"THROUGH MY EYES" A JIMMY MCCULLOCH STORY
Tony
The Nice Mean Man
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Tony
Late 1973
"I can't believe I am here right now....I'm jammin' with Paul McCartney!
I never thought that I'd get a chance to play with McCartney. It's like
some sort of dream right now, I mean he used to be a Beatle and here
he's talking to me like I matter," I thought to myself as I played on
one of the tracks that we were recording for Linda McCartney's solo
album. "Thanks for playing on a few tracks Jimmy....you are a really
talented guitarist, a real whiz kid," Paul said to me after we had
gotten through recording. "Thanks Paul...coming from you that is an
honor!" I said, not hiding my excitement. "Haha....we'll defiantly give
you a call if we need anymore work done on anything," Paul told me,
flashing a grin. I had a smile on my face the whole way home. As soon as
I got home, I bragged to all my friends that I played with Paul
McCartney.
Early 1974
A couple of months after playing on Linda's album, I got another phone
call from Paul, this time he wanted me to play on his brother's album
entitled McGear. Denny Laine also played on the album...he's an awesome
guitarist as well. I feel really comfortable playing with Paul, Linda
and Denny....I would love to join Wings, that'd be a dream come true.
I've been in and out of a lot of bands and I want have something down on
a record that would be appreciated instead of always being in bands that
so few people hear about.
Well...what do you know..about a month or so after working on the
McGear album, Paul rang me up again....only this time he asked me if I
wanted to join Wings! He told me that "I was an established guitarist
whose playing was compared to Eric Clapton's at times and he felt that I
would fit in the band."
I had the biggest grin on my face and I only had to think about it for
a micro second! First though, I had to honor a contract that I made with
Robert Stigwood before I could become a permanent member of Wings. After
the dust cleared I was a full fledged member. The only problem I had
about being in the band was the other new "Wing", Geoff Britton. I
didn't like him from day one.
Summer/Fall 1974
We flew down to Nashville, Tennessee on June 6. We went there to get
acquainted with each other privately and to record some music without
all the fan-fare. Nashville is a really cool place, the people are so
down to earth, not to mention some hott looking women! We spent several
weeks in Nashville working on new stuff and getting to know each other.
Things weren't clicking with me and Britton. He's the exact opposite of
myself. Whereas I'm short, dark and one hell of a partier, he's tall,
blonde and soft spoken. A real momma's boy. He's also a black belt in
karate, most of the time, he comes to sessions in his karate uniform.
That's just a tad bit weird. He also doesn't drink or do drugs....he
needs to be shown the light man! As much as I dislike him as a person,
he's a pretty decent drummer, and that's about it.
We couldn't stay in Nashville for very long though because I had a run
in with the law. I was coming out of the local bar one night and I was a
little drunk and out of nowhere this policeman comes up to me and starts
telling me how much he hates Wings and he specifically noted my guitar
playing and that it sucked hardcore and that his great grandma could do
better, so me, being drunk and having a short temper, beat the living
daylights out of him, and he had to go to the hospital. Nobody messes
with Jimmy McCulloch.
When we returned to Britain on July 17th, we were meet with rumors that
Wings had broken up. I don't know where these rumors get started. After
relaxing for a few days upon our return to Britain, it was back to the
swing of things as we returned to the studio to record a new song called
Junior's Farm.
On November 20th, we performed Junior's Farm on Top of the Pops to
promote the single. I really enjoyed working on Junior's Farm because it
was a hard rocker and I had a great solo where I really got to showcase
what I can do. I was reading the paper and a critic had a little piece
about me, he said "Wings IV introduced Jimmy McCulloch, a spunky lead
guitarist with grit, able to spur Paul on unlike any previous soloist.
His debut track, the magnificent single `Junior´s Farm´, stands as
one of Wings´ finest emotional and technical releases." I really
appreciated the kind words, I feel like I am the type of musican that
can take Wings to the top.
