The Time I Met Paul
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In July 1972 I was backpacking around Europe with my older brother. On the way back home to England I had the massive good fortune to meet Paul and Linda in France. It happened when the vintage double-decker bus Wings they had been touring in pulled into a quiet spot at the back of a large motorway service station on the outskirts of Paris.
I decided to check out the bus, but I couldn’t see too much, as the curtains on the bus windows were draw. I tapped the window. The curtain moved. Staring at me was the sun-tanned face of Paul.
I gestured: ‘autograph?’
Paul pointed to the rear of the bus. The bus door slowly opened. And there stood one of the most recognisable people on the planet, wearing casual slacks, a striking red and white striped shirt; looking super cool.
Everything happened so quickly, I didn’t have time to get nervous. When I asked for his autograph, he recognised my Liverpool accent, saying: ‘there’s no need to ask where you come from!’. Buoyed by his friendly quip, I cheekily replied, ‘you can’t talk, you’ve still got your accent too.’ He laughed, and invited me inside.
He didn’t need to ask twice!
Paul sat next to Linda--a lot of the seats that had been removed to make it more spacious and more comfortable. I sat down opposite them. We chatted while their children played close by. I mentioned that my brother has seen the Beatles live in at St. Luke’s dance hall in Crosby before they had become famous. Paul remembered the place and reeled off other small dance halls around the place where they had played. They were good times, he said.
It turned out we were both born in Walton Hospital. I think Paul may have said that his mum had been a midwife there. Linda asked what it was like hitchhiking around Europe. Not too bad, I replied. She jokingly suggested to Paul that it was maybe something the two of them should try. I can’t recall what he said to that!
What struck me was how friendly, relaxed and contented they both were. I now know, can only come from within. I got both their autographs-----Linda was very down-to-earth and friendly. Super nice. I can see why Paul fell for her. One classy lady. As the French would say, she had a certain, ‘je ne sais quoi’.
On my way back to meet my brother I bumped into the rest of the band and got their autographs—while I’d been talking with Paul and Linda they’d been in the motorway café. (Denny Laine was a tad spaced out and initially said ‘no’, which was fair enough---he was cradling in both his arms goodies he had just bought. I told him Wings wouldn’t be Wings without his signature. Mumbling to himself, he threw his the stuff onto a car bonnet parked next to us. He signed. I thanked him, and I left him to pick up his stuff.
I couldn’t have been happier.
One funny incident: when I asked Paul for his autograph, he chuckled when I pulled out of my backpack the Door’s Double LP, ‘Weird Scenes inside a Gold Mine’, to sign—I told him I’d left my Beatles/Wings albums back home as they were too precious to lug around Europe! Linda gave a big smile and said it was okay, as she had met Jim Morrison and the Doors on a photo shoot. (When I handed Paul the LP, he started signing his name on the plastic sleeve cover. Not good, I said, reasoning that the ink would just rub off the plastic sleeve. Paul then took the LP out of its cover, opened it up and signed. Then Linda signed it.
I still have the album. Paul and Linda had been so nice that I thought I would ask him if it okay for my brother to say hello as well. Without hesitating, Paul agreed. My brother, a tad shy, somewhat surprisingly said no, when I told him he could see Paul.
The intervening years have gone awfully quick, and as they say, a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. I was looking forward to seeing Paul when performs in Adelaide in October but like thousands of others, dipped out on getting a ticket.
Had a got a ticket I think I might put that signed double Doors LP in a backpack again, on the off-chance…
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What a great story! that's awesome!!
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@mjhughesinoz Fantastic story! Did your brother regret not coming in the bus to meet them?!
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What an amazing story!
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@forget-64
No, as far as I know, my brother never regretted taking up the offer to chat with Paul. As well as being a bit shy, he just wasn't into that type of thing. (When I said I still have the album, another brother, a mad Beatles fan, is looking after it for me---I gave it to him to 'mind', when he lost his wife died to cancer, aged 42yrs). I got to know another guy who knew the Beatles early on: Tony Sheridan, who played with the Beatles in Germany before they made the big time. Tony died a few yrs back in Germany. He was a nice guy---he said he used to share digs with the Beatles and very often they would wear each other's clothes. He said he had a leather jacket, which belonged to John Lennon. Wanted to know if I wanted to buy it--sorry I didn't now!