Penina / Wings Of Revenge

D'ya think maybe it would be nice to have something here about the actual song in question rather than just the history of the Northern Songs publishing company?

If so, I've transcribed the words of Carlos Pinto from a recent YouTube video by the Almost Beatles Songs guys [https://youtu.be/lmPuujHDohw?si=DVKkOy09ioc31qnQ] in which he tells the whole story behind meeting Paul and how the song came about. You might prefer to use this in conjunction with the original Jotta Herre single entry, but over there you at least already have some quotes from Paul. Oh, and I should make this absolutely clear: I couldn't find any information whatsoever about this specific recording by Carlos Mendes (which is the version that I somehow managed to get a 45 of way back in the '70s, so it's the one I'm used to) -- In fact, I thought that he and Carlos Pinto were the same person for the longest time!

"The 28th of December 1968 was when I met Paul McCartney in Portugal. That was something incredible. I had a well-known band [called Jotta Herre] and we were playing every day for 3 hours at a bar in the Penina Hotel - a very nice place, a luxury resort.

I was playing in the band, going to University and in the Army - the three things at the same time. I remember one evening [a bandmate] said "Carlos, don't you think that is Paul McCartney? I'm going to talk to him!" and he went there, and suddenly looked at me and said "Carlos, come here!" So I said "Hello" and Paul said "I want to play piano. Can I play with you?"

When that happened it was like a fairy tale, you know? I said "Oh man, come on!" so he sat down at the piano and it was magical. Everyone in the band, we could not believe what was happening! We played Blues, jazz, American covers - [I thought] "My God! This is really happening!"

Then he said "I want to play drums!" and he played the drums beautifully. In the meantime, the bar was completely full - the word passed to everybody in the hotel; the guests, the chefs, the cooks - they were all watching us. At the same time Linda McCartney was pulling his arm and saying "Paul, let's go! It's 3:00 in the morning! Let's go!"

Then I had this idea - I said "Paul, you play beautiful piano, you play drums fantastic, but you're *really* good at composing. Why don't you compose something for us?" and he said yes, and then he started improvising a few chords, then he invented lyrics:

"I've been to Albufiera, I had a good time there.

Then I came to Penina, and I met good friends..."

It was a beautiful moment for us - something that we could never forget. At the end of the night we said goodbye, and Paul said "You do with the song whatever you want." My God, one of the Beatles just gave us a song!

After that, the newspapers started talking about it and the record company started calling us to record "the Penina record". We put it out in Portugal, Spain, France... There was a sensation that we achieved something unachievable - something that you say "This can never happen", but that was it!

When I met Paul McCartney it was something that changed my life completely, and forever opened my eyes. You know when a legend like Paul McCartney appears, maybe it's a sign, you know, that your career is probably more to music than for electronics or engineering. Every day I say "My God, I have lived such a blessed life!" -- Carlos Pinto

Thanks a lot, Ken ! Very helpful, and yes, there was a hiccup - I'm removing the Northern Story, which shouldn't be there !!