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Fair Carol
The yacht, which Paul hired in the Virgin Islands, on which he and Wings recorded part of their London Town album in 1977.
It was a pleasant experience although the musicians weren't seamen and the rolling of the waves caused a number of accidents, with Paul slipping and cutting his knee badly. Jimmy McCullough also injured his knee in a fall, which also left him deaf in one ear. Geoff Emerick, the engineer, electrocuted his foot and MPL's Alan Crowder fell down a stairway and broke his heel. The band and the crew also suffered from sunburn!
Faithfull, Marianne
She was born in Hampstead, London on 29 December 1946, the daughter of Baroness Erisso von Sacher-Masoch and Dr Glynn Faithfull.
As a schoolgirl she met John Dunbar at a Valentine's Ball at Cambridge and he became her boyfriend. He invited her to London to stay with his parents and took her to Wimpole Street where she met the Asher family and Paul. She thought Paul looked incredibly handsome and asked Dunbar if Paul and Jane had sex. 'Of course they do!' he told her. The same evening she went to a party attended by the Rolling Stones and their manager Andrew Loog Oldham spotted her and thought that she had the virginal looks that would have an appeal to young pop fans, so he recorded her with a Mick Jagger/Keith Richards song 'As Tears Go By', which became a hit.
Marianne married John Dunbar on 6 May 1965.
While the couple lived at 29 Lennox Gardens, Paul used to visit them regularly at their flat.
Marianne turned down the song 'Etcetera' which Paul had offered to her, but she wanted to record 'Eleanor Rigby', although Paul told her he wanted to record it himself. She decided on recording 'Yesterday', although Paul told her that various artists had already planned several other versions.
Matt Munro's version of 'Yesterday' was already climbing the charts when she was recording her version. She invited Paul along to her recording session at Decca's West Hampstead studio on Monday 11 October 1965 in which a 100-voice choir backed her. Her version was rush-released and entered the British chart on Thursday 4 November 1965 but only managed to reach the No. 36 position.
Paul attempted to promote Marianne's version of the number and included her as one of the guests on the Granada TV special The Music ofLennon and McCartney.
Paul began singing 'Yesterday' seated on a stool and strumming his guitar, then after thirty seconds the song faded into Marianne's version, with the sound of orchestra and choir. At the time Marianne was eight months pregnant and the cameras mostly viewed her head and shoulders.
Her son Nicholas was born on 10 November 1965.
Marianne and Dunbar were divorced in 1970 and she went on to marry Ben Brierly in 1979 and Giorgio Dellaterza in 1988.
Falkoner Theatre
A venue in Copenhagen, Denmark, where Paul appeared on Wednesday 24 July 1991 on the last of six surprise concerts promoting his Unplugged - The Unofficial Bootleg album.
All 3,000 seats in the theatre had sold out in 75 minutes and seating had to be removed prior to the show to facilitate standing room for the large audience.
Falling In Love Again
A song that Paul performed after introducing it into the Beatles repertoire in 1962. Marlene Dietrich originally sang the number in the classic German film The Blue Angel. Paul sang it at the Star Club in Hamburg and it can be heard on the Star Club recordings, first issued in June 1997 as a two-album set by Lingasong.
Fame Game, The
A BBC 1 documentary which was basically a history of Paul's efforts to establish his LIPA (Liverpool Institute Of Performing Arts) project, which included some of Paul's own monochrome film, rare footage which he taped while visiting the derelict site in the 1980s. He was also seen jumping on a desk and singing 'Tutti Frutti'. The film was produced by Rob Rohrer and screened on Saturday 8 June 1996.
Family Way, The (album)
The original soundtrack album for the film The Family Way, by the George Martin Orchestra, was issued in Britain on 6 January 1967 on
Decca SKL 4847 and in America on Monday 12 June 1967 on London MS-82007. This mainly comprised of thirteen variations on the Paul McCartney theme 'Love In The Open Air'.
The album was 25 minutes and 19 seconds in length.
It was Paul's first solo outing and produced by George Martin at CTS Studios in London.
Paul had been asked to pen the soundtrack in the late summer of 1966. After watching the film he composed the theme 'Love In The Open Air', which was orchestrated by Martin.
The soundtrack resulted in Paul receiving his first solo Ivor Novello Award for 'Best Instrumental Theme'.
Family Way, 77re(film)
A British film starring Hayley Mills, John Mills and Hywel Bennett, produced by the Boulting Brothers. The movie gave Paul his first credit as a solo composer. He had produced 26 minutes of music for the film, arranged for him by George Martin. A soundtrack album was issued on Decca SKL 4847 on 6 January 1967; two singles from the album were also issued - 'Love In The Open Air'/'Theme From The Family Way' on United Artists UP 1165 on 23 December 1966 and 'Love In The Open Air'/'Bahama Sound', on United Artists UA 50148 on 24 April 1967.
Paul, Jane Asher and George Martin attended the film's premiere at the Warner Theatre, London on 18 December 1966.
The film had been based on the play All In Good Time, penned by Bill Naughton, a former Liverpool lorry driver. Due to the theme of an unconsummated marriage, it was given an X certificate.
Famous Groupies
A number written by Paul in Scotland and recorded in the Virgin Islands for the London Town album.
Faron
Noted Liverpool singer and group leader during the era of the Mersey Sound. With his group Faron's Flamingos he recorded a blistering version of the Contours 'Do You Love Me?', but the record company in London put it on the B-side. The Dave Clarke Five and Brian Poole &: The Tremeloes then issued the number, almost identical to Faron's version - and it established their careers. Dejected, the Flamingos broke up.
Faron appeared on a number of gigs with the Beatles on Merseyside, one of which took place at Litherland Town Hall. Faron always packed his stage clothes neatly in a suitcase and that night, as it was pouring with rain, Paul asked if he could put his leather trousers in Faron's case. Faron agreed and said he'd meet them later at Joe's Cafe in Duke Street. When he arrived the Beatles had eaten and left and Joe Davey, the owner, presented Faron with a bill for five pounds, saying the Beatles said he'd pay it. Faron was furious and decided not to return Paul's leather trousers to him. He left them in the house and promptly forgot about them.
Over ten years later he was searching the attic and came across a pair of leather trousers, covered in green mould. He polished them up and happened to mention his find to Allan Williams, a local club-owner. Williams said they would be worth a fortune and asked Faron to give them to him and he would get a good price for them both.
Faron phoned his brother, who now lived in America, to tell him about the trousers and his brother revealed that they did not belong to Paul. He told Faron that he had found the trousers soon after Faron had put them away and began wearing them when he went out on his motorbike. One day he had an accident, skidding along the road and ripping the leather trousers so badly he had to throw them away. He bought another pair of leather trousers and when he left Liverpool had put them away in the attic.
Faron told Williams but Williams put them up for auction in October 1976 claiming that they were Paul's.
Fascher, Horst
The former bouncer, then manager, of the clubs the Beatles worked in during their early Hamburg gigs. He was with them at the Kaiserkeller, the Top Ten Club and the Star Club. He was even captured singing with them on stage at recordings made at the Star Club.
Sadly, Horst was to suffer a number of tragedies. In 1992 his two-year-old son Rory was suffocated when a fold-up wall bed trapped him in his sleep and suffocated him. His mother was Alison, daughter of Liverpool rock star Faron, and their son had been named after Liverpool music legend Rory Storm.
