Sunday, January 08, 2006

Cat Call

AUTHORSHIP McCartney (1.00)
McCARTNEY: "I wrote a few instrumentals: 'Cat Call' was one of those." Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now

On Jane's return from America, she and Paul made a last-ditch stand to consolidate their relationship. Jane, unusually, even accompanied Paul to a recording session on July 20, 1967 to see the trumpeter and trombonist Chris Barber, the man who popularised traditional jazz in Britain. He was recording 'Cat Call', an early instrumental of Paul's which had been a part of the Beatles' playlist down the Cavern. Paul can be heard singing in the chorus and shouting 'Please play it slower!' at the end.
McCARTNEY: "I knew Chris Barber because he was always down all the clubs. He was from the generation before us but his love of blues meant he would be likely to want to get up and jam with Hendrix and play a bit of trombone. His wife, the jazz singer Ottilie Patterson, strangely enough had been a patient of the doctor who'd owned my house in Cavendish before I bought it. There had been stories of this guy painting the house in mid-winter, wearing just a pair of shorts, so I was obviously carrying on quite a rich tradition at this place. I'd said, 'Well, come round for a cup of tea tomorrow.' When Ottilie saw the house, she said, 'Oh yes, this used to be the consulting room.' Chris Barber was a good musician and a good fun, interested guy. He was not patronising. With a few jazz musicians at that time it was, 'Mmm, rock 'n' roll ...' They felt like they knew more scales than we did, or they could read music, unlike us, but not Chris." Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now

No comments: