Paul McCartney and wife Linda sing to their young kids in sweet home video from 1971

9 February 2024, 12:28

In 1971, Paul and Linda McCartney were loving life with their young children at their High Park Farm home in Kintyre, Scotland. Picture: CBS

By Thomas Curtis-Horsfall

Loading audio...

The McCartneys were loving life.

After The Beatles finally called it a day, Paul McCartney and his wife Linda took some time away from the spotlight to recharge.

They were still creatively active of course, with Paul releasing two albums with little promotional fanfare, his debut solo record titled McCartney in 1970 and Ram the following year, both of which received critical and commercial praise.

He'd spend time between London, New York and Los Angeles whilst recording the aforementioned albums with his wife Linda.

But much of the McCartney's time was spent at their High Park Farm home in Kintyre, Scotland, where the family could be free from the prying eyes of the outside world.

In 1971, Paul and Linda shared two children together - Heather who was Linda's child from a former partner whom Paul adopted when they married, and Mary who was their firstborn together.

And they seemingly took every chance to serenade their children, from the evidence of this sweet home video where they both sing an impromptu rendition of 'Hey Diddle' to them.

What makes the home video even sweeter, is that Linda was pregnant with her third child, Stella, so technically they were singing to a larger brood.

Paul McCartney & Linda McCartney - Hey Diddle (Scotland Home Movie, 6th June, 1971, Restored)

Sat against the stone wall of their historic cottage in the June summer sun, Paul and Linda sing away together whilst Heather and Mary play around them.

They sing an acoustic version of 'Hey Diddle', a tune they wrote together during the Ram sessions which didn't make it onto the record at first, but was later released on the reissue.

The couple would make a series of home videos from their time spent at High Park Farm, to document their memories of having young children and enough free time to spend with them.

But the footage was only released to the public years later, after it was used as a segment for the Wings documentary, Wings Over The World, in 1979.

Most of the live on-stage performances and behind-the-scenes video from the documentary were from the band's major 1975-1976 Wings Over The World tour.

Due to several audio issues however, the documentary was delayed until 1979, by which time band members Jimmy McCulloch and Joe English had left the group.

Wings were still one of the biggest rock bands in the world though, so it was remarkable for their fans to witness such intimate footage.

Paul and Linda at their farm in 1971. (Photo by MSI/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images). Picture: Getty

Paul actually bought his High Park Farm home in 1965 with the help of then-girlfriend Jane Asher, though it wasn't until he met Linda that he began to frequent it regularly.

In a 1968 interview with NME, Paul opened up about how it came into his possession revealing: "I was always drawn to the romantic notion of the Highlands. And John [Lennon] was too, he had visited relatives who had a croft in the Highlands, and he spoke romantically of it, so I had that thought in my head."

"But I never really intended to do much with that thought. Then when we started to earn a little bit of money, there was an accountant who said, 'You should use the money for something - you should buy something with it'. Whereas we’d always thought you just stick it the bank."

He said, 'No, you've got to invest it, you got to do something'. So, I said OK, and he came up with this property that was for sale in Argyle near Campbeltown. He said it would be a great investment."

"I wasn’t sure I wanted to go up," Paul confessed. "I’d just got down to London from Liverpool, I wasn't sure I want to go off to Scotland!"

"Anyway, I was persuaded, and I went up there and thought it was okay, but I never thought of it as romantic until I met Linda. She said, 'Could we go up there?' And then with Linda, and with raising the family there, I saw things I’d never seen before in the countryside and scenery. It became really special."

His Scottish home would become increasingly important to Paul, especially in the wake of The Beatles' demise, as he attributed his staying there to avoiding a mental breakdown.

Years later, Macca would even pen a tribute to the place in 1977 with 'Mull Of Kintyre', the decade's biggest-selling single in the UK which paid homage to the tranquil, verdant surroundings of the area.