Horst and Alison became estranged and Horst and his next partner had a baby daughter, Marie-Sophie. The baby was born with heart problems and when the one-year-old girl needed a heart operation, Horst called Paul for help. Paul generously paid for a team of heart specialists to fly to London from New York and arranged for Horst and his family to bring the baby to London for the operation. Unfortunately, Marie-Sophie didn't survive.
Fashion For Ecology
A venture that Paul launched at Kew Gardens, London on 26 March 2001. He was promoting the sale of scarves with designs inspired by Linda's photographs. These were based on images from Kew Gardens that Linda photographed in February 1998. Linda's friend Sue Timney designed the scarves. Proceeds from the sale of the scarves went to the Millennium Seed Bank Project, a conservation charity, based in West Sussex, which Linda had supported.
The scarves were made of satin devore, velvet devore, silk and Viscose and came in three designs - 'Daisy Chain', 'Loving Memory' and 'Flower Garden'.
Feed The World
The flipside of the Band Aid charity single, 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' which took over from 'Mull Of Kintyre' as the biggest-selling British single ever.
The proceeds were in aid of the Ethiopian Appeal fund. Although Paul donated his services, he was unable to make the actual studio session when 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' was recorded, so he sent in a spoken message that appeared on the B-side 'Feed The World'.
The 7" pressing was issued on Saturday 7 December 1985 on Mercury FEED 1 and a 12" version was released the following week on Saturday 14 December on FEED 112.
Fellows, Graham
An actor who portrayed Paul in the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool production of the play Lennon.
Ferry 'Cross The Mersey
One of the major British football disasters took place when Liverpool FC was playing Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough football ground in 1989. Ninety-five people were crushed to death.
Gerry Marsden decided to make a benefit record to aid relatives of the victims. He'd made a special version of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' four years previously in aid of another football disaster at Bradford. On that particular record, in which Gerry had fifty artists participate under the name the Crowd, he had Paul contribute a few words on the B-side of the record, called 'Messages'.
That record topped the British charts. It also gave Gerry another unique record achievement: the first time that an artist had topped the British charts with a different version of the same number.
For the 'Mersey Aid/Hillsborough Fund', Gerry approached Pete Waterman of the hit production team Stock, Aitken and Waterman, who agreed on Gerry's choice of the number 'Ferry 'Cross The Mersey'. Paul McCartney, Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes to Hollywood and another Liverpool band, the Christians, were approached to participate in the recording.
Gerry recorded his part first and Paul and the Christians went in the studios together. Holly Johnson was in Germany at the time and recorded his vocals after the others had all finished. Waterman had to explain to Gerry that their recording technique was different from what he had in mind. He was to comment, 'He (Gerry) wrote it as a pop song. When we produced it with four artists, we did it as a tribute, which changed the whole meaning of why the song was being recorded. Gerry had recorded it with George Martin as a hit; we were now recording it with Paul McCartney and everybody else to raise money for a charity. We were creating an emotional message to wrench money out of people's pockets. Our job was to make money for an appeal and for that we had to be mercenary.'
In the middle of the record, Paul lets out a wail. Waterman commented, 'He goes out of tune and he wanted me to take it off and do it again and I wouldn't let him. I said, "Why did you do it?" and he said, "Well, it's just how I felt." And I said, "Then it stays!" Linda McCartney called me up afterwards and said, "You know, you're probably the only person who's ever told Paul McCartney that he couldn't have his own way. But all of us down here think you're absolutely right; we think it's marvellous to hear him showing some emotion.'"
Waterman made some additional comments. 'He [Paul] wanted to make it perfect which, of course, because he's Paul McCartney, he would do. But we knew the song had got to him at that point, the emotion of the tragedy had got to him, and when you see the video it definitely gets your throat, catches you and gives you a tear in the eye. McCartney did capture the spirit of it - and that's down to the fact that Gerry wrote a great song that does stand up to that treatment.'
The record topped the British charts on 20 May 1989.
Gerry Marsden was to comment, 'It was fun to think that Paul McCartney had returned, with me, to the top of the charts with a Marsden composition.'
Festehalle, Frankfurt, Germany
Paul appeared at this venue on the first European leg of his World Tour on Friday 6 October and Saturday 7 October 1989.
He was to return to the venue three and a half years later on Monday 22 and Tuesday 23 February 1993.
On the Monday Paul held a press conference at the venue during which he was presented with a gold disc for the Off The Ground album.
Paul was initially asked why he continued to perform when he could just relax and enjoy life. He answered, 'When I was about fifteen I thought that's what would happen. I wanted to win the football pools, the lottery. Buying a house, a car and a guitar. That was all I needed to make this a happy world for me. So when I got those three things, you don't just stop.
'I enjoy my work and if, like tomorrow, I'd have some time off, and I'd be OK for about a month. But after three or four weeks I'd want to play my guitar again, want to start to write a song again and take it into the studio and record it, coming out and playing it to the people, really, that's what I enjoy most. That's what I couldn't do without.'
He was asked about the controversy surrounding 'Big Boys Bickering'.
'This song really contains only one swear word which, everyone has pointed out, happens fourteen times. I was watching this film last night on TV. The language in that ... forget my song! It was like all the language you've ever heard. I don't like changing a song once I've written it. It's like when the Stones were asked to sing their 'Let's Spend The Night Together'. Harmless now, but that was shocking once. 'A Day In The Life' was banned - and 'Give Ireland Back To The Irish'.
'It's too much of a cop-out, I think, to change your song just because somebody doesn't like it.
'Big boys like the BBC or MTV sure, they had to ban my song. They may have some young listeners whose parents may be offended. My kids, they weren't offended. I didn't have to explain to them. It's a fact of modern life, going round swearing. I just wanted to protest against certain political conditions, so removing that word would be like removing the protest.'
He was then asked about 'Hope Of Deliverance'.
'This hope of deliverance is what you want to make it. It can take on a different significance. If you're falling out with your husband or your girlfriend, then you want deliverance from that situation. If it's someone in your family becoming ill, then it's that. It's really deliverance from whatever your own personal problem is that you're going through. Deliverance from all our polluting earth? I couldn't offer any answers on that, I'm as puzzled as we all are. Don't know any real answer, just being optimistic. The only answer, I think, is for people to openly communicate about it. Having faith in young people, give them the information hoping they will be sensible. That's my hope of deliverance for the future - a lot of crossed fingers.'
He was asked about using Wings material in his stage act and replied: 'The stuff I made with Wings has always received a lot of criticism. People have always said this was, like, not a good period for us. I don't believe that, but I'm afraid such a policy does have its effect. If someone keeps telling you you're stupid, in the long run, you tend to believe that. It's a pity. It now so happens that the Wings material gets squeezed out between the new stuff and me reliving the success of my Beatles songs.
'Still, there's "Live And Let Die", "Another Day" and "Let Me Roll It". We don't miss it out completely. I used to desperately try being different from the Beatles then, seeking for a new thing. Now, I'm much more happy with the Beatles style, playing it back and I enjoy singing it. The main change is that the words are a little bit more involved with grown-up issues now. Where it used to be "she loves you, yeah, yeah yeah", now that's changed to include a bit more serious matter.'
Paul was then asked what he considered made a good song.
He said, 'I don't know what makes a good song. Luck, I think. Good luck. Some of my best songs, they just wrote themselves. You can sit
down behind the piano, guitar in hand, for hours and maybe come up with an average song.
