Filming of the “Hi, Hi, Hi” / “C Moon” promotional videos

From Club Sandwich N°44, Spring 1987:

‘C. Moon’ is a delightful little ditty which Sandwich Ed. firmly hopes will one day reappear on Cold Cuts. Written by Paul and Linda, it was issued in December 1972 as the B-Side of ‘Hi Hi Hi’. When the letter’s good-natured randiness provoked a BBC ban, the single effectively became a double A-side and ‘C. Moon’ had much to do with the record reaching both British and American top tens.

Experience has never made Paul McCartney cynical, so that a relaxed jollity is always within his grasp. ‘C. Moon’ is a particularly inspired example, remembering what it is to be young (“How come no-one older than me ever seems to understand the things I wanna do/What’s it all to you?”) and hinting at the McCartney philosophy of life: ‘I’ll never get to heaven if I fill my head with glue”. Musically, it’s a gentle Caribbean shuffle with infectious brass and Linda’s already distinctive harmonies to the fore.

The accompanying video was equally unpretentious; indeed, its innocence seems part of a bygone age, compared to the polished productions we have all become used to. Wings are isolated on a rostrum, Paul looking as if he’d come straight from the beach, wearing a very home-made looking pink C. Moon T-shirt and sporting the raffish, spiky-topped hairdo he favoured in early Wings days.

Drummer Denny Seiwell tinkles convincingly on the xylophone and, less plausibly, tootles on a trumpet when the brass comes in. Denny Laine plays bass and guitarist Henry McCullough looks somewhat listless as he masquerades at the drums, the song not requiring his fretboard skills. Linda rattles a tambourine with purpose and blossoms on the “Ah ah ah” before each “What’s it all to you?”. Paul is at the piano and smiles straight into the camera as it passes directly overhead, adding to the pleasant naivety of the film.

But why ‘C. Moon’? Well, Paul remembered how L7 meant ‘square’ (the shape resulting when you put the letter and number together) in Sam the Sham’s ’60’s hit ‘Woolly Bully’. If you put ‘C’ together with a crescent moon shape, a circle results. Being the opposite of a square, this means ‘cool’. Got it? Jolly good.

‘C. Moon’ was filmed on video for Southern Television in November 1972 and directed by Steve Turner.

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