The drummer on Wings’ 1973 album ‘Band on the Run’ was none other than Paul McCartney. Paul and his wife Linda were bored with recording in the UK, and decided they wanted to try a studio in a different locale. From a list of EMI’s international recording studios, they chose Lagos in Nigeria as the place to record the ‘Band on the Run’ album. In addition to the McCartneys, guitarist/pianist/vocalist Denny Laine, lead guitarist Henry McCullough and drummer Denny Seiwell were scheduled for the trip. However, a few weeks before departing, McCullough quit Wings in Scotland and Seiwell quit the night before the departure. This left only the core members, Paul, Linda and Denny Laine, to go to Lagos and record the album as a trio. Without a drummer, McCartney took it upon himself to handle the drumming duties.
This was by no means the first time Paul had played drums on a recording. He played all of the drums on his 1970 ‘McCartney’ solo album as well as on a few Beatles songs including “The Ballad of John & Yoko”, “Back in the USSR”, and “Dear Prudence”.
When Paul McCartney met John Lennon on July 6, 1957, one of the songs Paul played on guitar and sang for John was Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock”. The occasion was the garden fete of St Peter’s Church, Woolton, Liverpool, where John’s band, the Quarry Men, were performing. Mutual friend Ivan Vaughan had introduced the two future Beatles and this impromptu audition took place. Lennon was impressed that Paul knew all of the lyrics to “Twenty Flight Rock”, and McCartney wrote them down for him. A couple weeks later Paul was invited to join the Quarry Men and he eventually did so.
Unfortunately, Cochran didn’t live to hear about the significance his song had on the two future music legends. On April 17, 1960, at the young age of 21, he died from injuries from a traffic accident in a taxi. This was a few years before The Beatles were to became famous. Ironically, the name of the taxi driver in the accident was George Martin.
Paul McCartney released a cover version of “Twenty Flight Rock” on his “Russian album”, Choba B CCCP (Back in the USSR)
Listen to Eddie Cochran’s original version of “Twenty Flight Rock”:
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The saxophone solo on “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)” was played by the Rolling Stones’ guitarist and co-founder Brian Jones. The recording of the song began with all four Beatles during the summer of 1967, with Jones adding his saxophone part in June.
The song was shelved for two years until April 1969, when John Lennon and Paul McCartney recorded their vocal tracks and added additional sound effects with the help of road manager/assistant Mal Evans.
The song would not appear on record for yet another year when it became the B-side to the Beatles’ single, “Let It Be”, released in 1970. Brian Jones would not live to see it’s release as he died due to a drowning accident (or some say due to murder) on July 3, 1969.
Under the pseudonym of Bonnie Jo Mason, a teen-aged Cher recorded the novelty record “Ringo, I Love You”. The single was Cher’s first record and was released in 1964 on Annette Records, with “Beatle Blues” (instrumenal) on the flip side.
Cher’s husband-to-be, Sonny Bono, worked as an assistant to record producer Phil Spector, and helped her get a job as a studio backup singer. This led to the record being produced by the famous (and later infamous) Spector.
The songwriting for “Ringo, I Love You” is credited to P. Spector – P. Case – V. Poncia – P. Andreoli.
Click the Play button to listen to the song:
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