Recording "New Moon Over Jamaica"
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- Album Songs recorded during this session officially appear on the Water from the Wells of Home Official album.
- Studio:
- Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Songs recorded
1.
Written by Paul McCartney, Tom T. Hall, Johnny Cash
Recording
Album Officially released on Water from the Wells of Home
2.
About
From Club Sandwich N°50, Autumn 1988:
The memorable session for ‘New Moon Over Jamaica’ took place at Paul’s Sussex studio on Monday, 9th May and, luckily for Club Sandwich, two impeccable witnesses have given us their accounts.
First John Hammel, trusty keeper of Paul’s guitars among other gear:
“Johnny and Paul had demos of the song beforehand. When he arrived, Johnny got his guitar out, chatted to Paul and they played other tunes together. Johnny’s wife, June Carter Cash, played autoharp which I tuned for her. It was a really nice session.“
Next studio boffin Eddie Klein, who explained the autoharp to your correspondent:
“You press a button to get a chord — hence the ‘auto’ in the name — and stroke the strings like a zither. The button automatically damps the strings which aren’t needed for the chord.
“It was Johnny Cash’s one day off on his tour and he was great, but quite tired. It was a very relaxed session. Paul played the Hofner violin bass and he and Hamish Stuart played electric and acoustic guitars. Chris Whitten played drums and he and Hamish joined in the background chanting.
“Johnny was taking the masters back, but there wasn’t time to do them that night. I took them to his Brighton gig the next day and saw the gig from the side of the stage, which was great for me ’cause I’m a big fan.“
More info. June and Linda also sang back-up, with additional vocals by Tom T. Hall being added later in Nashville. Paul produced, with Geoff Emerick from Beatles days and Matt Butler from Press To Play as engineers.
During this session, it is likely Paul McCartney played a version of “Man We Was Lonely”, a song from his debut solo album, “McCartney“, released in April 1970.
In “Man We Was Lonely”, you sound like Buck Owens in the chorus and Paul McCartney in the verses – like you’re doing a duet with Buck Owens?
Actually, I thought of myself as Johnny Cash on that one. Johnny could have done that one right! I remember playing that to him and June [Carter-Cash], in fact.
Paul McCartney – From interview with MusicRadar, 2004
Last updated on May 10, 2023