Paul McCartney Busted In Japan - January '1980

Paul McCartney says that he may have unconsciously set himself up to be busted for marijuana in Japan back in 1980. While recalling his Wings days to Uncut magazine, he said that he's still unsure what led him to bring over half a pound of pot into Japan -- especially after he had to fight so hard to be allowed into the country due to prior pot convictions.

Macca recalled that, "I've asked myself, 'Why was that pot in the suitcase... and so much of it?' I mean, there was not one hint of discretion. And if you see the film of the arrest, the guy is embarrassed to find it. He almost puts it back and closes the suitcase." McCartney ended up spending nine days in a Tokyo jail before being deported. Wings' sold out series of Japanese dates were canceled, which cost McCartney over $350,000 to cover some of the expenses lost by his Japanese promoters.

Macca scrapped any future Wings dates, including a prospective U.S. tour being penciled in for the spring, and quit touring for nine years. It wouldn't be until 1990 that McCartney would return to perform in Japan.

Author Christopher Sanford, who wrote the recent biography McCartney, says that the Japan bust essentially ended Wings' live career: "He did some thinking in that jail cell. And I know Linda had a tepid reaction, at best, to going out on the road. And I suspect that she probably sat down with him when they got home after that ordeal, and said 'What the hell are we doing here? We don't need the money, the kids don't need to do this, and let's go back to the farm.'"

Category:

Music

Tags:

• paul
• mccartney
• wings
• beatles
• busted
• japan
• 1980

[hermanoarnoldo]

Man I wanna smoke a big fat blunt with Paul McCartney!

[theNEWESTcabloober]

lol Paul was hilarious in a Playboy interview about this.

"But if I think hard, I can remember that the first thing I expected was rape. That was my big fear. Right? Wouldn't that be yours? So I slept with me back to the wall. I didn't know what was going to happen, you know?" (Japanese accent) "'Hello, this is you friendly jailer. I'd like a favor, please.' 'No! Not even for a bowl of rice!'"

Haha, Paul rules

[mariaavicious69]

Okay, I Don't Know But The Girl Looks Like Mary McCartney, Is It Her?

[afrobeatle10]

I can picture John laughing his head off while watching this on tv

[Ribeyeangus]

It's just weed man.

[mattjnor98]

@byemynameishi Oh, Yoko Ono. Now I know what you're talking about.

[bluemoon4111]

So did Linda bail him? So that's why he only spent abuot 10 days in jail or was it because he was a foreigner?

[KristinaKaulitz9489]

He said in an interview that the stuff were too good to be thrown away so he took it with him to Japan

[ramorazambero]

chris farley : remember when you went to japan, and when uh, at the airport they arrested you for pot

mccartney : well, to be honset chris, i kinda like to forget about that

chris farley : idiot! what a stupid question

[mylifeisemo101]

lmfao haha when they pulled out the huge bag of grass i was like...OMG WTF PAUL! XD

[OlaNaTungee6]

handcuffs? HANDCUFFS?! what did they expect him to do, killing everybody??!!

[SarahAngelx]

god damn people its just weed they're acting like he murdered someone seriously