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April 1982

Sessions with Michael Jackson

For Paul McCartney

Last updated on May 21, 2020

In October 2014, Bill Wolfer, the keyboard player on the song, was the first to share his recollection of the making of Say Say Say. He related how Michael Jackson called to ask him to make a finished demo using a cassette on which he and Paul McCartney had recorded their two voices plus a single guitar line. Bill Wolfer described in detail the process of making the demo, explaining how the rhythm had been worked out on a Linn LM-1, before a basic version was laid on a four-track recorder using a Rhodes piano, with bass notes and percussion played on a synthesizer. This initial demo was used in the studio a few days later to lay Nate Watts’s bass line and Ricky Lawson’s drums. Those same lines had originally been given to the drummer Jonathan Moffett and bass player Mike McKinney, who were regulars on the Jacksons’ tours, but their experience of live performance did not suit the more rigorous discipline of the studio. David Williams came on the scene later to overdub some guitar. Little by little the demo was completed, with the addition of further overdubs on the synthesizer, a brass track, and a harmonica solo by Chris Smith. The harmonica player remembered his astonishment at finding himself in the studio with Michael Jackson, who was standing close to him and began to sing in his ear. Nevertheless, he still managed to wrap it up in one take. Gradually, the young star began to admit to Bill Wolfer that he wanted to produce a complete 24-track recording, in the hope that Paul McCartney would use this version. All that would remain was to add their voices and mix everything. And this sophisticated demo did indeed become the final version, just as he’d hoped – with the difference that the bass line by Nate Watts was replaced by a new track played by the ex-Beatles.

When the cassette with this demo on it reached Paul McCartney’s team and they listened to it, they were very surprised at how well finished it was. The British team then decided to fly to Los Angeles to rework the brass with Jerry Hey, Ernie Watts, and Gary Grant. At the same time, work began on The Girl Is Mine.

From Michael Jackson: All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track, By François Allard, Richard Lecocq

When I worked with Michael Jackson, he said, “How’d you do those harmonies, man?” So I said, “Well, it’s me and Linda.” “Can we ask Linda to…?” So she sang harmonies on those sessions. And he was right, there was a quality that first started in the harmonies of The Beatles’ Let It Be. […]

Paul McCartney, from McCartney II Archive Collection, 2011

Related session

Session activities

  1. Say Say Say

    Written by Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson

    Recording

  2. The Man

    Written by Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson

    Recording

  3. The Girl Is Mine

    Apr 14 - 16, 1982Recording "The Girl Is Mine"


Going further

Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989

With 25 albums of pop music, 5 of classical – a total of around 500 songs – released over the course of more than half a century, Paul McCartney's career, on his own and with Wings, boasts an incredible catalogue that's always striving to free itself from the shadow of The Beatles. The stories behind the songs, demos and studio recordings, unreleased tracks, recording dates, musicians, live performances and tours, covers, events: Music Is Ideas Volume 1 traces McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1970 to 1989 in the form of 346 song sheets, filled with details of the recordings and stories behind the sessions. Accompanied by photos, and drawing on interviews and contemporary reviews, this reference book draws the portrait of a musical craftsman who has elevated popular song to an art-form.

Buy on Amazon

Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium

We owe a lot to Chip Madinger and Mark Easter for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details!

Eight Arms To Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium is the ultimate look at the careers of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr beyond the Beatles. Every aspect of their professional careers as solo artists is explored, from recording sessions, record releases and tours, to television, film and music videos, including everything in between. From their early film soundtrack work to the officially released retrospectives, all solo efforts by the four men are exhaustively examined.

As the paperback version is out of print, you can buy a PDF version on the authors' website

Buy on Amazon

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