Most artists would probably be willing to part with one of their kidneys if it meant working with Paul McCartney. Ever since leaving The Beatles, McCartney’s work has been the soundtrack to what rock and roll should be at the best of times, seeing the joy in creating music just for the sake of playing it. Although McCartney has been known to surround himself with equally strong performers, one of his beloved deep cuts involved him kicking guitar legend Jeff Beck out of one of his sessions.
By the time that McCartney put his solo career together, he initially thought he was creatively spent. Having devoted so much time and effort to The Beatles, Macca had seen the remains of his greatest achievement crumble due to business, not wanting to make anything until his wife, Linda, convinced him to get back into the studio.
While the reviews of his early solo efforts like McCartney and RAM ranged from positive to bewilderment, McCartney knew he needed another band environment to feel comfortable again. Bringing in Denny Laine and Linda, Wings were formed as a way for McCartney to get his creative juices flowing, giving him more people to work off of in the studio.
Although the group suffered nightmarish recording sessions getting Band on the Run off the ground, the results were one of the biggest post-Beatle success stories of any of the Fab Four, featuring McCartney back in action on the charts. He kept up the momentum on projects like Venus and Mars and Wings at the Speed of Sound, but their 1978 album Back to the Egg was where that camaraderie started to run out.
Having completed the pop-focused London Town as a three-piece, bringing in fresh blood for Back to the Egg made the whole thing a bit disjointed. One minute, McCartney would be performing the kind of rock and roll we were used to on ‘Getting Closer’, and the next, he would be playing the kind of old-timey ballads that divided the room during Beatles sessions like ‘Baby’s Request’.
For anyone looking for McCartney to kick out the jams on record, ‘Rockestra Theme’ was the answer to their prayers. Instead of bringing together orchestras, McCartney thought the next best thing would be to bring as many of his rockstar friends as he could to play on one track, making for a celebrity-packed session that rivalled ‘We Are the World’ years before it came out.
While the final product would feature everyone from Pete Townshend to David Gilmour to John Bonham, Beck was left conspicuously absent. Even though he may have been able to lay down a searing solo alongside his fellow guitar legends, Beck pressed his luck a bit too far when McCartney invited him.
Since he had been known for doing his own thing, Beck wanted to have oversight over the song and have the power to get rid of any guitar parts that he didn’t want to play. Upon hearing the request, McCartney thought it would be better to cut his losses, withdrawing his invitation to Beck and carrying on with his other rock star friends.
It’s not like Beck was exactly hurting from the loss, though, proceeding to warp his guitar to create any sound he wanted while performing amongst the greatest in his field. A song with Beck and McCartney at the height of their powers may have been a match made in heaven in the late 1970s, but Beck forgot one rule. When you’re performing with Paul McCartney, it’s best to just follow his lead instead of overstepping your bounds.