'A song like "Hope Of Deliverance", I wrote that in like two or three hours. I don't know how, but you can tell when you're writing, it just feels good. What's the use of asking yourself "where is this coming from?" I mean, if "Yesterday" was a song which I just woke up with one morning, then stop asking. I don't know. It's coming from some source above us - or below us. Who knows?'
He was then asked if he'd be doing some more shows in Germany.
'I hope so. They haven't fixed any further dates for Europe yet. We're going to Australia first, then to America and after that, who knows. But, yes, we will be coming back to other cities in Germany soon. Berlin or Munich. Which ones exactly, that's still to be decided.'
Figure of Eight
A single by Paul which was released in Britain on Parlophone R6235 on Monday 13 November 1989 where it reached No. 42 in the charts and in the US on Capitol 4JM44489 (on cassette only, with both tracks in a shorter version than the British release) on Wednesday 15 November 1989. It reached No. 92 in the American charts.
'Ou Est Le Soleil?' was on the flipside.
Paul had been releasing multiple versions of his singles releases and there were no less than eight different 'Figure Of Eight' singles issued in Britain, including three different CD versions.
There was a 7" version at 4 minutes and 1 second in length issued with 'The Long and Winding Road', which was the live version from the 'Put It There' video and 'The Loudest Thing'. This was released in Britain on Monday 20 November 1989 on CDS Parlophone CD3R 6235 in a gatefold edition. Another version issued in Britain on Monday 27 November 1989 on 3D3 Parlophone CD3R 6235 contained the 7" version of 'Figure Of Eight' with a live version of 'Rough Ride' from the 'Put It There' video and 'Ou Est Le Soleil?' Another release that day was in a standard jewel case on CDS Parlophone CDR 6235.
The single was also issued in Germany on CD3 Parlophone CDP 552 203653 3.
A version of this number lasting 5 minutes and 33 seconds was included on the Tripping The Live Fantastic album. It was recorded live at the Ahoy Sportpaleis in Rotterdam, Netherlands on 10 November 1989 during the 1989/90 World Tour.
Filmography
Paul has always been interested in films and was a regular cinemagoer in his youth. He particularly remembers the time he went to see The Blackboard Jungle with George Harrison.
Paul revealed details of eight of his favourite rock movies to journalist Jan Etherington in a feature in the Saturday 13 October 1984 issue of the British magazine TV Times. The films were Rock Around The Clock, The Girl Can't Help It, Loving You, A Hard Day's Night, Gimme Shelter, Woodstock, Let The Good Times Roll and The Song Remains The Same.
Of Л Hard Day's Night, he commented: 'I hate to say it but when you see the girls in their miniskirts and white floppy hats it does look dated.'
Of Let The Good Times Roll: 'Chuck Berry was the main writing influence on John and me - together with Buddy Holly.'
Of Gimme Shelter: 'It was made by the Maysles Brothers who made Beatles In the USA in 1964.1 remember the Maysles well.'
And of The Girl Can't Help It: 'I think it was the best rock-'n'-roll film ever made.'
Paul actually suggested What Little Old Manf as the title of the Beatles debut film. This was in reference to Wilfred Brambell's character, John McCartney, Paul's screen grandfather who was referred to in an early sentence in the film as 'What little old man?' The group settled on A Hard Day's Night.
Paul also suggested Where Did the Ringo? as the title of their second film, which ended up with the title Help!
Over the years, Paul has not only appeared in various films, ranging from features to documentaries to animated shorts, but has also composed the scores, produced, directed and also contributed as a writer.
Paul's filmography is:
A Hard Day's Night (1964).
Help! (1965).
The Next Spring Then (1966).
The Defeat Of The Dog (1966).
Yellow Submarine (1966).
The Family Way (composer) (1967).
Magical Mystery Tour (1967).
Let It Be (1969).
Live and Let Die (composer) (1973).
Empty Hand (producer) 1974.
Rockshow (1980).
The Cooler (1982).
Give My Regards To Broad Street (1984).
Rupert & The Frog Song (writer) (1985).
Daumier's Law (composer) (1992).
Grateful Dead (director) (1995).
Find A Way Somehow
A Denny Laine track which he originally featured on his 1973 album Ahh ... Laine! A new version was recorded during the London Town sessions with Laine on keyboards, Paul on bass, Jimmy McCulloch on guitar and Joe English on drums. It was considered for the London Town album but then rejected.
Finston Manor
A concert hall near Tenterton in Kent. Wings began two weeks of rehearsals at the venue on Saturday 28 June 1980 and were filmed rehearsing by a team from Day To Day, an ITV programme. They returned to the venue on Thursday 2 October for recording sessions for Hot Hits And Cold Cuts and Rupert The Bear, which lasted until Saturday 25 October. They also recorded tracks, which were to appear on forthcoming albums such as Tug Of War and Pipes Of Peace.
Among the numbers they recorded were: 'Rainclouds', 'Average Person', 'Keep Under Cover', 'Ebony And Ivory', 'Twenty Flight Rock', 'Ballroom Dancing', 'Cage', 'Old Man Lovin", 'Sure To Fall', 'Movie Magg', 'Blue Moon Of Kentucky', 'Summertime', 'Good Rockin' Tonight', 'Shake, Rattle And Roll', 'Cut Across Shorty', 'Stealin' Back To My Same Old Used To Be', 'Singin' The Blues', 'Johnny B. Goode', 'Dress Me Up As A Robber', 'The Pound Is Sinking', 'Sweetest Little Person', 'Wanderlust' and 'Take It Away'.
Wings also jammed on a number of unreleased tracks, 'Take Her Back, Jack', 'The Unbelievable Experience', 'Here's The Chord, Roy', 'Seems Like Old Times' and 'Boil Crisis'.
Fireman, The
Paul had made records using pseudonyms in the past, as with Percy Thrillington, and an instrumental album by the Fireman was eventually revealed as a duet with Paul and remix specialist Youth.
The project had taken over a year to make. Dance promoter Steve Anderson had collaborated with Paul on the mix of 'Deliverance 12'. Paul then decided to contact another studio technician known as Youth, a former bass guitarist with Killing Joke who had become an expert remixer and had helped to launch the careers of ambient dance music artists such as the Orb and KLE Paul invited Youth to the Mill, his home studio in East Sussex where he had been completing Off The Ground. The original idea was to come up with several Off The Ground 12" remixes, as Anderson had done with Deliverance. This eventually developed over a period of time into a 77-minute CD that they named Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest.
Paul decided to use the pseudonym the Fireman for himself and Youth, and chose the name because his father had been a volunteer firefighter during the Second World War.
The Fireman could be referred to as an ambient dance duo. The debut album Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest was issued in Britain on Monday 15 November 1993. The CD was issued on Parlophone CDPCSD 145, the vinyl double album on PCSD 147 and the cassette on TCCD 145. The tracks on the 77-minute release were: 'Transpiritual Stomp', 9 minutes, 1 second; 'Trans Luna Rising', 9 minutes, 9 seconds; 'Transcrystalline', 8 minutes, 39 seconds; 'Pure Trance', 8 minutes, 40 seconds; 'Arizona Light',
8 minutes, 39 seconds; 'Celtic Stomp', 8 minutes, 34 seconds; 'Strawberries, Oceans, Ships, Forest', 8 minutes, 37 seconds; '444', 7 minutes, 35 seconds and 'Sunrise', 8 minutes and 16 seconds.
Paul's company MPL had tried to keep Paul's involvement in the CD secret and had sent a number of pre-release copies to various clubs around Britain.
