The Girl Who Came To Stay

’cynthia made me laugh and she definitely would tell you straight if she didn’t like something. she never sugar-coated anything ’

THE BEATLES FILMS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PATTIE BOYD! (March 17, 1944)

“Three years later, in 1969, George wrote a song called Something. He told me in a matter-of-fact way that he had written it for me. I thought it was beautiful and it turned out to be the most successful song he ever wrote, with more than 150 cover versions. Frank Sinatra said he thought it was the best love song ever written. George’s favourite version was the one by James Brown. Mine was the one by George Harrison, which he played to me in our kitchen.”

“We met secretly at a flat in South Kensington. Eric Clapton had asked me to come because he wanted me to listen to a new number he had written. He switched on the tape machine, turned up the volume and played me the most powerful, moving song I had ever heard. It was Layla, about a man who falls hopelessly in love with a woman who loves him but is unavailable. He played it to me two or three times, all the while watching my face intently for my reaction. My first thought was: ‘Oh God, everyone’s going to know this is about me.’”

Paul (and Linda) performing with his new band, Wings, on the 13th February, 1972 at Newcastle University, the first stop on Wing’s impromptu tour of UK universities.

“I couldn’t believe my luck. Paul asked if a spot could be found for his new band, Wings, in the Sunday folk night at the hall. They just turned up out of the blue in a big van full of equipment. We were only too happy to oblige.”

[Steve Dresser, chairman of Newcastle University’s entertainment committee]

The gig was 50p admission on the door and the proceeds were split equally between all the band members. The set kicked off with a cover of Little Richard’s Lucille and featured a mixture of covers and new songs, but no Beatles songs were included.