugh Padgham, with a special contribution from Eric Stewart. There was a cover photograph of Paul and Linda taken by famous Hollywood photographer George Hurrell.

The album was released in Britain on Monday 1 September 1986 on Parlophone PCSD 103 and cassette TC-PCSD 103. It was released in America on Capitol on Friday 23 August 1983. The album reached No. 8 in the British charts and No. 30 in the American.

A mid-price CD version was issued in Britain on Monday 4 January 1988.

The tracks were: Side One: 'Stranglehold' (penned by Paul and Eric Stewart), 'Good Times Coming'/'Feel The Sun' (penned by Paul), 'Talk More Talk' (penned by Paul), 'Footprint' (penned by Paul and Stewart) and 'Only Love Remains' (penned by Paul), Side Two: 'Press' (penned by Paul), 'Pretty Little Head' (penned by Paul and Stewart), 'Move Over Busker' (penned by Paul and Stewart), 'Angry' (penned by Paul and Stewart) and 'However Absurd' (penned by Paul and Stewart).

Apart from Paul, Linda and Stewart other musicians on the album included Jerry Marotta, Carlos Alomar, Eddie Rayner, Phil Collins, Pete Townshend, Nick Glenni-Smith, Dick Morrissey, Ray Cooper, Simon Chamberlain, Graham Ward, Lennie Pickett, Gary Barnacle, Gavin Wright and John Bradbury.

Voices providing vocal harmony on the various tracks included Linda and James McCartney, Kate Robbins, Eddie Klein, John Hammel, Matt How, Steve Jackson and Ruby James.

Pretty Little Head (remix)

A number, 5 minutes and 13 seconds in length, composed by Paul in collaboration with Eric Stewart and initially included on the Press To Play album. Paul described the song as 'a bit like abstract art', mentioning that it originally began as an instrumental number and then he added some exotic lyrics to it.

It was released as a single in several formats.

The initial single was issued in Britain on Parlophone R6145 on Monday 27 October 1986 with 'Write Away' on the flipside and reached No. 76 in the charts. Paul McCartney and Hugh Padgham produced the disc. There were also maxi singles containing three tracks in the 7" and 12" format.

A 12" version was issued on the same day with a longer remix of the A-side by John Potoker. It had the same B-side as the single, together with a bonus track, 'Angry', a remix by Larry Alexander that was three seconds longer than the album version.

All three numbers were co-written by Paul and Stewart.

The record failed to chart and three weeks later Paul issued his first ever cassette single, which contained the same tracks as the 12" version. There was a picture sleeve with a photograph taken by Linda McCartney.

The musicians on 'Pretty Little Head' were Paul on guitars, bass, keyboards and vocal, Eric Stewart on guitars and vocals, Jerry Marolta on vibraphone and drum programming and Carlos Alomar on guitar.

There was a longer remix of 'Pretty Little Head' on the 7" release which was done by John 'Tokes' Potokey, with the B-side a remix of 'Angry', the same version issued as the flipside in America on 'Stranglehold' on Wednesday 29 October 1986.

The single was released in Germany on Parlophone 1C006-2015217.

There was also a limited edition of 2,000 copies of a cassette single issued in Britain on Parlophone TCR 6145.

Pride Of Britain British Achievers Awards

A ceremony organised by the Daily Mirror newspaper and Virgin to acknowledge outstanding achievements. The 1999 ceremony took place at the Dorchester Hotel, London and Paul presented the Linda McCartney Award For Animal Welfare to Juliet Gellatley, founder and director of Viva, a vegetarian charity, who Paul had personally chosen as recipient of the award.

Paul said, 'It has been a very emotional occasion. I never expected it to be like this. What a day this has been. It has been such an inspiration. The point about these awards is that you don't usually see this side of people. You normally see the other side. I have been choked up. This shows how many good people there are in the world. Linda would have been well chuffed with the award created in her name. I have been crying all year and now I come here. I just want to thank Mirror readers for creating this category and dedicating it to my lovely Linda. I know she would be proud.'