Early 1975
In January, we flew to New Orleans, Louisiana to continue recording for
Venus & Mars, the long awaited follow up to Band On The Run. The only
problem was that Geoff Britton, didn't want to go to New Orleans. He had
grown depressed and miserable, then he got the bright idea to call up
Melody Maker to tell them how pissed off he was, he told them that I was
a "nasty little cunt." I didn't try to defend myself though...I know I'm
not some little angel, I am a bit weird and I've had a lot of experience
in music, but experience in life, knowing how to treat people, when to
say something and when not to and when you've put your foot in it, I'm
still a bit green that way and sometimes there's a Jekyll and Hyde
within me. Sometimes I really blow it and get on people's nerves.
So Britton left Wings after only completing a couple of tracks for the
new album. We were put in a tough spot but luckily, Tony Dorsey who was
the arranger of the brass section for Venus & Mars introduced Paul to a
drummer by the name of Joe English. Paul was very impressed with both
Joe himself and his drumming and invited him to play with us.
So with Britton out and English in, sessions continued for Venus and
Mars.
In February, we went to Los Angeles, California to complete the
recording of the album. While on the way to the recording studio for
mixing sessions, Paul asked Joe English to permanently join Wings. Joe
said yes and that was it.
I contributed a song called Medicine Jar to the album. I co-wrote it
with my friend Colin Allen. It is a song about my problems with drugs. I
am trying to stop, but once you start doing drugs, you are going to have
a hard time trying to stop. As an older guy, Paul does try and warn me
about the dangers of drugs and he always asks me, "What's going to
happen when you're 30? You've got your whole life ahead of you." I
understand that he's looking out for me and I appreciate that
Venus and Mars was released on May 30th and the critics response was
pretty respectable. Record Mirror's reviewer commented, "McCulloch and
English have added new vitality to Wings as is proved on this excellent
album." I think that myself and Joe are that "missing link" that had
been missing in the previous lineups that Wings has had.
Fall/Winter 1975
After Venus and Mars was released and there was favorable public
response to the album, Paul felt that the lineup was strong enough to
begin a full fledged tour. It was going to be an enormous tour with
state of the art sound equipment, lights and lasers, 12 and ½ tons of
equipment, semi trucks and a specially chartered jet with "Wings over
America" on its sides. Oh it's great to be famous!
Paul also planned to put us through a series of long rehearsals,
perfecting every element of the show before appearing in public. On
September 6th, we held a dress rehearsal before 1200 EMI employees and
members of the U.K. Wings fan club. After listening to the employees
opinions and making a few changes to the show, we were ready to soar
over Britain 3 days later.
The 1st leg of the tour consisted of 12 British cities in two weeks.
After the 1st concert at the Southampton Gaumont on the 9th, we were in
the hotel, getting ready to settle down for the night when I decided to
go down to the bar for a late night drink, not even caring if people
recognize me. As I was about to order my drink, when a girl came up to
me, she looked to be round 18 years old. She had long brown hair and tan
skin and beautiful eyes. Talk about a bombshell! She said " Hi! I'm Nana
and Oh my god! You're Jimmy McCulloch of Wings! You are my favorite and
you are a major hottie!" I couldn't help but smile and said "Thanks
love, you are quite the good looker yourself." She fainted and I had to
help the poor girl up, after she recovered, she asked if I could
autograph her left wrist, she wanted to make a tattoo of it."
I was about to make a move on her when guess who showed up! That's
right...Paul McCartney of all people showed up and ruined my chances
with Nana. I had to go up to my room and rest up since we had a concert
the next night. McCartney treats me like such a kid sometimes.
The rest of the tour throughout Britain went really well with the
public and critics alike were ecstatic with all the concerts being sold
out. On October 28th, we were going to fly to Australia to start that
leg of the tour but we were delayed and the people on the flight were
pissed off to say the least because they had to wait on us for an hour
on the runway at Heathrow Airport. There were even some protests that
the airline consented to Paul's request to wait.
When we finally got to Australia, that leg of the tour was another
success. The tour didn't really feel like work though, it was more like
a holiday. We gave a ton of interviews to the press and not
surprisingly, most of the questions were directed towards Paul about the
Beatles, in which Paul always politely responded that he was a member of
Wings and this tour wasn't Paul McCartney, the ex-Beatle. I am impressed
by the way Paul handles all the Beatles questions because if I were him,
I'd say look...this band I got with me now...does they fucking look like
the Beatles? No...that's what I thought, my band's called Wings, get it
through your heads W-I-N-G-S.
