Fact #155425

Buddy Killen (music publisher and studio owner) : They wanted a place in the country - a farm. But when you start calling farms and places like that where you want to rent something for seven weeks, they don’t know who it is, but they know it’s somebody big. One guy said, 'Yeah, I’ll let you lease my farm for seven weeks for $200,000, and then I can pay it off.’ I said, 'I’m sure you could.’
(Source : http://www.nashvillescene.com/news/article/13007056/when-we-was-fab)

Curly Putman : Killen said, 'Curly why don't you let them use your farm?' He kind of grinned when said it and being the sweet talker that he was he talked me in to letting them rent our place.
(Source : http://wogew.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/wings-in-nashville-1974-film.html)

Curly Putman : It was 7 or 8 o’clock (when they arrived). They were pretty wore out. But they came and we had a little cocktail party to welcome them.They had asked for certain things to be in the house. They were vegetarians.
(Source : http://americansongwriter.com/2011/02/behind-the-lyric-juniors-farm-paul-mccartney/)

Curly Putman : They just seemed to enjoy being out in the country. They rode horses. I have a pond and they went swimming in it…Paul was very likable, personable. He just seemed like one of us.
(Source : http://americansongwriter.com/2011/02/behind-the-lyric-juniors-farm-paul-mccartney/)

Ernie Winfrey (recording engineer) : Buddy sent Curly to the tropics for an expenses-paid holiday, and the McCartney entourage moved in. Buddy acted as host and guide for them and, being the businessman he was, made sure they knew he had a recording studio if the mood should strike them to fool around in one.
(Source : http://www.mixonline.com/news/classic-tracks/classic-track-junior-s-farm-paul-mccartney-and-wings/425264)

Paul McCartney : Orginally we were not going to record here. We were going to rehearse and see if the new band members blended with a view of going on a tour, possibly to Australia. We came here because it is a musical surrounding. It’s not much good going into a desert. There’s nothing to spark you up.
(Source : http://www.beatlelinks.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23396)

Buddy Killen : He wasn’t supposed to be recording, because he didn’t have a green card. But it just worked out because I had that studio there. They weren’t trying to break the law. They just did it.
(Source : http://www.nashvillescene.com/news/article/13007056/when-we-was-fab)

Ernie Winfrey : They weren’t going to cut here, but Buddy (studio owner Buddy Killen) was thinking, ‘Hmm, I’ve got a studio … ,’ and his plan worked.

Buddy Killen and I were working with [soul singer] Paul Kelly in the studio one night, and Paul and Linda McCartney just walked in the door. They waved and sat down in front of the console. After we finished, Buddy introduced me, and Paul said, ‘It really sounds good in here.’

Alan Crowder, his (McCartney's) road manager, pulled me aside and very seriously asked me if we could record rock 'n'roll. I don’t know what was going through his mind. I think it was the simple fact that he didn’t know if we were capable of it. I said, ‘Hell yes, I do it at every opportunity I can!’

They would arrive anywhere from 6 to 7 in the evening. Paul’s limo would come to the back of the building so they could unload their gear. They would come in and leisurely set up their stuff. They had a roadie-type guy helping them, but Paul always carried his own guitar.

Buddy tried to keep it as quiet as he could, but somehow word got out. After a few days, we ended up with people outside the building trying to see Paul - front, back, everywhere. The limo driver had to pull down the driveway and all the way around to the back with people all around the car. Paul said he had learned how to handle crowds as a Beatle. He said you just have to walk slowly and smile. The important thing was not to run and scare them into a panic.

Paul McCartney : I was talking to Chet about recording one night when we were over at his house socializing, and he said, ‘Why don’t you do it?’ Then Chet brought along Floyd Cramer and some brass guys that he uses and then there was my drummer Geoff and me and Bobby Thompson, the banjo player."

Billy Sherrill (assistant engineer) : He got Chet Atkins, Floyd Cramer, Lloyd Green, and some others in the studio. Paul played them the song on the guitar once, and Chet started making out a numbers chart. Paul asked him if he wanted to hear it again, but Chet said he had it and kept writing. Paul wanted to know what he was doing, and Chet started explaining the Nashville number system. Paul was just shocked. He’d never seen anything like that before, and it freaked him out, which I thought was very cool.