An MPL spokesperson was to say, 'We never thought we'd manage to keep it a secret throughout its release. There was no danger of that succeeding! But we didn't want people to pre-judge the album. We didn't want anyone to run out and buy it just because it was Paul. This was partly because we wanted to see how the album would stand up on its own two feet, and partly because we didn't want anyone to be disappointed. I think people who are generally fans of what Paul does are unlikely, in the main, to appreciate this. On the other hand, we didn't want people to write the entire project off simply because Paul was behind it.
'We wanted dance audiences to listen to it with open minds, and to a large extent that succeeded. We had very good responses from the specialist DJs. They have been playing it, mixing it, and making nice comments about it.'
In a Melody Maker review, Michael Bonner wrote, 'Paul McCartney has discovered dance music - and the results are as staggeringly brilliant as those which came from John Lydon's similar road-to-Damascus-like conversion last year. Truly, we live in an age of miracles.
'Eschewing the easy option of making a remix album, McCartney and his collaborator, Youth, have chosen to follow the likes of Brian Eno down a more experimental and cerebral path. They take a melody and, with dextrous genre-hopping through ambient, trance and house, evolve a number of breathtaking variations. Like snowflakes, each song seems identical to the last, until closer inspection reveals that it has its own unique shape.'
The album was issued in America on Tuesday 22 February 1994 on CD and cassette on Capitol CAP 27167.
On Friday 2 October 1998 Paul appeared on a netcast on the Fireman web site. He disguised himself in a ski mask and glasses, wore a floppy yellow hat and headphones. Dressed completely in black, save for a pair of white shoes, he played guitar, bass and keyboards and sang alone with a live remix of some of the Rushes music. His real identity became obvious when he gave the familiar Масса thumbs-up sign.
There was also a ten-minute question and answer section. The Fireman (Paul) was to answer questions sent online in advance. He sat on a couch with the young woman who had appeared naked on the Rushes sleeve, this time she was fully clothed, and handed her the answers, which had been written down.
To the question asking when the Fireman would be appearing live, the answer was: 'When the cosmic seasons are right.'
A question asked how the Fireman classified his music. The answer was: 'Ambient dreams in rainbow arches describe the circles of the Fireman.'
The question asking what was the significance of the naked woman on the Rushes cover, brought the answer: 'The symbolism of the unknown naked woman is an ancient mystery. We do not have her number.'
To the question asking what had inspired the album, the answer was: 'Night skies, flowing streams and whipped cream fire extinguishers.'
The question, 'How did the Fireman get his name?' earned the reply, 'The Fireman is no nickname - simply a warm place in the head!'
The netcast lasted for seventy minutes and ended with a slide saying, 'The Fireman loves you.' It was repeated on Friday 30 October and Friday 20 November.
First Stone, The
Paul said an American television evangelist inspired this number. He wouldn't name him, although it is likely that he was referring to Jimmy Swaggart.
It was recorded during sessions at the Mill between April and July 1988 and Hamish Stuart helped Paul with the lyrics. Paul produced and arranged the song and Geoff Emerick engineered it.
The number was chosen as the flipside of 'This One'. It was released in Britain on Monday 17 July 1989 and in America on Wednesday 2 August 1989 (as a cassette single only).
Fixing A Hole
A track from the Sgt Pepper album on which Paul sings lead, in addition to playing the harpsichord.
Paul was to comment: 'This song is just about the hole in the road where the rain gets in; a good old analogy - the hole in your make-up which let's the rain in and stops your mind from going where it will. It's you interfering with things; as when someone walks up to you and says, "I am the Son of God." And you say, "No you're not; I'll crucify you," and you crucify him. Well that's life, but it is not fixing a hole.
'It's about fans too: "See the people standing there/who disagree and never win/and wonder why they don't get in/ Silly people, run around/they worry me/and never ask why they don't get in my door." If they only knew that the best way to get in is not to do that, because obviously anyone who is really going to be straight and like a real friend and a real person to us, is going to get in; but they simply stand there and give off, "we are fans, don't let us in".
'Sometimes I invite them in, but it starts to be not really the point in a way, because I invited one in, and the next day she was in the Daily Mirror with her mother saying we were going to be married. So we tell the fans, "forget it".
'If you're a junky sitting in a room fixing a hole then that's what it will mean to you, but when I wrote it I meant if there's a crack or the room is uncolourful, then I'll paint it.'
Perhaps the explanation is not as complicated as all that. Paul wrote the song after repairing the roof on his Scottish farm. The number was recorded on Thursday 9 February 1967 at Regent Sound Studio in London and overdubbed on Tuesday 21 February at Abbey Road Studios.
Paul was to tell Playboy magazine, 'The night we went to record that, a guy turned up at my house who announced himself as Jesus. So I took him to the session. You know, couldn't harm, I thought. Introduced Jesus to the guys. Quite reasonable about it. But that was it. Last we ever saw of Jesus.'
Flaming Pie (album)
Paul's first studio album in almost five years, following Off The Ground. He was to comment, 'I wanted to have some fun and not sweat it. That's been the spirit of making this record. You've got to have a laugh, because it's just an album. So I called up a bunch of friends and family and we just got on and did it. And we had fun making it. Hopefully you'll hear that in the songs.'
It was recorded over a period of four years at various locations -Paul's own studio in East Sussex, George Martin's AIR Studio in London and Steve Miller's studio in Sun Valley, Idaho and is 53 minutes and 46 seconds in length.
Geoff Emerick and Jan Jacobs, assisted by Keith Smith, engineered the album and recording began on 6 November 1995. It was produced by Paul, Jeff Lynne and George Martin and sported a cover photograph of Paul by Linda McCartney. There was a 24-page booklet enclosed with personal notes about the tracks from Paul and photographs by Linda.
Flaming Pie was issued in Britain on Monday 5 May 1997 and topped the charts. The British release was in three formats: LP on Parlophone PCSD 171, cassette on TCPCSD 171 and CD CDPCSD 171. It was issued in America on Tuesday 20 May 1997 on Capitol CDP 8 56500-2 and reached No. 2 in the charts. Flaming Pie remained in the US charts for 18 weeks.
The album broke Paul's own world record for gold discs by getting his 81st, which went gold both sides of the Atlantic, taking only three days to pass the 500,000 sales mark in America.
Paul commented, 'None of the fourteen songs were written with an album in mind. They were written for my own pleasure.'
The tracks were: 'The Songs We Were Singing', 'The World Tonight', 'If You Wanna', 'Somedays', 'Young Boy', 'Calico Skies', 'Flaming Pie', 'Heaven On A Sunday', 'Used To Be Bad', 'Souvenirs', 'Little Willow', 'Really Love You', 'Beautiful Night' and 'Great Day'.
To coincide with the 5 May release in Britain BBC Radio 2 presented a Flaming Pie radio special that day.
The Times commented on the album: 'this is the sound of rock 'n' roll with its teeth in a glass of water by its bedside.' The Independent On Sunday described it as 'woeful stuff, saying, 'what is effectively a bunch of mash notes to the wife, jams with old friends and family members and throwaway doodles of songs mostly written on his holidays.'
Commenting on the negative reviews in the Daily Express, Paul said, 'I really don't give a shit if this album 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.'
On 17 May 1997 Paul went on to the internet 'live' for a question-and-answer session held at the Bishopgate Memorial Hall, London before an audience of a thousand as part of the Flaming Pie campaign. The event was screened live on VH-I, the music cable channel. Prior to the session taking place there were 2,476,092 questions put forward. This would have taken Paul almost two years to answer. He said, 'It's an awful lot to ask of anyone. I don't think we'll get through all the questions - but we'll give it a go.'
