Hi, Hi, Hi

Song facts

From Wikipedia:

“Hi, Hi, Hi” is a song written by Paul and Linda McCartney and performed by Wings. It was released as a double A-side single with “C Moon” in 1972. The song was recorded around the same time as “C Moon”, in November 1972.

The single peaked at number five in the United Kingdom and at number 10 in the United States in January 1973. The song became a staple of Wings’ live shows in the 1970s.

In the UK, the song was banned by the BBC for its sexually suggestive lyrics. The BBC also assumed that the title phrase, “We’re gonna get hi, hi, hi” was a drug reference. The specific lyrics objected to is the apparent phrase “get you ready for my body gun“; McCartney has said that the correct lyrics are “get you ready for my polygon“, an abstract image, and later said, “The BBC got some of the words wrong. But I suppose it is a bit of a dirty song if sex is dirty and naughty. I was in a sensuous mood in Spain when I wrote it.“

From Ultimate Classic Rock:

While controversy seemed to follow John Lennon on a daily basis in the early-70s, it was not a foreign concept to his former Beatles band mate Paul McCartney either. In early 1972, McCartney and his band Wings, released the defiantly political single, ‘Give Ireland Back To The Irish.’ Dipping into controversial waters out of character for McCartney, and though the single was strong and hard-rocking, the BBC thought it was too much, and promptly banned it.

A few months later, McCartney slapped back and released a new single, a cover of the children’s song ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb,’ practically daring the powers that be to find something controversial with that. By year’s end, Paul was back for another round. The rollicking single, ‘Hi Hi Hi‘ was, in title alone, almost taunting the BBC. It was not only the seemingly obvious drug references that got them all worked up this time, but also the suggestive sexual content that got this single banned in December 1972.

The unforgettable line ‘get you ready for my body gun’ was too much for the U.K. airwaves. In later years, McCartney claimed the line was actually ‘polygon’ not ‘body gun.’ And if you believe that, good luck to you! Despite, or perhaps due to the controversy, the record hit the U.K. and U.S. Top 10. Over the years the song seemed all but forgotten, but as recently as this year, McCartney has been performing ‘Hi Hi Hi’ in concert.

From Rolling Stone, interview January 31, 1974:

“Hi Hi Hi” was the one that brought you back to the Top Ten, after “Give Ireland Back to the Irish” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” although in Britain they played “C Moon” because “Hi Hi Hi” was banned by the BBC.

I thought the “Hi Hi Hi” thing could easily be taken as a natural high, could be taken as booze high and everything. It doesn’t have to be drugs, you know, so I’d kind of get away with it. Well, the first thing they saw was drugs, so I didn’t get away with that, and then I just had some line “Lie on the bed and get ready for my polygon.”

The daft thing about all of that was our publishing company, Northern Songs, owned by Lew Grade, got the lyrics wrong and sent them round to the radio station and it said, “Get ready for my body gun,” which is far more suggestive than anything I put. “Get ready for my polygon,” watch out baby, I mean it was suggestive, but abstract suggestive, which I thought I’d get away with. Bloody company goes round and makes it much more specific by putting “body gun.” Better words, almost.

It made it anyway in the States.

Yeah, well, the great laugh is when we go live, it makes a great announcement. You can say “This one was banned!” and everyone goes “Hooray!” The audience love it, you know. “This next one was banned,” and then you get raving, because everyone likes to. Everyone’s a bit anti-all-that-banning, all that censorship. Our crew, our generation, really doesn’t dig that stuff, as I’m sure you know.

Paul McCartney

Last updated on October 29, 2018

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