West 45th Street • New York • USA

On October 10 and 11, 1970, in New York, Paul McCartney held secret auditions to find a guitarist for the recording of his second solo album, “Ram.” The auditions took place in a location on West 45th Street.

All I remember is getting a phone call from Linda McCartney addressing herself as ‘Mrs. McCartney’ and I said ‘Who?’ She said ‘My husband would like to meet you’ and I said ‘Did I ever work for your husband before?’ She said: ‘This is Linda McCartney and my husband is Paul McCartney’, like I was supposed to know Paul McCartney was calling my house, that kind of thing. She didn’t make it clear what they wanted me for, I thought it was a meeting or a recording session, but it turned out to be an audition.

So I went to this place on 45th Street, some dirty loft, and they must have been there for three days auditioning people. I’d heard that some of the studio guys had given them a hard time, which I really didn’t want to do because I wanted to work with him. So when I get there, there’s 3 guitar players, but you had to be called, like you couldn’t walk in off the street with your guitar. He introduced himself to me, with a three-day old beard and we’re alone in this gigantic room, and there’s nothing but amplifiers, piano, drums – and Linda. He wanted me to play something. He played a blues, and a solo and some folk and said he wanted me to do that. I played it and then he just said ‘Sorry I couldn’t spend more time but I have a lot of people to see… blah blah’, so I said ‘Fine’. As soon as I got home the phone rang and Linda wanted me to do the sessions the following week.

David Spinozza – Interview with Vicky Wickham – From Hit Parader, November 1971

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