Flaming Pie was nominated for a Grammy on 6 January 1998 as 'Album Of The Year', but lost out to Bob Dylan's Time Out Of Mind.
Flaming Pie (song)
The title track of the Flaming Pie album. It was 2 minutes and 30 seconds in length. The number was penned by Paul and produced by Paul and Jeff Lynne. The recording engineers were Geoff Emerick and Jan Jacobs, assisted by Keith Smith.
'Flaming Pie' was recorded on Tuesday 27 February 1996. Paul sang lead vocal and harmony vocal and played piano, drums, bass guitar and electric guitar while Jeff Lynne sang harmony vocal and played electric guitar.
Flaming Pie Night
An event that took place at Shea Stadium, Flushing, New York on Friday 12 September 1997. WNEN-FM and Nobody Beats the Wiz sponsored it and the master of ceremonies was Pat St John of WNEN.
The evening was devoted to Paul's music and included numbers from throughout his career, through the Beatles, Wings and solo years. There were also special video messages from Paul, who was unable to attend due to prior engagements.
Among the many prizes on offer to members of the audience was a trip to London and Liverpool.
Flaming Pie Radio Show, The
A two-hour radio special hosted by Paul, which included interviews with Jeff Lynne, Steve Miller and Ringo Starr on the making of the album.
The show was broadcast in May 1997 by Mji Radio Network Worldwide. It was taken up by 67 stations in America, 25 in Canada and by stations in South Africa, Japan, Hong Kong, Austria, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland and Holland:
Flanders Expohal, Ghent
A venue in Belgium with an 11,000 capacity where Paul appeared during his New World Tour on Sunday 17 October 1993. Due to Paul's influence, vegetarian snacks were available, together with a stall for the GAIA Foundation (Global Action in the Interest Of Animals: Stop the Animal Holocaust). Prior to the concert Paul attended a special reception, which included a vegetarian meal for the guests, with the ticket funds going to LIPA.
Paul began his introduction on stage in the Belgian language, then lapsed back to his own, saying, 'And now I'd better speak in English, 'cause it's so much easier.'
Flowers In The Dirt (album)
The title of a 53 minute 44 second album released in Britain on Monday 5 June 1989 on Parlophone PCSD (album), Parlophone CDP 7 91653 2 (compact disc} and TD PCSD106 (cassette) with a cover by Brian Clarke and Linda McCartney. It was issued in America on Tuesday 6 June 1989 on Capitol CDP 791653 2. It reached No. 21 in the American charts.
Paul had originally considered calling it Distractions. The title actually comes from the lyrics of one of the songs on the album called 'That Day Is Done', which he wrote with Elvis Costello. A painter friend of Paul's suggested that he use that phrase as the title of the album.
On this album Paul's main collaborator was Elvis Costello and the two co-wrote a number of songs together including 'My Brave Face', the duet 'Don't You Want Her Too?' and 'That Day Is Done'.
There were a great many other people involved in the making of the album - musicians, engineers and producers. Apart from Paul, the main artist, there was Elvis Costello: vocals, keyboards, and producer; Linda McCartney: harmony vocals; Hamish Stuart: harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar; Chris Whitton: drums; Guy Baker: trumpet; Dave Bishop: saxophone; Chris Davis: saxophone; Dave Foster: keyboards, producer; Mitchell Froom: keyboards, producer; Dave Gilmour: guitar; Tony Goddard: cornet; Ian Harper: alto horn; Nicky Hopkins: piano; Trevor Horn: keyboards, producer; Judd Lander: harmonica; Steve Lipson: bass, guitar, engineer, producer; Dave Mattocks: keyboards; Robbie Mclntosh: acoustic guitar, electric guitar; Ian Peters: euphonium; David Rhodes: guitar; John Taylor: cornet; Chris White: saxophone; Jah Bunny: contributor; Ross Cullum: producer; Neil Dorfsrnan: engineer, producer; Peter Henderson: producer; Chris Hughes: producer; Eddie Klein: producer.
The album tracks were: 'My Brave Face', 'Rough Ride', 'You Want Her Too', 'Distractions', 'We Got Married', 'Put It There', 'Figure Of Eight', 'This One', 'Don't Be Careless Love', 'That Day Is Done', 'How Many People?', 'Motor of Love' and 'Ou Est le Soleil?'.
There was a special limited edition Flowers In The Dirt World Tour Pack, released in Britain on Thursday 23 November 1989 on EMI CP-PCSDX 106. This included a 'Party Party' CD or vinyl single, a poster, family tree, bumper sticker, six postcards and a tour itinerary. The tour pack was issued in America on Monday 15 January 1990 on EMI CD-PCSDX-106.
Flying
A number credited to all four members of the Beatles which was included in the Magical Mystery Tour film and EP. Paul was to say, '"Flying" was an instrumental. In the studio one night, I suggested to the guys that we made something up. I said, "We can keep it very, very simple. We can make it a 12-bar blues. We need a little bit of a theme and a little bit of a backing." I wrote the melody.'
Flying To My Home
A composition by Paul, 4 minutes and 15 seconds in length, which was included on the Flowers In The Dirt album.
Fool On The Hill, The
The number was recorded at Abbey Road Studios on 25 September 1967 with overdubbing taking place on 26 September and 20 October. Paul sang lead vocals and played piano, acoustic guitar, bass and recorder, John played harmonica and jew's-harp, George played acoustic guitar and harmonica and Ringo drums, maracas and finger cymbals. Three flautists were also used - Christopher Taylor, Richard Taylor and Jack Ellory.
In his Playboy interview, in which he discussed the Beatles' songs, John Lennon commented, 'Another good lyric. Shows he's capable of writing complete songs.'
Alistair Taylor, Apple's 'Mr Fixit', seemed to think that the number was inspired by an incident on Primrose Hill. He was to comment: 'Paul and I were having an early morning walk on Primrose Hill with his dog, Martha. We watched the sun rise, before realising that Martha had gone missing. We turned round to go, when suddenly there was a man standing behind us. He was a middle-aged man, very respectably dressed in a belted raincoat. There's nothing in that, you may think. But he had come up behind us over the bare top of the hill in total silence.
'We were sure that the man hadn't been there seconds earlier, because we had been searching the area for the dog. The man just seemed to have appeared miraculously. We exchanged greetings, and the man commented on the beautiful view and then walked away. When we looked round, he'd vanished! There was no sign of the man. He'd just disappeared from the top of the hills, as if he'd been carried off into the air. No one could have run to the thin cover of the nearest trees in the time we had turned away from him, and no one could have run over the crest of the hill. Strangely enough, immediately before the man's appearance, Paul and I had been mulling over the existence of God. We both felt the same weird sensation that something special had happened. We sat down, rather shakily on the seat, and Paul said, "What the hell do you make of that? That's weird! He was there, wasn't he? We did speak to him?"
'We both felt that we'd been through some mystical religious experience, yet we didn't care to name, even to each other, what or who we'd seen on that hilltop for a few brief seconds.'
However, Paul says that he was sitting at the piano in his father's house, hitting a D-6th chord and then began to compose the number. He played it to John Lennon at Cavendish Avenue in March 1967 while they were working on 'With A Little Help From My Friends' and John encouraged him to write the words to the song down.