On one of our off days, while in Australia, we decided to take a visit
to a zoo and as we were about to leave, the McCartney's house keeper,
Rose Martin had just arrived and she was prepared for the day, with a
new hair style and a camera and then suddenly Linda, in front of
everybody, announced that Rose wasn't invited. She had a list of things
for the house keeper to do. I felt really bad for Rose because Linda
just dissed her hardcore. Everybody felt really bad for Rose, except
Linda of course. JoJo, Denny Laine's girlfriend at the time, wasn't
really that surprised that the incident happened however. She said that
Rose had told her how "lady like and gracious" Paul's former fiancee,
Jane Asher was and that she wouldn't like to repeat the things that Rose
used to say about Linda.
The zoo trip was a lot of fun, everybody went off to explore on their
own and so I headed to where the koala bears were. I always liked them
and they are very unique. I have a soft spot in my heart for animals.
The next destination for Wings was Japan and everything was all set, the
visas were stamped and the tickets were sold to the fans.
But while we were in Melbourne, Australia, we received a call, Paul's
visa had been canceled because of his earlier drug convictions. The tour
was cancelled and needless to say, everybody in the band was
disappointed, especially Denny who had wanted to visit Japan for several
years. So to show the Japanese government what they denied their people
and to console the fans, Paul offered a film of the group performing to
be shown for the public on Japanese television. The film was a lot of
fun to make, we sang Bluebird in this hotel room and it was really funny
to look back at the tape and see Joe using the couch as his drums.
The canceled Japanese leg of the tour allowed us to go on vacation. The
McCartney's flew to Hawaii, Denny Laine and his girlfriend JoJo went to
France, Joe English and his girlfriend Dayle traveled to the Bahamas,
while myself went to the Playboy Mansion in California. Nothing like
soakin' up some California sun in the daytime and then spend the night
with a lot of Playboy bunnies! I didn't want to leave all those lovely
ladies behind, but Jimmy McCulloch's gotta do what Jimmy McCulloch does
best, and that's being the lead guitarist in one of the greatest rock
bands ever, Wings.
Early 1976
During the months of January and February, we were back in the studio
recording a new album called At The Speed Of Sound. It was an
interesting album with each member of the group having lead vocals.
This time, I contributed a song called Wino Junko and again I co wrote
it with Colin Allen. It's another song about my addiction to drugs. I
really enjoy writing songs, the songs that I write are personal and are
reflections on my life.
Linda sang lead on a song called Cook of the House, and I am really
pleased for her because the song was a tribute to her because she can
cook up a meal in no time.
In March, we continued our European tour. Wings: At The Speed Of Sound
was released on March 26. The reviews were solid although there were a
few critics who didn't like the album at all. The critics that didn't
like the album can bite me.
Soon after Speed Of Sound was released, I received a very thoughtful
letter from a kid named Paul Salley who lived in the States. He lives in
Iowa and he wrote that he is my biggest fan and that he is learning how
to play guitar and that I am his inspiration.
It is a great feeling to know that I am an inspiration. He left me his
telephone number and so I gave him a call. Needless to say, he was
really surprised that I called. I thanked him for the letter and told
him that if he ever need anything, to just give me a call. I also gave
him and his mom backstage passes to one of our concerts, when we tour
America later on this year. I am really excited to meet Paul and Mrs.
Salley.
Spring-Fall 1976
We were set to conquer America in April and May but I got into a fist
fight with an American tv and recording star and broke a finger on my
left hand. I forgot the star's name but I remember it was in a bar one
night and I was really drunk and we got into a fight and then he broke a
beer bottle over my left hand. Needless to say, after that happened I
punched him in the face and broke his nose and he ran off crying like a
little baby. Need I say again, you don't mess with Jimmy McCulloch.
The only problem about having a broken finger on my left hand was that
it prevented me from playing guitar so the American tour was rescheduled
for May and June. A couple of days after I broke my finger, this
reporter asked if he could inspect my broken finger, so I held it up and
said, "Look, it's fine now," to which Paul replied, "Yeah, we're going
to break his arm next week."
