As our vacation began its third and final week, we returned to London to find that Paul had begun spending some quality time at the famous EMI studios on Abbey Road, which is conveniently located just a brief walking distance away from his home on CavAve. We didn't like turning up at Paul's house too often or staying there too long (it always felt a little awkward on his quiet, residential street), but at EMI? A completely different story. As a public place of business, we had no problem standing around there and waiting for a chance meeting, which is exactly what we did throughout that last week. On our way out for the day, we would casually walk by the studio, scope out the territory to see what was going on, then do the same on our way back home. Sometimes we saw a few other folks waiting around, but mostly it was just us, which is how we liked it. I don't remember exactly how, but we quickly found out he was working on mixes for the soon to be released album documenting the 1976 Wings Over America tour. We had some incredible memories surrounding that tour (read the post entitled "Ticket To Ride"), so we were pretty excited.
Over the coming days, we had several encounters with Paul and company at Abbey Road. The first time, we were standing in our usual spot at the street entrance of the studio, when a cab pulled up in front of us (always cause for anticipation). Out of the taxi came Jimmy McCulloch, lead guitarist of Wings. He was all smiles as he approached, and stopped for a few moments to say hi and make quick small talk. A picture was snapped in a hurry, and then inside he went. It was an unexpected surprise, not the last one we would receive. About ten minutes later, Denny Laine arrived as well, driving his car into the front parking area of the studio. He got out, and we walked a few steps toward him to give him a proper greeting. He remembered seeing us the year before at the offices of Paul's company, MPL (read the post entitled "A Bit More of Flying"), so we stood and chatted briefly before he disappeared inside as well. So far, we were scoring big time and not one of us mentioned the obvious - if these guys were here, Paul would not be far behind. Another ten or fifteen minutes went by, and then the screech of brakes. Paul blew into the parking lot and unfolded himself from the tiny purple Mini Cooper he was driving. From the other side of the car came Linda and Stella, and as they slammed the doors shut, we carefully approached. He gave us a big hello, while Linda and Stella stood beside him. He asked how long we'd been in town and how our trip had been so far (it just got a whole lot better!), and then with a "see ya next time!", they were off. Yes, he would see us next time, no doubt about that! We knew everyone would be inside for hours, so we left knowing we'd return on our way home that night.
Over the coming days, we had several encounters with Paul and company at Abbey Road. The first time, we were standing in our usual spot at the street entrance of the studio, when a cab pulled up in front of us (always cause for anticipation). Out of the taxi came Jimmy McCulloch, lead guitarist of Wings. He was all smiles as he approached, and stopped for a few moments to say hi and make quick small talk. A picture was snapped in a hurry, and then inside he went. It was an unexpected surprise, not the last one we would receive. About ten minutes later, Denny Laine arrived as well, driving his car into the front parking area of the studio. He got out, and we walked a few steps toward him to give him a proper greeting. He remembered seeing us the year before at the offices of Paul's company, MPL (read the post entitled "A Bit More of Flying"), so we stood and chatted briefly before he disappeared inside as well. So far, we were scoring big time and not one of us mentioned the obvious - if these guys were here, Paul would not be far behind. Another ten or fifteen minutes went by, and then the screech of brakes. Paul blew into the parking lot and unfolded himself from the tiny purple Mini Cooper he was driving. From the other side of the car came Linda and Stella, and as they slammed the doors shut, we carefully approached. He gave us a big hello, while Linda and Stella stood beside him. He asked how long we'd been in town and how our trip had been so far (it just got a whole lot better!), and then with a "see ya next time!", they were off. Yes, he would see us next time, no doubt about that! We knew everyone would be inside for hours, so we left knowing we'd return on our way home that night.
As nighttime settled in, we stopped back at EMI before calling it a day. As we stood outside, we could occasionally make out bits of music, sometimes clearly enough to tell what song they were working on and quietly sing along (I seem to remember "Call Me Back Again" and "Soily" were two loud ones that we heard). We stayed for about an hour, enjoying whatever we could hear from behind the main doors. Eventually, we began to struggle with the idea of leaving - we were tired, but didn't want to miss any possible sightings, so it was always a tough decision to make. In the end, after waiting another hour or so, we slowly shuffled away toward home. As our vacation in London was coming to an end and opportunities to see Paul were getting fewer, we decided to come back the next day and hope for the best.