Paul believes he was writing about someone like the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi because people called him a fool because of his giggle (he was often referred to as 'the giggling guru'). Paul was also intrigued with the idea of a hermit in a cave.
The sequence for 'The Fool Of The Hill' was filmed for The Magical Mystery Tour in Nice on 30 October 1967. However, when travelling to the location Paul discovered that he'd not only forgotten his passport, but his wallet too, which placed him in some difficulty with the French officials. Hurried phone calls were made before documents arrived by air freight several hours later. Unfortunately, the person from the Beatles' management company, NEMS {originally, North End Music Stores), who had sent the documents and passport forgot to enclose any money with the package. As a result the hotel he was staying in refused to accept his signature for the room and wouldn't give him any credit. More hurried phone calls were made to resolve the problem.
The wrong lens for the camera had also been delivered and the correct ones had to be sent for. The two-and-a-half minute sequence ended up costing £4,000.
There were a couple of successful cover versions of the number. Sergio Mendez and Brasil '66 reached No. 6 in the American charts with the song in 1968 while Shirley Bassey was to reach No. 48 in the British charts with the number on 2 January 1971 when her version was issued on United Artists UP 35156.
The number was included on the Magical Mystery Tour EPs and album, the compilations The Beatles 1967-1970 and The Beatles Ballads and two versions of the number were included on The Beatles Anthology 2.
The song won a certificate of honour in the 1968/69 Ivor Novello Awards and there have been over one hundred covers of the song with versions by artists such as Petula Clark, the Four Tops, Aretha Franklin, Lena Home and Count Basie.
Wings performed the number on their British tour in 1979.
A version of this number, lasting 5 minutes and 2 seconds, was included on the Tripping The Live Fantastic album. It was recorded at Wembley Arena, London on 13 January 1990 during the 1989/90 World Tour.
Footprints
The fourth track on the Press To Play album. It was co-written by Paul and Eric Stewart. The number lasted for 4 minutes and 32 seconds. Paul and Hugh Padgham produced it.
For No One
A song Paul wrote while he was on a skiing holiday with Jane Asher at Klosters in Switzerland. The two had rented a chalet between 6 and 20 March 1966. Paul had originally called the number 'Why Did It Die?'
The Beatles recorded 'For No One' on 9 May 1966 at Abbey Road Studios.
It was one of John Lennon's favourite Beatles tracks and was included on the Revolver and Love Songs albums. Cilia Black recorded the song but didn't achieve chart success with it.
Paul also included the number in his film Give My Regards To Broad Street, commenting: '"For No One" I'd never done anywhere, ever. I'd written the song, took it to the studio one day, recorded it, end of story. It's just a record, a museum piece. And I hated the idea of them staying as museum pieces.'
Only Paul and Ringo were at the recording and Paul played bass, piano and harpsichord. Dennis Brain had been booked to play the French horn solo on the track but died in a car accident before the session and Alan Civil was booked in his place. George Martin scored the number.
20 Forthlin Road, Liverpool
This was the McCartney home from 1955 to 1964. Because Paul's mother was a midwife, a phone was installed, which was a rare treat in working-class areas of Liverpool in those days. The number was: GARston 6922.
Numbers such as 'Love Me Do' and 'I Saw Her Standing There' were composed here.
John Birt, then Director General of the BBC, was in Liverpool to show his children his birthplace and noticed the house was up for sale. He then contacted Martin Drury, the Director of the National Trust.
For 34 years it had been the home of Mrs Sheila Jones who moved in with her husband and children when the McCartneys moved out. At the age of 66 Mrs Jones decided to move out of the house and live with her daughter. She said that she'd regretted cleaning off the words of a song that had been written on a door, although Paul's initials still remained scrawled on a bedroom wall.
The National Trust purchased it for £55,000. The restoration took three years at a cost of £47,000, from Heritage lottery funding, with fixtures and fittings, wallpaper and paintwork, furniture and fireplace all restored in a 1950s style.
Paul said, 'My dear mother Mary had great aspirations for our family and was very proud when we moved to Forthlin Road. She and my dad would have found it very hard to believe that the house is now National Trust property. You expect them to own places like Blenheim Palace, not a little terraced house like ours. But they would have been chuffed about it and so am I.'
He was also to say, 'I was living at 20 Forthlin Road when I first met John Lennon and it was here that he and I rehearsed with the Beatles. John and I would sometimes sag off school to go back to my house to write many of our early songs. I was still living at the house when the Beatles found worldwide fame, so my memories of it are closely connected with those times.'
The house is open to the public from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday. There are no more than six tours per day and each tour is limited to fifteen people. The official brochure states what the visit includes: 'Powerful, evocative photographs of family life at 20 Forthlin Road displayed with kind permission of Sir Paul and Michael McCartney. Audio tour music and memories from the people who were there. Beatles' memorabilia collection kindly loaned by Hunter Davies, the Beatles' only authorised biographer. Minibus trip with introductory video. Tours direct from Albert Dock and Speke Hall.'
It was realised that the house was an example of 'the social impact that the provision of municipal housing has had throughout the twentieth century, both on individuals and society as a whole'.
The National Trust's Keith Halstead said, 'This house is a major part of the culture of the twentieth century. We also own the homes of Sir Winston Churchill and Thomas Hardy, and Paul's former home should be a huge attraction.'
The live-in custodian is 50-year-old John Halliday who lives in the house rent-free and shows around parties of fifteen fans at a time. They arrive in bus tours four days a week from nearby Speke Hall.
It was officially opened to the public on Wednesday 29 July 1998.
Forum, Assago, Milan, Italy
A recently built arena where Paul made his first public appearance as a try-out for his New World Tour on Thursday 18 and Friday 19 February 1993. He arrived at Linate Airport near Milan by private jet and was taken immediately to the Forum for a sound check and then to the VIP section to meet 300 media people during which he did interviews for RAI TV and the radio 105 Network He then stayed at the Principe di Savoia Hotel, Piazza Delia Republica. There was an audience of 20,000 at the arena.
The show opened with film clips on a huge screen, merging Paul's career with world events over the past thirty years. It was basically the same film that opened Paul's first world tour, with a few additional clips added.
Paul appeared on stage and began with 'Drive My Car'. On finishing the number, Paul said, 'Grazie, ciao can Italiani, c'tao Milanesi, buona sera. Parlo pochissimo Italiano. Adesso parlo Inglese.' He then performed 'Get Out Of My Way', 'Another Day' and 'All My Loving'.
He then took off his Hofner guitar and picked up his electric guitar to perform 'Let Me Roll It', then played two songs from his latest album, 'Peace In The Neighbourhood' and 'Off The Ground'. He then played 'I Wanna Be Your Man' and the band then left the stage, with the exception of Robbie Mclntosh who performed a lengthy guitar solo.
Paul and the band returned to perform an acoustic version of 'Good Rockin' Tonight'. He followed with 'We Can Work It Out', 'And I Love Her' and 'Every Night'. The audience began to join in on 'Hope Of Deliverance' and when he performed 'Michelle' the audience began to hold up matches and flickering cigarette lighters.
The next song was 'Yesterday', followed by 'My Love', 'Lady Madonna', 'Live And Let Die' and 'Let It Be'.
A piano then appeared on stage and Paul performed 'Magical Mystery Tour', 'The Long And Winding Road' and 'C'Mon People'.
He then took up his Hofner bass again and performed 'Paperback Writer', followed by 'Fixing A Hole' and 'Penny Lane'.