On presenting the award to Gellatley, he said, T chose Juliet because she deserves more publicity for her work. The point is that a few years ago Juliet would not have been at an awards ceremony like this, but vegetarianism is now the way of the future.'

It was at this event that Paul was to meet his future wife, Heather Mills.

Prime Time

A New Zealand television show. On the afternoon of 25 March 1993, the day after Wings had arrived in New Zealand for their concert at Western Springs Stadium, Linda was interviewed for the show. She discussed her 24-year marriage to Paul, the confidence she now felt as a member of Wings and gave the interviewer a copy of her vegetarian cookbook to pass on to the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Prince, Tony

A disc jockey who recorded a special interview with Linda McCartney at Elstree Studios in March 1976. This was broadcast by Radio Luxembourg on The Royal Rock Show (because Tony was known as the 'Royal Ruler') on Saturday 20 March from 11 p.m. until midnight.

Prince's Trust 10th Birthday Charity Gala

Event held at Wembley Arena, London on Friday 20 June 1986, providing Paul with his first indoor concert appearance for six and a half years.

Elton John introduced Paul as 'someone who's inspired us all'. Paul then performed 'I Saw Her Standing There' and 'Long Tall Sally' and then introduced Mick Jagger and David Bowie, who performed 'Dancing In The Street'. Paul then returned to perform the finale, 'Get Back', where he was joined by most of the other artists from the show, including Elton John, Eric Clapton, Midge Ure, Mark Knopfler, Ray Cooper, Howard Jones, Bryan Adams, Mark King, John Illsley, Tina Turner and Paul Young.

The concert was filmed and presented as a 90-minute special on BBC 2 on Saturday 28 June 1986 and Wednesday 31 December 1986. There was also a two-hour Radio One stereo broadcast on Sunday 6 July. The Old Grey Whistle Test was to show the 'Get Back' sequence on Tuesday 24 June and Friday 27 June 1986. Excerpts were also shown in America on Entertainment Tonight on Wednesday 23 July 1986. A home video of the show was also released in Britain and America.

The capacity 8,000 audience had bought their tickets before Paul's appearance had been announced - as this was the tenth anniversary of the Prince's Trust. The concert is a regular charity event to raise money for young people and was attended by Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

Private Property

A song Paul wrote for Ringo to perform, 2 minutes and 43 seconds in length, which was included on the Stop And Smell The Roses album, issued on RCA LP 6022 on Friday 20 November 1981. On the track Paul plays bass and piano and adds some backing vocals. Howie Casey also plays sax. It was also released as a single in America in 1982 on Boardwalk Records 7-11-134 as a follow-up to 'Wrack My Brain'.

Proby, PJ

An American singer, born in Texas, real name James Marcus Smith, who was first brought over to Britain by producer Jack Good to appear on the 'Around The Beatles', 1964 Redifusion special.

Proby admitted that he nearly caused problems when he was introduced to Paul because of his temper. He said, 'Jack Good had told the Beatles a bunch of lies about me being the lead singer in Rosie & the Originals and so Paul asked me to sing their hit for them. So I said, "Rosie & the Originals? They're coloured people and I ain't coloured, you ******* sing it!"

'So Paul and I got off to a bad start. But when he introduced me on the show, he described me as their best mate and I was so flabbergasted, I almost couldn't sing, but I was made all over the world. Anybody who'd done that show and had the launch I had would've made it anyway.'

Proby also recorded a Lennon and McCartney number, mainly written by Paul, called 'That Means A Lot'. John Lennon commented, '"That Means a Lot" is a ballad which Paul and I wrote for our film, but we found we just couldn't sing it. We made a real hash of it. So we thought we'd give it to somebody who could sing it well, and decided on Proby.'

