Paul and Linda McCartney travel to New York to record “Ram”

After some discussions in July with his lawyer and brother-in-law John Eastman, Paul McCartney decided to record his second studio album in New York. He aimed for a more sophisticated work than “McCartney,” one that would require experienced session musicians. He also wished to avoid working in London and at Abbey Road Studios, where he risked running into John, George or Ringo.

Before travelling to New York, Paul and Linda McCartney, accompanied by their daughters Heather and Mary, took a holiday in France following a short stay with Paul’s family in Liverpool.

From Liverpool, they flew to Nice and spent several days on the French Riviera, before driving to Paris. After a few days in the capital, they continued on to Le Havre, where they boarded the ocean liner S.S. France on October 2 for a six-day crossing to New York.

According to “The McCartney Legacy: Volume 1: 1969 – 73” by Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair (2022), Paul wrote the track “Oh Woman, Oh Why” during the crossing.

Two days after their arrival, Paul started auditioning session musicians to record the new album.

They returned to England mid December.

We were on holiday in France and thinking about making another album. I’d written a few new songs and we thought that for a change we’d go to New York to record. It’s good place, with a lot of great musicians and would give us a different slant. We’d tried the amateur bit with McCartney, going back to square one; now we wanted to get a bit more professional. So we took the ocean liner lle de France and sailed from Southampton over to New York.

It was a crazy journey. I wore shades a lot of the time and nobody really bothered us. But there was one woman who got annoyed at me coming into the dining-room wearing them. I thought, ‘What the hell. I’m on holiday, I’ll do what I want’ and I didn’t particularly want to have to relate to some of these people. She got annoyed, saying, Take your sunglasses off. Elizabeth Taylor is on this boat and she doesn’t wear them I said, ‘Well I’m not Elizabeth Taylor!’

Paul McCartney – From “Wingspan – Paul McCartney’s Band On The Run“, 2002

We went to New York first of all. It was great getting there. We took a French cruise liner [SS France], a posh old-fashioned one. You had a French maid with a little hat and apron. Like ooh-la-la! It was an adventure. We took that from Southampton and started to organise some songs.

Paul McCartney – From “Conversations with McCartney” by Paul du Noyer, 2016

PAUL McCARTNEY AND FAMILY ARRIVE. (AP)

Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, his hair trimmed close, arrived in New York yesterday with his wife, their year-old daughter Alice and Mrs. McCartney’s daughter by a previous marriage, Heather, 7. McCartney used an assumed name — Paul Martin — to travel to the United States aboard the liner, SS France.

From The Boston Globe – October 8, 1970

Paul? Paul? Paul Who?

The former Linda Eastman, her daughters, Alice [sic – Mary], 1, and Heather, 7, arrive at Pier 92, W. 52d St., aboard the France with Linda’s husband, yes, Paul McCartney. Paul McCartney of the Beatles, remember? Paul was traveling quite incognito as he made his first visit to New York with Linda, a onetime New York photographer. Linda doesn’t have to take pictures for a living any more and there are drastic changes in Paul, too. Has marriage done this?

From Daily News – October 8, 1970

Here.. the new face of an old Beatle

It’s a sad sight for all those Beatle fans who long for days gone by. Behind the dark glasses is Paul McCartney… obviously a mere shadow of his old self. Gone is that famous mop of hair, along with the more recent beard.

The streamlined version of the ex-Beatle was pictured arriving by ship in New York yesterday. And in Paul’s arms his one-year-old daughter Mary. She seems quite happy with her dad’s clean-cut new image. But then she’s bound to be prejudiced.

From Daily Mirror, October 9, 1970

HAIR TODAY etc., etc.

NOW you see it, now you don’t! The once be-bearded and Beatle-topped Paul McCartney now looking remarkably shorn. He is pictured in New York with his wife Linda and her daughters, Alice [sic – Mary] 1, and Heather 7. It will be interesting to see if the legions of McCartney followers will take heed of the new-look Paul. The unemployment in the hairdressing industry might be halved overnight.

From Disc And Music Echo – October 17, 1970

Paul McCartney — minus beard and most of his hair, seen arriving in New York on Friday. With Paul is his wife Linda with daughters Alice (1) and Heather (7). Paul’s new look resembles pictures taken of the Beatles during their engagements at Hamburg.

Going further

The McCartney Legacy: Volume 1: 1969 – 73

In this first of a groundbreaking multivolume set, THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1: 1969-73 captures the life of Paul McCartney in the years immediately following the dissolution of the Beatles, a period in which McCartney recreated himself as both a man and a musician. Informed by hundreds of interviews, extensive ground up research, and thousands of never-before-seen documents THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1 is an in depth, revealing exploration of McCartney’s creative and personal lives beyond the Beatles.

Buy on Amazon

The Beatles Diary Volume 1: The Beatles Years

With greatly expanded text, this is the most revealing and frank personal 30-year chronicle of the group ever written. Insider Barry Miles covers the Beatles story from childhood to the break-up of the group.

Buy on Amazon

The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After The Break-Up 1970-2001

An updated edition of the best-seller. The story of what happened to the band members, their families and friends after the 1970 break-up is brought right up to date. A fascinating and meticulous piece of Beatles scholarship.

Buy on Amazon

Maccazine - Volume 40, Issue 3 - RAM Part 1 - Timeline

This very special RAM special is the first in a series. This is a Timeline for 1970 – 1971 when McCartney started writing and planning RAM in the summer of 1970 and ending with the release of the first Wings album WILD LIFE in December 1971. [...] One thing I noted when exploring the material inside the deluxe RAM remaster is that the book contains many mistakes. A couple of dates are completely inaccurate and the story is far from complete. For this reason, I started to compile a Timeline for the 1970/1971 period filling the gaps and correcting the mistakes. The result is this Maccazine special. As the Timeline was way too long for one special, we decided to do a double issue (issue 3, 2012 and issue 1, 2013).