Paul then told the audience that he was too tired to play anymore, but the audience wouldn't accept that and he launched into 'Sgt Pepper', then the band sang, 'We're sorry but it's time to go' and all left the stage.
Paul then returned on stage to a wild audience response and the band followed him. He next performed 'Band On the Run' and 'I Saw Her Standing There'.
The finale proved to be 'Hey Jude', with Paul seated at the piano with the audience singing along, while Linda and the band threw paper flower-petals into the audience.
Forum, Los Angeles
The last venue of the American leg of the Wings World Tour of 1975/76. They appeared there on Monday 21 June, Tuesday 22 June and Wednesday 23 June 1976, the last date being an added extra date, due to the fact that 40,000 tickets were sold in less than four hours.
Ringo was in the audience and came onto the stage to present Paul with a bunch of flowers. Other celebrities at the concerts included Dennis Wilson, Elton John, Dustin Hoffman, Jesse Ed Davis, Diana Ross, Adam Faith, Leo Sayer, Harry Nilsson, Robbie Robertson, John Bonham and Candy Clark.
The shows were taped and much of the material made up the album Wings Over America, while the performances on Tuesday and Wednesday were filmed and provided over two-thirds of the footage for the 1980 concert movie Rockshow.
Following the final show there was an end of the tour party at the Harold Lloyd Estate in Benedict Canyon, Beverly Hills on Thursday 24 June. Among the guests were Jack Nicholson, Tony Curtis, David Cassidy, Rod Stewart and members of the Beach Boys. Music was provided by the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. The party cost Wings $75,000.
Paul was to comment on the tour's success: 'After the Beatles you would have thought it would have been pretty much impossible for me to follow that and to get anything else going. At least I thought that. This tour convinced us that we're a group and I think it has convinced audiences too. This wasn't just a one-time trip. This is going to be a working band. We'll be back.'
Foster, David
A session musician turned record producer, who Paul had first worked with during the tracking of 'This Girl Is Mine'. In September and October 1984 Paul and Foster worked on some recordings and taped three songs, although it was to be several years before two of the numbers were released.
On Monday 24 September 1984 they recorded 'I Love This House' with Paul, Foster, Dave Gilmour on guitar and Dave Mattacks on drums. Another track was 'Lindiana'. The third number was actually the backing music for 'We Got Married'.
When Paul was asked why his collaboration with Foster didn't work out, he said, 'It came at that bad time for me when I was really burned out. I think under better circumstances we could have done a lot better.'
(4148) McCartney
The name of a minor planet. It was discovered on Monday 11 July 1983 by E Bowell at the Anderson Mesa Station of Lowell Observatory and it was decided to name it in honour of Paul.
Fourmost, The
A popular Liverpool band who performed in the same local halls as the Beatles and were to sign with Brian Epstein and appear on the Beatles Christmas shows in 1963. Their first hit, a Lennon and McCartney number, 'Hello Little Girl', reached No. 9 in the British charts and was followed by another Lennon and McCartney song which had been specially written for them, 'I'm In Love', which went to No. 17.
In 1969, Paul produced their single 'Rosetta', a number that he had found and thought would be suitable for the band. It was issued on CBS 4041 on 21 February but failed to make any impact on the charts.
Drummer Dave Lovelady told journalist Spencer Leigh: 'Paul liked the way we could mimic instruments with our voices, our "mouth music", if you like. Brian O'Hara was a trumpet and we were the trombones. We used it on "Rosetta" and the Beatles did the same thing on "Lady Madonna". There were proper instruments on our record as well. 1 was playing the piano at the session, but Brian O'Hara told me to play it badly. I soon found out why. Paul said, "Look, I'll do the piano bit", and so he ended up playing on the record.'
Sadly, Brian О' Нага committed suicide in 2000.
4th Of July
A single by John Christie, written by Paul and Linda and produced by Dave Clark. It was issued in Britain on 28 June 1974 on Polydor 2058-496 and in America on 1 July 1974 on Capitol 3928. The flipside was 'Old Enough To Know Better, Young Enough To Cry'. Dave Clark had asked Paul if he could provide him with a number for Christie to record and Paul sent him a home demo of the song.
48 Hours
A weekly CBS Television News programme. Although the programme is normally sixty minutes in length, it was expanded to a 90-minute edition of the programme, devoted to Paul, on Thursday 25 January 1990. The show included onstage footage from his December 1989 concerts in Chicago, plus an exclusive backstage interview with Paul. Donna Dees of 48 Hours commented, 'We're all Beatles fans - and McCartney fans - on the show. So we're doing everything the best we can. We have so much music that we're having some trouble with licensing fees. We have to be careful about review tapes getting out, so there won't be a bootleg album before the show airs.'
Initially, the programme's anchorman Dan Rather was scheduled to do the interview with Paul on 2 December 1989, but he had to report on the Malta Summit instead, although he did visit Paul backstage at Madison Square Garden and discussed a number of serious topics with him, although their conversation wasn't filmed.
Replacing Rather was Bernard Goldberg, who interviewed Paul and Linda.
Rather was to say that he was pleased with the way it worked out. 'I'm from a time and place - if Hank Williams didn't sing it, I didn't know it.'
48 Hours With McCartney
A television special on Paul which first appeared as an MTV rocku-mentary special on Paul's career in 1989 and the following year it was repeated and included film of his tour.
Fraser, Robert Hugh
An art dealer, born in London in August 1937, who Paul met in the spring of 1966 at John Dunbar and Marianne Faithfull's flat in Lennox Gardens. He was an old Etonian and a heroin addict who opened his gallery at 69 Duke Street in August 1962 and had a nearby apartment at 20 Mount Street.
Through Fraser Paul met Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenberg, Richard Hamilton and Peter Blake.
Paul began to frequent Fraser's gallery and often dropped into his flat for discussions about art and to meet some of the artists Fraser represented, as well as a variety of other talented people including author Terry Southern, Italian director Michaelangelo Antonioni and American comedian Sid Caesar. Fraser's knowledge of the arts was to boost Paul's appreciation in such a way that in his autobiography Many Years From Now, he wrote, 'The most formative influence on me was Robert Fraser. Obviously the other Beatles were very important, but the most formative art influence for me was Robert.'
In fact, Paul sought Fraser's advice as consultant regarding the sleeve of the Sgt Pepper album. Simon Posthuma and Marijke Koger of the Fool had already prepared a centrefold design. Fraser told the Beatles that it was no good. Fraser drafted in artist Peter Blake and the classic sleeve was brought to life.
Fraser was at Keith Richards house during the famous drug bust in 1967, when Marianne Faithfull was caught wearing only a fur rug, having just had a bath. When the police raided the premises Fraser fled through the garden and two policemen chased and caught him, discovering he was in possession of heroin.
In May 1967 he appeared in court, along with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
The three were then put on trial at Chichester Crown Court on Monday 27 June. Richards was sentenced to a year in prison; Jagger was sentenced to three months and Fraser to six months. Jagger and Richards were released on bail and eventually appealed and were never interred, while Fraser was sent to Wormwood Scrubs.
Fraser was to die of AIDS-related pneumonia and meningitis in January 1986. A biography of him called Groovy Bob: The Life And Times Of Robert Fraser, penned by Harriet Vyner, was published in October 1999.
Free As A Bird
The Beatles 28th official single which became their first new single in 25 years when it was issued in Britain on 4 December 1995 on
two-track 7", cassette and four-track CD and released in America the following day.
John originally wrote it in 1977 and the 1995 release was recorded at Paul's Sussex studios during February and March 1994.
