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Friday, July 23, 1971

Northern Songs and MacLen Music sue Paul and Linda McCartney

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Last updated on August 2, 2023


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On this day, Northern Songs Ltd and MacLen Music Ltd announced they were suing Paul and Linda McCartney for $1,050,000, claiming a violation of Paul’s “exclusive rights agreement” with those companies, as their recent song, “Another Day“, was credited to both Paul and Linda.

Because Linda wasn’t trained at the Guildhall, Northern Songs think it must mean she can’t write. But she knows more about music… Look, she’s a rocker from way back. She was at the Paramount Theatre watching, on the same bill, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, and Chuck Berry. She knows about music.

The thing is, look at it seriously. Northern Songs has got me under contract. I start writing with someone whom they don’t have under contract – and they don’t accept it. Now we ought to have an equal share of the song. But you try to tell Sir Lew Grade that – he’s bought the company – and it doesn’t work…

Paul McCartney – From Record Mirror, December 4, 1971

Court move over latest hit by Paul McCartney

A move by Northern Songs Ltd for a High Court order against Chappell and Co. Lld, in a dispute over publication rights to Beatle Paul McCartney’s current hit, “Another Day”, was adjourned today.

The hearing was to have been before a judge sitting in private at the High Court today, but the parties agreed to an adjournment. A new date for the hearing has been provisionally agreed for April 6.

Chappels claim they published the song as sole United Kingdom agent of McCartney Inc., while Paul and his wife Linda recently set up in America.

The claim is contested by Northern Songs, a subsidiary of Associated Television who seek an order to prevent Chappells publishing the song.

From Aberdeen Evening Express – March 23, 1971
From Aberdeen Evening Express – March 23, 1971
From Aberdeen Evening Express – May 7, 1971
From Evening Standard, July 23, 1971

Going further

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."

We owe a lot to Keith Badman for the creation of those pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details - a day to day chronology of what happened to the four Beatles after the break-up and how their stories intertwined together!

Buy on Amazon

The Beatles - The Dream is Over: Off The Record 2

This edition of the book compiles more outrageous opinions and unrehearsed interviews from the former Beatles and the people who surrounded them. Keith Badman unearths a treasury of Beatles sound bites and points-of-view, taken from the post break up years. Includes insights from Yoko Ono, Linda McCartney, Barbara Bach and many more.

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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).

Maccazine - Volume 47, Issue 1 - The birth of Wings

"Maccazine is a hard copy magazine (a bound paperback) about Paul McCartney. It is published twice a year. Due to the fact that the Internet has taken over the world and the fact that the latest Paul McCartney news is to be found on hundreds of websites, we have decided to focus on creating an informative paper magazine about Paul McCartney."

"In this issue we take you back to the early days of Paul McCartney’s solo career when he decided to form a new group. With Wings he proved there was life after The Beatles. This Maccazine features a detailed timeline of ‘the birth’ of the band with interesting entries including many new facts and unpublished photos. Follow-up timelines will be published in the upcoming years."

Paul McCartney writing

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