The Arizona Story Behind Paul McCartney’s ‘Get Back’

Yes, Paul Sang About Tucson.

Have you watched the three-part, 8-hour documentary about the Beatles?

Get Back, in which director Peter Jackson assembles existing footage from Jan. 1969, is a mind-blowing reality TV-style view of the Beatles writing their last songs together and performing their final concert.

But there’s one particular scene that is especially fascinating to Arizonans.

‘Get Back, Jojo’

On Jan. 13, 1969, the first episode in the documentary, Paul McCartney is fiddling with his guitar and playing something the other Beatles haven’t heard yet. The song ultimately would become the final track on Let It Be, “Get Back.”

McCartney wanted to write a song protesting British anti-immigration politics, and “Get Back” was the end result. We loved hearing him perfect these lyrics:

“Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner/

But he knew it couldn’t last/

Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona/

For some California grass.”

But Why Tucson?

In the documentary, Lennon is also curious about this.

“Is Tucson in Arizona?” he asks McCartney.

“Yeah, it is. Yeah,” McCartney responds, “It’s where they make [the television show] High Chaparral .”

According to the Omaha World-Herald, McCartney’s fascination with Arizona stems from the love of his life, the late Linda McCartney. Linda attended the University of Arizona before she met him.

Furthermore, the  6-year-old girl that appears in the doc playing and singing is Linda’s daughter from a previous marriage. The young girl was born in Tucson.

In 1979, the McCartney’s bought a ranch in Tucson, which he still owns. Linda died of breast cancer in 1998 at their Tucson ranch estate. Her ashes were scattered on their property. 

The documentary is available on Disney+.