Link to Paul McCartney 'Desert Island Discs' 1982

VIDEO CONNECTION # 14 , Paul McCartney 'Desert Island Discs' BBC Studios, London (January 20, 1982)

Being his first important appearance in the communications media since John Lennon's death in 1980, Paul McCartney reappeared in the ''Desert Island Discs'' programme because of the celebration of its 40 anniversary in the BBC radio, conducted by Roy Plomley (BBC Radio 4).

The programme was recorded on January 20, 1982, in the morning, at the BBC studios in London; with a length of 39 minutes and it was broadcated on saturday, January 30, 1982 (6:15 to 6:54 pm).
The programme was also filmed by BBC2 for the documentary "Arena" (broadcasted on February 23, 1982).

The format of the ''Desert Island Discs'' programme was very simple: the guest stars were asked to imagine they were lost in a desert island and to choose eight discs they would take with them. In the middle of the chosen songs the lives of the artists were discussed and the reasons why they had chosen those themes. Every ''shipwrecked person'' was also allowed to chose a luxury object and a book they would want to take to this imaginary desert island. Finally, they were asked to chose only one of the eight selected discs as the only choice.

Paul McCartney was the first and only ex-Beatle that made an appereance at the ''Desert Island Discs'' programme, as the ''shipwrecked'' number 1,630. Perviously, the Beatles had been invited but Brian Epstein rejected the idea of the group apearing in the programme.

Paul McCartney's eight selections for ''Desert Island Discs'' were:
-'Heartbreak Hotel' by Elvis Presley;
-'Sweet Little Sixteen' by Chuck Berry;
-'Courtly Dances From Gloriana' by The Julian Bream Consort;
-'Be Bop A Lula' by Gene Vincent;
-'Searchin'' by The Coasters;
-'Tutti Frutti' by Little Richard;
-'Walking In The Park With Eloise' by The Country Hams
-'Beautiful Boy' by John Lennon.

McCartney chosed the last song (''Beautiful Boy'' de John Lennon) as the only selected disc he would finally take. His luxury object was one guitar and the selected book was an edition of his wife's photography book: ''Linda's Pictures''.

Here, the ex-Beatle is seen singing to some parts of The Coasters' ''Searchin' '' and, in another emotional moment, he's clearly repressing crying while he's listening to John Lennon's 'Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)'. The sad moment is evident seeing McCartney's face in this sequence of the video.

During the conversation with the host Roy Plomley, Paul McCartney revealed a curious and incredible data, that he hadn't got a complete collection of his own records.
McCartney, joking too, claimed that the Silver Beatles were not paid for his performances when they were backing Johnny Gentle in his tour by Scotland in 1960. Because of this remark, the manager Larry Parnes sued Paul McCartney and the BBC alleging defamation. The lawsuit was finally solved when a formal apology was read by Roy Plumley in his radio programme, on July 28, 1984 (two years later), pointing too that Paul McCartney's remark had been made just as a joke.

The first and eventful public appearance of Paul McCartney after Lennon's death had a bad start when, entering the BBC studios, the ex-Beatle suddenly hit the potograph of the 'Daily Star' Paul Massey (18 year old), who was having his first expierence as a journalist with that event.

Massey was trying to take some photographs of McCartney when he was pushed to the ground by the ex-Beatle. Realising of his mistake, McCartney apologized Massey, telling him: ''I'm sorry, I was wrong, friend. I knew that the only way to stop you taking photos was pushing you".

The incident was on the front page of the 'Daily Star' the next day, thursday January 21, with the headline: ''The last HIT of Paul...the man of 'The Star' '' ('Daily Star' was playing with the double meaning of the word ''HIT'').

Another curious fact took place as the result of the mention of the theme 'Bridge Over The River Suite' of The Country Hams, as one of the favourites of McCartney, in the ''Desert Island Discs'' programme, he achieved EMI discography made a re-issue of the theme on March 03, 1982 (originally out in October, 1974). As it's known, the theme was composed by Jim, the father of McCartney. The Country Hams, of course, was an alias used by McCartney during his stay in Nashville (June-July 1974).

Eight years later, Paul McCartney appeared in the american edition of the ''Desert Island Discs'' while he was in Los Angeles (Sunday, november 25, 1990) promoting the album ''Tripping The Live Fantastic''. For this occasion his selection of themes was more rock-oriented, including a number of songs of the Beatles and/or soloists.

-'Strawberry Fields Forever' by The Beatles.
-'Beautiful Boy' by John Lennon,
-'Daytime Nightime Suffering' by Wings
-'Love Me Do' by The Beatles,
-'Birthday' by The Beatles (by then his last solo single with his 1990 band),
-'Purple Haze' by Jimi Hendrix,
-'That'll Be The Day' by Buddy Holly,
-'God Only Knows' by The Beach Boys,
-'Touch Of Grey' by The Grateful Dead, (the most current song of all of them, hit single of 1987)
-'Rock And Roll Music' by Chuck Berry,
-'Mr Tambourine Man' by Bob Dylan,
-'Long Tall Sally' por Little Richard."