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"Wings Over America" Tour Party

Date range assessed by the fact that Paul was having to fly back to England "a few days later"; the Wings’ next concert in England was October 21, 1976, making it around Mid-October when the party took place.

Michael Jackson, “Moonwalk” autobiography (1988)

When [Paul McCartney’s] Wings over America tour was completed, Paul and his family were in Los Angeles. They invited me to a party at the Harold Lloyd estate. Paul McCartney and I first met at that party. We shook hands amid a huge crowd of people, and he said, “You know, I’ve written a song for you.” I was very surprised and thanked him. And he started singing “Girlfriend” to me at this party.

So we exchanged phone numbers and promised to get together soon, but different projects and life just got in the way for both of us and we didn’t talk again for a couple of years. He ended up putting the song on his own album London Town.

Timothy White interview, “Rock Lives: Profiles and Interviews”

This was a year ago. I’ve got some pictures here of the party. It was a gigantic party at the Harold Lloyd estate. It was a very good evening. All the stars were there! [He pulls a voluminous black scrapbook off a nearby shelf and leafs through it.] Lemme see… This is at Paul’s party at Harold Lloyd’s estate, right around the time when Paul and his wife and I, were were talking about the Girlfriend song, and exchanging numbers and addresses.

That was one of the greatest parties I’ve ever been to, because when Paul gives a party he believes in just going out! It was a whole schedule: nine o’clock, you get to see the ballerina act. Ten o’clock, Chuck Norris, the karate expert, put on a show. At four o’clock in the evening, the Broadway company of The Wiz would put on a show. There were all kinds of food! You want Mexican food, they had a Mexican stand, a Mexican lady. Italian, and Italian stand with an Italian man. American food, a buffet! Oh, man!

And that’s more at Paul McCartney’s party, where they had the Wiz show… And John Belushi doing his Joe Cocker imitation at Paul’s thing, too. Did you see the robot on summer TV specials? That was the same robot that was at Paul McCartney’s party! That was the first time I had seen it. I said, “How does he work?”

People went crazy over him. And that’s my friend Tatum O’Neal . . . And that’s my nephew on my brother’s side.

I left kinda early, but the party went on and on…

"Blues & Soul" magazine (August 28, 1979)

B&S: How did the Paul McCartney song come about?

MJ: When I first met him, he said he had a song for me and I had always liked his writing. Anyway, he said it was called "Girlfriend", and he started to sing it for me. So, we exchanged addresses and numbers and we stayed in touch.

“Juke” magazine, “The Macca and Jacca Show” (March 29, 1980)

October 1976 - When Wings' tour hit Los Angeles, Paul McCartney threw a huge party at millionaire Harold Lloyd’s huge estate. It was a typical Hollywood star-studded guest list, with every poseur and hanger-on fighting tooth and nail and promising anything, anything, to get in.

The Hollywood gossip columnists were a bit puzzled that Paul specifically requested that The Jacksons be invited. At the time they were going through a low ebb in their career, but McCartney got their home number and made a personal invitation, specially asking Michael to come along.

Now Michael Jackson is a very shy cat. He rarely ventures out of the family’s huge grounds at the San Fernando Valley. He does not do dope or touch alcohol, and hardly drives. He attends church every Sunday. He is very uneasy among adults unless they are, like him, born on the stage. He prefers the company of young children and animals, in their back garden he has llamas, peacocks, a giant aviary full of exotic birds, and even a puma or two.

However, the Wing commander insisted he went along. He sat in the corner drinking orange juice and chatting mostly with his brothers. Paul and Linda made their way through the throng of well-wishers to MJ. “I’ve written a song for you, and it goes like this”, and whistled a song called “Girlfriend”. Explained Paul, “I’ve always loved your style, and this will suit it perfectly.” MJ nodded. “Yeah, I really dig that, when can we get together on it?”

McCartney said that he’d have to fly back to England a few days later. He reached in his pocket for a pen and scribbled out two rarely given-out phone numbers--one of his London home and the other to his Scottish hideaway. “Call me, and we’ll talk about it.”

But as things go, Jackson never did get back to him. Paul thought he was disinterested, and the song eventually appeared in his dismal 1978 album “London Town”. Interestingly, a lot of reviewers, obviously unaware of the circumstances, did comment that Paul’s song “Girlfriend” was “very reminiscent” of young Jackson’s vocal style.

Nelson George, "The Michael Jackson Story" (December 1, 1983)

The ex-Beatles' song, "Girlfriend", came to Michael unexpectedly. At a party that Paul and his wife Linda were hosting, Michael recalls walking in the door and having Linda tell him that she and Paul had a song for him. "They just started singing to me right there on the spot", Michael says.