The first concert was on May 3rd, in Fort Worth, Texas. The show went
smoothly and we awoke the next morning to the headlines of "Wings soar
over Texas" and "Wings show what live rock and roll should be, both
musically and visually." When we were in New York, we went in one of
those Town Trolley city tours and it was great. It was a really cool way
to learn about the history of New York and its' landmarks. I saw the
World Trade Centers and shit they are huge. They are going to be here
forever.
After the concert in Kansas City, I met Paul and his mom backstage.
They are both down to earth and sincere people. Paul had a great amount
of energy and was aw struck by the whole thing. Mrs. Salley was
extremely nice and she's a very hardworking and dedicated mother. Paul
is lucky to have her as his mom. After talking for about a half hour and
having my picture taken with Paul, it was time for me to go. It is
really cool to get to know your fans on a personal level.
When we did the Boston show, we had just done the 1st encore, and the
sound wasn't quite right and it pissed me off and so I told one of the
roadies to tell Paul that I wasn't coming back on to do the 2nd encore.
He came down to the dressing room and we both started cussing and
arguing and then he whacked me in the face. I went on stage after that.
I played a blinder, according to Paul. After the show, Paul apologized
for hitting me in the face.
I was really excited for our show in St. Paul-Minneapolis, Minnesota on
June 4. I turned 23 years old. Before the show, I had a birthday party.
I love parties. I had a great birthday, I received some awesome gifts
and I got whacked in the face with my birthday cake. Mmm birthday cake.
We closed the world tour with 3 concerts in 3 nights at the Wembley
Empire Pool in late October. The Rolling Stones performed there in May
and their performance were judged a failure but we triumphed with our
concerts there.
The world tour was a huge success, in Seattle, we broke the record for
the largest turnout for an indoor concert by a single act, 67,100 people
showed up at the Kingdome and it was the tour was something completely
different from all of the normal concerts.
Late 1976
After the tour was over, I formed a band for fun with my brother Jack
and my buddy Dave Clarke. We were called Jimmy McCulloch and White Line.
We recorded an album called White Line Complete featuring Jimmy
McCulloch (Little Wing) and released the single Call My Name/Too Many
Miles.
Paul decided to release the tour concerts as an album. He spent over 90
hours mixing the tapes as if it was a single performance. Wings Over
America was a live, 3 record set of the tour was issued just before
Christmas. The album was the next best thing to actually being there.
Critics loved the album as they hailed the album as a great piece of
work and one of the best live rock recordings of all time. Wings Over
America was the most popular music event of the year according to
various critics.
I think that Wings is settled for years, and it would be a shame if
anything happened. I don't see anything cracking Wings in the
foreseeable future.
Early 1977
In February, work began on the next album. I had written a few songs
after the tour and I showed them to Paul, hoping that he'd consider at
least 1 of the songs for the new album. He decided that they didn't fit
the style for the album but he told me to keep writing because on an
upcoming album, he is going to have at least 2 of my songs on the
record. Paul told me that I reminded him of George because of my
development as a songwriter.
The weather just sucked ass because it was rainy and foggy almost
everyday. Needless to say, it didn't do much to lift our spirits or
spark our creative juices. Sensing an immediate change of scenery, Denny
told Paul that when he was in Los Angeles, he'd visited a recording
studio on a boat and thought that it was an interesting way to record an
album. To Denny's surprise, Paul agreed that we should try it. The US
Virgin Islands was our chosen destination to record.
April-Early September 1977
At the end of April, we set sail for the Virgin Islands on the Fair
Carol, which had a recording studio, complete a 24 track tape recording
system. There were 3 other yachts as well, The Samala, was used for
eating and sleeping, the El Toro, was for the McCartney's and Wanderlust
was for Wing's use.
We were able to tape a track on the 1st day of recording. Amazing
considering that salt water could possibly affect the equipment to the
boat rocking in the water. May 2nd was when the serious recording began.