Professor Longhair

The name used by blues pianist Henry Roeland Byrd, who led an R&B revival in New Orleans in the 1970s and was known as the 'king of Rhumboogie'.

It was while they spent some time in New Orleans in the mid-1970s on material for the Venus And Mars album that Paul and Linda first met Professor Longhair.

On 24 March 1975 Paul invited the legendary pianist to perform at a special party he was hosting with Linda on the Queen Mary at Long Beach in California.

Arrangements were made to record his set and his manager Allison Kaslow was to comment: 'Byrd had no idea who Paul McCartney was, he had never heard of the Beatles. Even though he had been to Europe and all across the country, his world was right there on Rampart Street with his family.'

An album of the performance, entitled Live On The Queen Mary, was issued in the UK on 23 March 1978 on Harvest SHSP 4086 and in America on 24 July 1978 on Harvest SW 1179 under the auspices of MPL Communications and sporting an album cover photograph taken by Linda. This was to tie in with the Professor's first London concert at the New Theatre, Drury Lane on 26 March 1978.

Professor Longhair died of a heart attack on 29 January 1980 at the age of 61.

The album was reissued on the Stateside label on 10 March 1986 on SSL 6004. The cassette version was on TC-SSL 6004.

PS I Love You

A song penned by Paul early in 1962 that the Beatles recorded on the Beatles second proper session on Tuesday 11 September 1962. Andy White played drums, Ringo played maracas. It was issued in Britain as the flipside of their debut single on Parlophone R 4949 on 5 October 1962.

Paul was later to acquire the rights to the song and he chose to revive it in a medley with 'Love Me Do' in 1990.

PS Love Me Do

A medley of the only two Beatles songs that Paul has the publishing rights to. His MPL Company acquired the numbers from the EMI music publishing subsidiary Ardmore & Beechwood in the 1980s.

He put the song together in 1987 during recording sessions with producer Phil Ramone and initially included it as a special bonus disc in the special CD tour pack of Flowers In The Dirt in April 1990, which was issued in Japan to coincide with his tour there. The disc also contained some of the B-sides to Paul's records: 'The Long And Winding Road', 'Loveliest Thing', 'Rough Ride', 'Ou Est Le Soleil', 'Mamma's Little Girl', 'Same Time Next Year' and 'Party Party'. The CD also contained a 28-second message from Paul to the Japanese fans.

Pseudonyms

Paul didn't relish pseudonyms as much as John Lennon, although on the Silver Beetles' first tour, when they backed singer Johnny Gentle in Scotland, Paul decided on using the name Paul Ramon. George called himself Carl Harrison in tribute to Carl Perkins, Stuart Sutcliffe called himself Stu De Stael after one of his favourite painters and although it was said that John Lennon called himself Johnny Silver, he has always denied this.

It was odd that they decided on stage names for this particular tour because they were never advertised by name. All the bills for the tour read 'Johnny Gentle and his Group'.

Paul used the name Bernard Webb when he penned the song 'Woman' for Peter and Gordon as he wanted to see how well a number of his would do without the magic of the McCartney name. He also used the alias A Smith on the number.

When he produced the track 'I'm An Urban Spaceman' for the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, he used the pseudonym Apollo С Vermouth. Apollo is obviously linked with 'Spaceman' because of the American Apollo space missions.

Paul was also to use the Paul Ramon name many years later when he recorded 'My Dark Hour' with Steve Miller in 1969.

When Paul, Linda and family flew to New York on 4 January 1985 to escape the winter weather in Britain, Paul used the name Mr Winters.

Clint Harrigan was a name used when Paul penned a sleeve note for Wild Life and Thrillington.

Ian Iachimore was the pseudonym Paul assumed when friends wanted to contact him by letter in order to differentiate them from the vast fan mail that came his way. He claimed it was the sound of his own name played backwards on a tape recorder. The original manuscript for Paperback Writer ended with the words, 'Yours sincerely, Ian Iachimore'.

