Needing a bit of a hit, Paul McCartney and Wings embraced a little bit of controversy on the 1972 single “Hi, Hi, Hi.” Some of that controversy was accidental, some of it was warranted, but all of it helped boost the song to become the band’s biggest hit to that point.
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What was the song about? Why was McCartney’s band somewhat reeling at the time of the song’s release? And how did a misheard lyric lead to a ban from the BBC? Let’s get the lowdown on “Hi, Hi, Hi.”
Wings Struggling to Fly
It was never going to be a cakewalk for Paul McCartney to get Wings off the ground. There were always going to be comparisons, not only to The Beatles as a group but also to what the former Beatles were doing as solo artists in the early ’70s. But the extent to which Wings struggled to gain acceptance from critics was a bit of an eye-opener.
Their 1971 debut album Wild Life was purposely kept loose and disheveled by McCartney, but many writers felt it came off sounding lazy and unfinished. Macca decided to spend 1972 releasing non-album singles while the band toured. But while the first two of these did moderately well in the charts, they also earned their share of criticism.
“Give Ireland Back to the Irish” drew ire from those who liked McCartney writing simple, tuneful ditties and didn’t want him getting involved in politics. “Mary Had a Little Lamb” overcorrected, drawing derision from those who thought that McCartney was releasing trivial stuff and wasting his talents. Wings really needed their third single of ’72 to do some damage.
“Hi” Times
Paul McCartney didn’t exactly hide his use of marijuana, which led to some brushes with the law during 1972. By writing a song with a title “Hi, Hi, Hi” and a refrain of We’re gonna get hi, hi, hi in the midday sun, he had to know people were going to view the song as a promotion for drug use and it might get him in some hot water.
There are also bits of sexual innuendo sprinkled throughout the song. But strangely enough, it was a line that McCartney didn’t write or sing which got it banned from airplay on the BBC. When McCartney’s publishers sent in the lyrics to the BBC, they misheard the word polygon, thinking that Paul sang body gun.
Granted, the line containing the word comes after McCartney sings I wanna lie you on the bed, so there’s no doubt he had salacious intent. But it’s still quite comical that the mishap made McCartney seem like he was rebelling against the constraints of decency, and maybe even helped with Wings’ credibility after their stumbles of the previous year.
What is the Meaning of “Hi, Hi, Hi”?
Paul McCartney wasn’t trying to do anything too deep with “Hi, Hi, Hi.” More than anything, it was a showcase for Wings to show what they could do, with lead guitarist Henry McCullough stepping forward in exciting fashion on the track. Lyrically, it’s just meant to be fun and a little nonsensical (which is why a word like polygon came into play in the first place).
Well well, take off your face / Recover from the trip you’ve been on, sings McCartney, and it might as well be a direct plea to his listeners to lighten up a bit. Macca also understands his audience well, knowing they’ll appreciate the source of the attraction between the two people in the song: Well, when I met you at the station / You were standing with a bootleg in your hand.
Not only was “Hi, Hi, Hi” Wings’ biggest hit yet in the UK, it also gave them a U.S. breakthrough, reaching No. 10 on the Billboard charts. The somewhat controversial song helped get Paul McCartney’s new band over a little slump, and it paved the way for much better days to come for them.
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