Ex-Art Student

“Ex-Art Student” is a track from the 1968 album “McGough & McGear“, by Roger McGough and Mike McCartney – brother of Paul – known professionally as Mike McGear. Paul McCartney helped with the production of the whole album:

Though production was credited to “All of Us,” those duties were in fact shared by several fellows. If his brother Paul was there, Mike recalls, “he would be the producer, ’cause I’d be out on the floor. If our kid didn’t do it, it would be me doing it. I, having been brought up with a musical brother, and having seen so much of what he did, learned a lot myself of what I wanted. If I was in the studio and our kid wasn’t there, Paul Samwell-Smith [later to produce Cat Stevens and Carly Simon] would have helped. He was a great listener, very good producer.“

From Liner notes to CD reissue of McGough & McGear (richieunterberger.com)

“Ex-Art Student”, words by Roger and music by Michael, is the all-together one. All the friends were allowed their head this time, even the one banging on the floor. There’s a flute talking to a sitar and guitar blowing bubbles. There are all sorts of jungle noises. It could have gone on forever. If you listen afterwards in your head, it probably does.

From the original liner notes, by Hunter Davies

I think it was Dave Mason on sitar, Jimi on wah-wah guitar, and Wib Bennett on the flute, floating over everything. It was free-form, sort of jazzy, rock-jazz at certain bits. Because there were no barriers. People could experiment. In their own musical box, they had to be the Beatles, they had to be Traffic, they had to be Jimi Hendrix, as a known sound. Whereas in ours, anything went.

Mike McGear / McCartney – from Liner notes to CD reissue of McGough & McGear (richieunterberger.com)

I understand that Jimi Hendrix is on guitar on ‘Ex Art Student’.

That ending is the best ending, if you just let it go and sit back. A glass of wine or whatever pleases you, a cup of tea it doesn’t matter. Turn the lights down and where it fades down at that end and it goes into that Moony Viv Prince, I think Mitch Mitchell might have been with him. It’s a bit like the Scaffold track ‘Do The Albert’. As that fades down and then suddenly, this floating starts and you get Dave Mason on his sitar and then you get Wib Bennett with his beautiful flute.  And then Jimi’s [mimics wah wah guitar]… those beautiful wah wah guitar noises like bubbles, rainbow bubbles coming in and that. You could just go on forever you could just because you could put on a loop tape and be in another world.

Mike McGear / McCartney – from The Strange BrewMike McGear McCartney – The Strange Brew, 2016

Officially appears on

Live performances

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.