Paul also helped the underground newspaper International Times financially and was acknowledged by having his 'secret name' included in the credit box: Iachimore.

Billy Martin was a pseudonym Paul used when he was recording part of his McCartney debut album at Morgan Studios in February 1970.

Martin was not the Liverpool Billy Martin, who ran a famous dance studio in Liverpool, but Billy Martin the New York Yankees second baseman who later became their manager.

Pumer, Eddie

A former member of the 1960s band Kaleidoscope, who later became known as Fairfield Parlor. He became the producer of Paul's 1995 radio series Oobu joobu.

Pure Gold

A number penned by Paul, lasting 3 minutes and 15 seconds, that was recorded during Ringo Starr's album sessions at Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles while Paul was awaiting the start of his American tour. It was released on Ringo Starr's Ringo's Rotogravure album in 1976.

The musicians were: Ringo Starr on lead vocals and drums, Lon Van Eaton on guitar, Klaus Voormann on bass, Jim Keltner on drums, Jane Getz and John Jarvis on keyboards, George Devens on congas, Paul and Linda McCartney on background vocals, Vini Poncia on harmony vocals and Gene Orloff, concert master for strings.

Put It There (documentary)

A documentary by MPL, filmed between February and April 1989, mainly at Paul's home studio in Sussex. Among the numbers recorded were a new version of 'The Long And Winding Road', plus new numbers 'Rough Ride' and 'Party Party'.

Directed by Geoff Wonfor, it was about the making of Flowers In The Dirt. The special was premiered in Britain on BBC 1 on Saturday 10 June 1989 and in America on the Showtime channel on 11 November 1989.

The documentary was also issued as a Polygram Home Video for MPL Communications Ltd in the UK on 19 December 1989. A laser disc version was also issued in America in March 1990.

The 66-minute documentary featured musical contributions from Paul and Linda, Hamish Stewart, Wix, Robbie Mclntosh, Chris Whitten and Elvis Costello.

The numbers featured were 'C Moon'/'My Brave Face', 'Elvis Costello's My Brave Face', 'My Brave Face', 'Rough Ride', 'Figure Of Eight', 'Fool On The Hill', 'Things We Said Today'/'I Saw Her Standing There', 'The Long And Winding Road', 'How Many People', 'The Day Is Done', 'This One', 'Put It There', 'Songs From Choba BCCCP', 'Distractions', 'Party Party' and 'Let It Be'.

Put It There (single)

A fourth single by Paul from the Flowers In The Dirt album. It was issued in Britain on Parlophone 6246 on Friday 5 January 1990 where it reached No. 32 in the charts.

'Mama's Little Girl' was on the flipside.

The title was based on a favourite saying of Paul's father, Jim McCartney and 'put it there' referred to a hearty handshake. Paul wrote the number during two 30-minute sessions while on a skiing holiday in Zermatt, Switzerland.

There were five different configurations issued. The CD and 12" versions included an extra track, 'Same Time Last Year'. The 12" version on 12R 6246 did not include a free print of Paul's cover artwork although the edition numbered 12RS 6246 did.

A cassette-only version was issued in America on Capitol 4J44570 on Tuesday 1 May 1990.

A version of this number, lasting 2 minutes and 43 seconds, was included on the Tripping The Live Fantastic album. It was recorded live at the Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden on 28 September 1989 during the 1989/90 World Tour.

Putnam, Norbert 'Curly'

A premier country music songwriter, born on a mountain named after his family in Princeton, Alabama. He has received 36 BMI awards for his songs such as 'D-I-V-O-R-C-E' and he was composer of the Tom Jones hit 'The Green Green Grass Of Home'.

Curly owned a 133-acre ranch near Nashville, Tennessee where Paul, Linda and the kids, plus Wings (Mark 3) stayed for two weeks from 6 July 1974, practising in Putnam's garage and recording in the evening at Buddy Killen's Soundshop Recording Studios.