Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me) In '73, Paul and Linda McCartney were on vacation in Jamaica in Montego Bay, and there were also Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman filming "Papillon," so the McCartneys organized a dinner with Dustin and his wife Anne.
During the evening, Hoffman and McCartney chatted about their respective careers: the actor inquired about the musician's songwriting technique, and Paul admitted that he could write his songs with extreme ease, using any situation or fact he became aware of as inspiration.
DH then handed PMcC a copy of "Time Magazine" reporting on the death of Pablo Picasso and challenged him to compose a piece on the spot about it.
The title of the article was "Pablo Picasso's Last Days and Final Journey," and the text talked about PP's so-called spiritual will.
The article stated that before taking his last breaths, PP, addressing his friends, said: "Toast to me and my health, for you know that I can no longer drink."
PMcC boldly accepted DH's challenge, and within about half an hour, he composed "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" on the guitar in front of the astonished dinner guests, leaving DH stunned and excited.
After all, this wasn't a new experiment for Macca: other Beatles songs, such as John Lennon's "A Day In the Life" or PMcC's "She's Leaving Home," were already inspired by news stories.
To record "Band On the Run" and escape the London routine, Paul and Linda moved to Lagos in Nigeria accompanied only by loyal guitarist Denny Laine and engineer Geoff Emerick, welcomed there by Ginger Baker (former drummer of "Cream"), who was then the owner of the local "ARC Studios."
In the recording studio, PMcC recorded only "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)," while the rest of the album was recorded at the better-equipped "EMI Studios" in Lagos.
Ginger Baker participated in the performance of "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" using some jars full of gravel as maracas, Linda handled the backing vocals, Denny played guitar while Paul took care of all the other instruments.
The song initially is a simple acoustic guitar ballad, not very different from the version that Dustin Hoffman heard live and in preview.
But it doesn't end there; the piece would also benefit from some overdubs recorded in London at "AIR Studios," with the orchestral portion by Tony Visconti being interspersed with bits from two other tracks from the albums "Jet" and "Mrs. Vandebilt." You could also hear some phrases in French taken from a travel guide.
Paul McCartney transforms a pub song into a collage inspired by the cubist "papiers collés," thus paying homage to Picasso's art.