A pattern began to emerge, 3 to 4 hour recording sessions in the
morning, which was the same from late afternoon to evening, those were
entwined with swimming, water skiing, and fabulous meals.
On one of the mornings, we were recording a track and Paul was playing
acoustic guitar overlooking the sea and a dolphin surfaced and enjoyed
the music and splashed around the boat. At night, the yachts were lit up
with different colored lights while our music floated across the bay, it
was one of the most peaceful moments we experienced as a band.
One night in September, me and my friend Steve Marriot had been up all
night having a great time, when he suddenly asked me if I wanted to join
the reformed Small Faces. There wasn't very much I was doing with Wings
because all we were doing was recording and that was about it and I'd
become very bored and so I began drinking more and taking even more
drugs.
Besides that fact, I loved being in Wings but I was disappointed that
Wings hadn't really evolved into a total band, so I said yes. Steve rang
up Paul and informed him of my decision, and then I talked to Paul for a
few minutes and thanked him for everything and that I'd see him round.
Late September 1977-Early 1979
After leaving Wings, the media hounded me and asked me why I left
Wings, well here you go. "With Wings I was virtually an employed
musician, working mainly in the studio. With the birth of the
McCartneys' son I realized it would be some time before we ever toured
again and that's the side of a musican's life I like best. I left
amicably. I don't think anyone was too upset about the parting. We had
some very good times together. Though Linda doesn't know much about
music, she's a really nice chick and I certainly learned alot over the
past 3 years."
I joined the reformed Small Faces and we went on a small tour. After
the tour, we recorded an album called 78 In The Shade. After that,
things didn't really work out for me with the Small Faces so I left the
band.
After leaving the Small Faces, I realized how much I missed Wings. The
years I spent with Wings were some of the best years of my life. I now
regretted leaving Wings. I wanted to call Paul and beg him to let me
back in the band. I miss them.
As I pondered if I should call McCartney, I got a call from my friend
Brian Robertson asking me if I wanted to join his band Wild Horses. I
said yes because I was just lying on my ass like a lazy bum. I drank
more heavily and I started experimenting with heavier drugs.
I really want to turn my life around but once you start doing drugs,
it's hard to stop. I rehearsed with Wild Horses for awhile but then one
day after rehearsal, Brian told me that I was out of the group because I
wasn't fitting in and that they replaced me with Neil Carter. I was
really hurt by that, but what can you do about stuff like that?
I read in the paper that Joe had left Wings because he was homesick
from America. Paul, Denny and Linda have that trio feeling once again. I
was watching television one night as I pondered my future and I saw
McCartney giving an interview and he said that he wished that things
would have stayed together with myself and Joe. Looking back, I wished
like hell I would have stayed with Wings. I felt so comfortable with
those guys. They were like my family.
Paul then said that he found 2 up and coming musicians to replace Joe
and myself. Laurence Juber on lead guitar and Steve Holly on drums. It
will be interesting to see how they do.
March 1979-September 25, 1979
In March, I got an offer to join a band called the Dukes. We quickly
recorded an album called The Dukes. I contributed a song called
Heartbreaker.We had a minor hit single in the summer with Hearts In
Trouble. a minor hit with the single Hearts in Trouble. Even though I am
a member of The Dukes, I am itching to go solo. I want to show the world
what I can do on my own.
On September 25, I went down to the record store and picked up Wings'
new album, Back To The Egg. It has a lot of different styles of music
and it's an interesting album. The new lineup is really impressive.
Juber's a really talented guitarist. His guitar riff on Old Siam, Sir is
one of the best riffs I have ever heard. I was really impressed with
Steve Holly's drumming. I have plans for a solo album and I would love
to have Holly as my drummer. I gave Steve a call and asked him if he
wanted to do some recording with me, he said yes.
After I got off the phone, I looked at the calender and I saw that it
was Paul Salley's birthday. I gave him a call and wished him happy
birthday. I told him that he could come to England for a few days to see
me at work since he wants to be a guitarist. He should be here in early
October.
September 27, 1979
I woke up this morning and looked out the window, another glorious day
in London, a rainy day. My brother Jack is coming by for a visit today.
