The album Venus And Mars was scheduled to be released in the UK on May 30, 1975. Excitement was building in anticipation, and to fuel the fire, Listen To What The Man Said was released on May 16th as the first single. We saw Paul at his house a few days later, on the 19th. We had gotten home early after a day of sightseeing and just decided on a whim to take a walk over. Even though we were never lucky enough to have Paul just "show up" moments after we arrived, on this day it happened after only about ten minutes. Paul had a copy of the single with him and showed it to us. We congratulated him on the new song and upcoming album, and told him how we couldn’t wait to hear it. He said, “Well...here, have this” and held out the single he had been showing us. Not only was I the most fearless in our group, this particular day I was also the fastest. I accepted the record from him, being sure to touch his hand as I did it, and thanked him for offering it to me. This was the first time he had ever given me anything, and I was gonna hold on tight to this bit of plastic. The irony of it all was that I wouldn’t be able to listen to it until we got home. We had no record player in our flat, we were lucky to have a television. The one we did have received only three or four viewing channels, and built into it was a radio that also had very few choices for our listening pleasure. We still had another week of vacation to go, so I would just have to wait.
 |  Documenting the day for historical (or hysterical) purposes... |
We listened to the radio in our flat almost constantly after that, and we began to hear the single getting quite a bit of airplay on one station in particular. Every time that little mumble, followed by the contagious opening riff and soprano saxophone came on, we immediately stopped whatever we were doing and just listened. I couldn’t help smiling to myself just a little as I relived those few minutes when he handed that 45 over to me. I had a copy of this song from the source, and it would always be special. After it was over, the disc jockey came back on to say they would be exclusively previewing the entire album that coming weekend on Sunday night. Sunday was our last day in London, our flight home was the next morning on May 26th. We hadn’t yet made any plans, other than to pack. We purposely left Sunday open just in case something came up at the last minute. With that announcement, we immediately knew how we would be spending our last evening in Beatleland.
Sunday brought rain and a little frantic last minute souvenir shopping. We came back to the flat and tried to find room in our luggage for all the things we had purchased over the past three weeks. I realized that if packing to leave was a challenge, packing to come home was far tougher. But of course, the best was yet to come. As the clocked ticked down the minutes, we turned the lights down low and arranged our chairs in a very tight little semicircle around a picture-less television. We were trying to create an undistracted environment for our listening party, as those album previews were called in those days. With the opening strum of the acoustic guitar in the first track, we were taken away. We closed our eyes and silently listened for the next forty-five minutes. The only bad thing was that we couldn’t hear it a second time...or a third....or a fourth…..
After our initial encounter at the house, we saw Paul and Linda once more during our stay. They had been shopping in their neighborhood, and again we had managed to be at the right place at the right time by arriving shortly before they did. They were both relaxed and happy, and stayed to talk for about ten or fifteen minutes. We gave them pictures we had taken of them the previous Christmas in New York, and now they agreed to a few more. I took several snaps that day, to make up for not taking any at the meeting we’d had the week before.
Sunday brought rain and a little frantic last minute souvenir shopping. We came back to the flat and tried to find room in our luggage for all the things we had purchased over the past three weeks. I realized that if packing to leave was a challenge, packing to come home was far tougher. But of course, the best was yet to come. As the clocked ticked down the minutes, we turned the lights down low and arranged our chairs in a very tight little semicircle around a picture-less television. We were trying to create an undistracted environment for our listening party, as those album previews were called in those days. With the opening strum of the acoustic guitar in the first track, we were taken away. We closed our eyes and silently listened for the next forty-five minutes. The only bad thing was that we couldn’t hear it a second time...or a third....or a fourth…..
After our initial encounter at the house, we saw Paul and Linda once more during our stay. They had been shopping in their neighborhood, and again we had managed to be at the right place at the right time by arriving shortly before they did. They were both relaxed and happy, and stayed to talk for about ten or fifteen minutes. We gave them pictures we had taken of them the previous Christmas in New York, and now they agreed to a few more. I took several snaps that day, to make up for not taking any at the meeting we’d had the week before.
I was so fortunate to have made this trip in the first place, and seeing Paul at his legendary (for Beatle fans) Cavendish Avenue address was really all I needed to make the trip complete. As we flew home on that Monday morning, I knew this would not be my last trip to London. Somehow, I had to find a way to do this all again.
That's all for now…..Thanks for reading, see ya next time!
That's all for now…..Thanks for reading, see ya next time!