When the three surviving Beatles were working on the Anthology project, it was decided to approach Yoko Ono to see if any of John Lennon's home demo tapes could be utilised into a new Beatles single, with the participation of Paul, George and Ringo.
When Paul visited New York in January 1994 to make the induction speech for John Lennon's entry into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Yoko gave him four of John's demo tapes: 'Free As A Bird', 'Real Love', 'Girls And Boys' and 'Grow Old With Me'.
Yoko claimed that it was George Harrison and Neil Aspinall who had originally approached her with the idea of adding new vocals and instrumentation to John's demo tapes. She commented, 'People have said it was all agreed when Paul came over to New York to induct John into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, but it was all settled before then. I just used that occasion to hand over the tapes personally to Paul.'
John had recorded at least three demos of 'Free As A Bird', although the demo Paul was given was unfinished and he wrote fairly extensive additional lyrics.
Paul was to say, 'We took the attitude that John had gone on holiday saying, "I finished all the tracks on my album except this one. I'm sorry that I can't make the last session but I leave it to you guys to finish it off. Do what you'd normally do. Don't get fussy; just do your normal thing. I trust you." So we fixed the timing and then added some bits. John hadn't filled in the middle-eight section of the demo so we wrote a new section for that, which, in fact, was one of the reasons for choosing the song: it allowed us some input.'
Paul discussed the recording in a telephone interview with WNEW-FM, New York on 15 March 1995 and said that the beginning was originally just John on piano and his voice on mono tape. Then George added some guitar and they all did harmonies. Ringo said, 'It sounds like the bloody Beatles.'
Paul did admit that there were some arguments during the recording of 'Free As A Bird' and said, 'George Harrison and I competed on who actually had the better lyrics to the unfinished Lennon song.'
Freedom
A song Paul composed for his appearance at the 'Concert For New York City'.
He said that Heather inspired him to write the number, commenting, 'We were watching President Bush talking on TV about the attack on our freedom and she said it'd be good to write something about it.'
Paul also commented, 'Immediately after the disaster, I wrote this song about our right to live in freedom against any who would attack that right. The attacks on New York were an attack on that freedom, and we have to make a stand against threats like that. We are not going to buckle under to threats from anyone, and all of us here are united in our desire to make this a show of solidarity. Freedom is our right and we are pulling together tomorrow in defence of it.'
After performing 'Freedom' at the concert, Paul remained in New York and recorded a studio version of the number, accompanied by Eric Clapton on guitar. The number was then added as a bonus track to the Driving Rain CD.
The first CD single release from Driving Rain was issued on 29 October 2001 on Parlophone CDRS 6565 with 'From A Lover To A Friend' and two David Kahne remixes of 'Freedom'. A second CD single followed this on Parlophone CDRS 6567 on 5 November 2001, which featured only one David Kahne remix. On 13 November 'Freedom' and 'From A Lover To A Friend' was issued as a double A-side in America. With a playing time of 12 minutes 52 seconds it featured 'Freedom (studio mix)' and 'From A Lover To A Friend'. The B-side featured 'From A Lover To A Friend (David Kahne Remix 2)', produced by David Kahne and was issued on Capitol 5-50291-2.
All the profits from the singles were donated to the families of the New York Firemen and Police who were killed in the disaster.
Freeze Frame
An album by Godley and Creme, issued in Britain by Polydor on Friday 30 November 1979 and in America on Monday 21 January 1980. Paul made a guest appearance on the album, providing backing vocal on the track 'Get Well Soon'. It was re-issued as a CD on Polydor 831555 2 on 10 May 1991.
From A Lover To A Friend
The first track from the Driving Rain album. The number lasts for 3 minutes and 45 seconds. It was recorded at the Henson Recording Studio in Los Angeles on 20 February 2001. David Kahne produced it and the engineer was Mark Dearnley.
Paul sang lead vocal and played bass, guitars and piano. Rusty Anderson provided backing vocals and played guitars, Abe Laboriel Jr provided backing vocals and played drums and percussion, Gabe Dixon provided backing vocals and played keyboards and David Kahne provided programming, orchestra samples, synth and guitar.
It was the first single issued from the album and released globally on Monday 29 October 2001 as a charity single. In Britain it was issued on Parlophone R 6567 and CDR 6567 and TCR 6567. It reached No. 45 in the charts with a two-week chart life.
The record was the 53rd single to be issued under the 'Paul McCartney' name.
All proceeds from the sale of the record went to help the families of the firemen who died in the attacks on New York's World Trade Center on 11 September 2001. More than 300 men from the fire service went missing, believed buried under the rubble of the buildings.
Paul commented, 'I have great admiration for the courage those guys showed. I hope that the sales of this new single will help raise money for the firemen and their families.'
The number was also used in the Tom Cruise film Vanilla Sky and the album's producer David Kahne commented, 'His voice is very emotional in that song. It starts kind of quietly but has a great "Come Together "-type bass line in the bridge. He sings, "How can I walk when I can't find my way?" and there's a really good sound he makes. It has a sadness to it, but it's actually a real hopeful song.'
From A Window
A number penned by Paul, which was recorded by Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas in May 1964. It was issued in Britain on Parlophone R 5156 on 17 July 1964 with 'Second To None' as the flipside.
From Rio To Liverpool
A 50-minute television documentary which was a behind-the-scenes look at Paul's 1990 world tour, featuring interviews and live footage from concerts in Rio, Philadelphia and Glasgow, with an emphasis on the 'Get Back To Liverpool' concert at the King's Dock, Liverpool.
It was first broadcast on Channel Four in Britain on Monday 17 December 1990.
The documentary received its American premiere on the Disney Channel on Sunday 13 October 1991, where it had undergone a name change to 'Paul McCartney: Going Home'. The Disney Channel repeated it three further times that month on Saturday 19, Friday 25 and Wednesday 30 October.
Frost, David
A television celebrity who first rose to fame in the early 1960s with the satirical show That Was The Week That Was. Frost became a prominent TV interviewer and hosted several of his own shows on both sides of the Atlantic.
Paul made his first solo television appearance on Л Degree Of Frost when he taped an appearance before a live audience at BBC Television Centre, White City on Wednesday 15 April 1964. The show was transmitted on Wednesday 18 May 1964.
At one time Frost had a BBC radio programme, David Frost At The Phonograph on which Paul appeared on Saturday 6 August 1966.
Paul also appeared on The Frost Programme in Britain on Wednesday 27 December 1967, during which he discussed the critical reaction to Magical Mystery Tour. He told Frost: 'People were looking for a plot, but there wasn't one.'
On Sunday 16 June 1968 Paul filmed a one-hour interview with Frost for David Frost Presents, recorded in England, but specifically for an American audience, which was transmitted in the States on Sunday 23 February 1969. During the show comedian Frankie Howerd also interviewed Paul and Paul introduced his protegee Mary Hopkin, who performed two numbers.
Frozen Jap
A composition by Paul, 3 minutes and 35 seconds in length, which was included on the McCartney II album.
Fukuoka Dome Stadium
An indoor baseball stadium in Japan, which opened in 1992. Paul appeared in two concerts there as part of his New World Tour in 1993. The first was held on Thursday 18 November, although the venue was not completely sold out, as there were a few thousand empty seats. The following concert on Friday 19 November did attract a capacity audi-
ence.
Paul and his party left for Los Angeles the following afternoon and Paul told reporters at the airport, 'Sayonara. Mata kimasu'
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