I decided that while I wait for him that I'd watch some tv while I did
my daily ritual of pot, alcohol and to smoke a few marijuana joints. I
wonder if anything's good on tv as I reached for the remote and then I
closed my eyes.........
Jimmy McCulloch
His Music Lives On
Wings and MPL were shocked and very sad at the news that ex Wings
guitarist Jimmy McCulloch was found dead last month. I'm sure you will
agree that Jimmy's unique style and flair contributed greatly to many
favorite Wings tracks both in concert and on record. Any of you who saw
Wings touring in 1975-1976 will probably never forget the sensitive but
powerful guitar riffs from Jimmy--a real talent who will be sadly
missed.
from the October 1979 Wings fan club publication
R.I.P. Jimmy McCulloch 1953-1979
© Copyright 2005 MedicineJar (UN: medicinejar at Writing.Com). All
rights reserved
richforman
> http://phonifier.wtv-zone.org/index.php?i=1&m=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wr...
That was fantastic, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed and
appreciated reading that, thanks for the post. Jimmy is my favorite
Wing (Macca is more like the pilot of course!), one of the best things
that ever happened to McCartney in his post-Beatles years IMO and a
vital part of what made the best Wings stuff great live and on disc.
Anyway, that little journal had lots of new information that I didn't
know (pretty rare to get anything like that at this point!) and a lot
of stuff that was different in kind from what you usually read from
McCartney sidemen and people - darkside stuff like fights, drugs,
disagreements, ego, misbehavior - the story about being about to try
to pick up an 18-year old girl and being cockblocked by the boss is
definitey different from the type of stuff you hear in interviews from
the current McCartney band! The talk is always way more wholesome -
sushi, bike rides. Even the honest talk about not getting along with
Geoff Britton and not liking him - again very different from the kind
of stuff you usually hear from the McCartney camp. Love Jimmy's
cocky confident air about his playing and his whole persona - well
founded, he was terrific. Boy the Virgin Islands boating/recording
trip sounds like the experience of a lifetime, doesn't that one always
make you a little jealous of the whole gang?
richforman
Nil
rec.music.beatles:
http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/935413-Jimmy-McCulloch-Through-My-Eyes
> Even the honest talk about not getting along with Geoff Britton
> and not liking him - again very different from the kind of stuff
> you usually hear from the McCartney camp. Love Jimmy's cocky
> confident air about his playing and his whole persona - well
> founded, he was terrific. Boy the Virgin Islands
> boating/recording trip sounds like the experience of a lifetime,
> doesn't that one always make you a little jealous of the whole
> gang?
This was a fun read, but it's fiction, is it not? It's not clear
to me, but I believe that this is someone writing in McCullooch's
voice, not Jimmy himself.
Here's another one, I think by the same author.
http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/935644-McCulloch-Thoughts
richforman
> On 01 Apr 2010, richforman <rforma...@msn.com> wrote in
> rec.music.beatles:
>
> http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/935413-Jimmy-McCulloch-...
>
> > Even the honest talk about not getting along with Geoff Britton
> > and not liking him - again very different from the kind of stuff
> > you usually hear from the McCartney camp. Love Jimmy's cocky
> > confident air about his playing and his whole persona - well
> > founded, he was terrific. Boy the Virgin Islands
> > boating/recording trip sounds like the experience of a lifetime,
> > doesn't that one always make you a little jealous of the whole
> > gang?
>
> This was a fun read, but it's fiction, is it not? It's not clear
> to me, but I believe that this is someone writing in McCullooch's
> voice, not Jimmy himself.
>
> Here's another one, I think by the same author.
>
> http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/935644-McCulloch-Thoughts
If that's true then I take it all back (well not my thanks to Tony for
posting) - and that is just creepy and weird!
richforman
Nil
rec.music.beatles:
>> http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/935413-Jimmy-McCulloch-Through-My-Eyes
>> http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/935644-McCulloch-Thoughts
> If that's true then I take it all back (well not my thanks to Tony
> for posting) - and that is just creepy and weird!
It is creepy... but also pretty believable. If it's not really from
Jimmy's journal, the author seems pretty familiar with his life and
personality. I don't think that stuff is very commonly known.