The Greatest “First Audition” of Paul McCartney’s Life

McCartney, however, simply wanted to record outside the UK to avoid the media storm surrounding him. He chose Lagos from a list of countries where his label EMI had recording studios.

There was a sign of trouble to come even before McCartney and his band Wings took off. Two of his band members left the group on the eve of their departure. With a sparse entourage, McCartney, his wife Linda, their young children, guitarist Denny Laine and a few roadies went to work on the equipment. When they arrived in Lagos and headed to the studio, they found it inadequately equipped for its intended purpose, with faulty machinery and equipment and located far from their residence.

To make matters worse, Paul and Linda were even robbed at knifepoint while out one night, and the assailant made off with McCartney’s notebook containing his lyrics and song ideas, as well as the cassette tapes containing all of his demos of songs from the album that they used. did.

Talking about traveling with Rolling Stone However, in 1974, McCartney was not worried about the problem, but about the music, and one artist in particular influenced him: “It was incredible. This is incredible. When I first heard Fela Ransom Kuti, I cried, it was so great.”

Speaking nearly 50 years later in a Hulu documentary about the night he saw Kuti at the African Shrine, Kuti’s club near Lagos, in 1973, McCartney added: “Hearing that was one of the greatest musical moments of my life.”

Listening to Fela Kuti’s recording reveals his influence on McCartney. Combining West African rhythms with elements commonly found in Western funk and jazz, Kuti’s music is engaging, enchanting and hypnotizing – the kind of music that moves your body, mind and soul. Traditional and incredibly progressive, Kuti’s music has a spiritual feel that must have really captured McCartney. You can only imagine how transcendental it was to witness and experience this in person.

However, at first the gratitude was not mutual. Kuti was one of the artists who publicly accused McCartney of coming to Lagos to exploit their musicians and steal their sound. He even appeared on Group on the run recording sessions in which McCartney played him everything they recorded to prove he wasn’t stealing their music.

And while Wings’ best album is never based on African rhythms or any of Fela Kuti’s pioneering Afrobeat music, there is at least one nod to another African journey the band took in 1973, as “Mamunya” was the title. hotel where Wings stayed in Marrakech in April.

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