The Lyric in ‘Hi, Hi, Hi’ That Paul McCartney Admits Is ‘Cheeky’
There’s a lyric in “Hi, Hi, Hi” that Paul McCartney admits is “cheeky.” The BBC banned the song for a different reason than the bold line. The former Beatle didn’t care either way.
The BBC banned ‘Hi, Hi, Hi,’ because they thought Paul McCartney was talking about sex
In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul wrote that the absurdist and dramatist Alfred Jarry “figures” in a couple of his songs. Paul called Jarry a playful character. The Beatle first came across the dramatist in a radio production of his play Ubu Cocu, the sequel to the well-known Ubu Roi, around the time The Beatles were making Sgt. Pepper.
One of the main characters in Ubu Cocu is called Achras. He is a breeder of “polyhedra.” That’s why Paul used the term “polygon” in “Hi, Hi, Hi.” The BBC didn’t understand this and banned the song for being sexually suggestive.
“I believe they thought I was singing ‘body gun’ rather than ‘polygon.’ I’m not sure if that’s more, or less, suggestive,” Paul wrote.
The song’s lyrics go: “Well well, take off your face/ Recover from the trip you’ve been on/ I want you to lie on the bed/ Get you ready for my polygon/ I’m gonna do it to you, gonna do it/ Sweet banana, you’ve never been done/ Yes, I go like a rabbit, gonna grab it/ Gonna do it ’til the night is done.”
The BBC thought “Hi, Hi, Hi” was sexual, but certain lyrics had a deeper meaning. Either way, Paul didn’t exactly mind when people interpreted his songs a certain way.
There’s a lyric in ‘Hi, Hi, Hi’ that Paul McCartney admits is ‘cheeky’
“Hi, Hi, Hi” includes the lyrics “going to get hi, hi, hi,” and Paul confessed that it “might be a little cheeky.”
“The BBC certainly thought so,” Paul wrote. “As it happens, this was a moment when everyone was getting high in the h-i-g-h sense. Everyone was smoking pot. We even got arrested for growing it on our farm in Scotland. Of course, it might also refer to a legalized drug like alcohol.”
Paul said the bottom line on “Hi, Hi, Hi” is that “sex and drugs are two of the staples of rock and roll. More than that, this is a genre that openly recognizes sex and drugs as being fun. One of the features of rock and roll that keeps it vital is that it entertains possibilities of transgression – or what is usually thought of as transgression.”
The Wings tune is a basic blues song
“Hi, Hi, Hi” might sound sexual and cheeky, but Paul wrote it as a traditional blues song. Lines like “I met you at the station” come directly from the genre.
It reminds Paul of Robert Johnson’s “Love in Vain,” which has lyrics like, “Yeah, when the train left the station/ It had two lights on behind/ Whoa, the blue light was my baby/ And the red light was my mind.”
So, the basic essence of rock ‘n’ roll inspired Paul on “Hi, Hi, Hi.” Blues helped form rock, and then rock became all about sex and drugs.