Ernie Winfrey : Paul was very easygoing, and consequently, all the Nashville players who came in felt at ease. Everybody threw their ideas in.
(Source : http://www.nashvillescene.com/news/article/13007056/when-we-was-fab)

Ernie Winfrey : On one song, Paul was playing an ocarina, and Lloyd Green was on steel guitar. Ocarinas are notorious for being slightly out of tune, and Lloyd had to tune his steel ever so slightly whichever way that ocarina wanted to go.
(Source : http://theeastnashvillian.com/article/we-cut-a-lot-of-hits)

Ernie Winfrey : He encouraged a certain amount of input from me. Paul knew exactly what he was looking for, and he would correct someone if he thought they were not playing what they should. Gently, he would say, ‘Why don’t you try it like this?’ And on occasion, he would go back to the drum kit and sit down and show Geoff Britton what he was looking for on the drums, for example. He was always in command of the sessions.

It was kind of a dead-sounding room. We had an area in the back of the studio that was raised and had oak flooring, and that’s where we would put the drums for a brighter sound.

Paul liked to stand in the front of the room, right in front of the [control room] glass. He would be turned to the side, so he could glance to his left and see me, or look to his right and see all the musicians.
(Source : http://www.mixonline.com/news/classic-tracks/classic-track-junior-s-farm-paul-mccartney-and-wings/425264)

Ernie Winfrey : As a vocalist, he was a true artist. His instrument was so well-tuned it was amazing. Seeing him standing out there over the microphone, like you recall seeing him on The Ed Sullivan Show, I thought, 'Am I really sitting here doing this?’

And his bass was absolutely one of the most even basses I’ve ever heard. I’m sure it’s his playing technique and the way he had the bass set up, but every note was crystal clear. I didn’t have to do anything to it at all. Straight into the console.
(Source : http://www.nashvillescene.com/news/article/13007056/when-we-was-fab)

Ernie Winfrey : They (Paul and Linda) were just all over each other. They would come in to listen to a playback, and one would sit in the other’s lap. I think Paul’s attitude toward Linda showed a lot about him. He was willing to accept any criticism or derision that was handed out over him having her in the band. Based on my observations, he was very patient with her. But she was also a quick learner. He would sing her a harmony part, and she’d jump right on it.
(Source : http://www.nashvillescene.com/news/article/13007056/when-we-was-fab)

Ernie Winfrey : Jimmy McCulloch, the lead guitar player, really got to shine on this song (Junior's Farm). Denny was also playing some really nice electric rhythm guitar. When the band goes into the cut-time feel on the end section, you’ll notice the track gets real ballsy. Paul had me speed the tape up to overdub his bass at that point and, played back at normal speed, the track really fattens up.
(Source : http://www.mixonline.com/news/classic-tracks/classic-track-junior-s-farm-paul-mccartney-and-wings/425264)

Paul McCartney : I didn’t see anyone named Sally G. when I was in Printers Alley, nor did I see anyone who ran her eyes over me when she was singing 'A Tangled Mind.’ That was my imagination, adding something to the reality of it.
(Source : not known)

Paul McCartney : I told my dad, 'You’re going to get all the royalties (from Walking In The Park With Eloise). You wrote it and we’re going to publish it for you and record it, so you’ll get the checks. And he said, 'I didn’t write it, son.’ I thought, 'Oh God, what?’ He said, 'I made it up, but I didn’t write it.’ He meant he couldn’t notate; he couldn’t actually write the tune down. And of course, that’s like me. I can’t write music. I just make ’em up too.
(Source : Playboy interview, 1984)

Paul McCartney : We had great fun using pedal guitars, fiddles and banjos. The musicians out of Nashville are a great pleasure to work with because they are so sharp and professional.
(Source : informal press conference in Nashville, 1974)

Buddy Killen : You felt no star complex with him. He was just a regular guy who talked to you about regular things, and he was one of the nicest guys in the business I’ve ever met.

Ernie Winfrey : The whole experience was kind of like a fairy tale, a dream come true.”