Paul McCartney Once Claimed “Jet” Was About an Animal, but Was It Really About His Father-In-Law?

Once an artist releases a song into the world, the message behind the track is liable to change countless times with each new listen. Even the artists themselves might later realize there were more sources of inspiration for a song than they originally thought when writing it, and this is certainly true of Paul McCartney’s 1973 track, “Jet”.

The former Beatle released “Jet” on his third album with Wings, Band On The Run. It was a Top 10 hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom. In the years that followed, McCartney explained in multiple interviews that “Jet” was inspired by an animal. Sometimes it was a horse. Other times, it was a black Labrador puppy.

But in a 2017 interview on the Australian radio station Triple J, McCartney revealed another potential source of inspiration: his first father-in-law, showbiz lawyer and art collector Lee Eastman.

How Did Paul McCartney’s Father-in-Law Inspire “Jet”?

During his 2017 interview with Triple J, Paul McCartney confirmed that part of the inspiration for “Jet” started as a song about his jet-black puppy. That eventually evolved into a song about a woman, which gave the track a pop sensibility that might not have translated if the song were obviously about a dog. However, when it came time to write the verse in which he asks, “Was your father as bold as a Sergeant Major?”, McCartney was actually thinking of his father-in-law.

“It was…a little bit about the experience I’d had in marrying Linda [Eastman, McCartney’s first wife],” the musician explained. “Her dad was a little old-fashioned, and I thought I was a little bit intimidated, as a lot of young guys can be meeting the father figure. And if the dad’s really easygoing, it makes it easy. It wasn’t bad. But I was a bit intimidated. Probably my fault as much as his. Anyway, the song starts to be about the sergeant major, and it was basically my experience, roughly translated.”

“Roughly translated,” in this case, meaning “poetically modified.” McCartney continued, “I never do a song with the actual words that actually happen, because then that’s like a news story. ‘Oh, Linda. I was going to see your dad, and he was intimidating.’ A bit boring. So, I mask it and mold it into a song, something you can sing.”

From cute puppies to scary fathers-in-law, Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Jet” was yet another testament to Macca’s ability to make universally relatable songs that were also incredibly catchy pop hits.

Photo by Kaye/Daily Herald/Mirrorpix via Getty Images