The McCartneys & Frogs
Rupert and the Frog Song:
"I’ve always loved animation. It started with the Disney cartoons and went on from there. As a kid I would always get the Rupert Annual at Christmas. I remember getting the idea for a film project when looking through one of them. There was a standout image in colour and when I saw it I could imagine a concert of frogs with them all doing different parts, a choir and an orchestra, and I could almost hear the music."
Quote from Paul's website
Paul's childhood response to anxiety about National Service:
However, when I was a kid, living on the outskirts of Liverpool, I didn't know this was going to happen so I had to be prepared. In my mind I would imagine myself with a bayonet, because that was the symbol of it all, and imagine myself running someone through, and I thought, Jesus Christ! That is not going to be easy. Fuck me! What's the look on his face going to be like if I do it? Having quite a vivid imagination, I'd follow all that shit through. So when I went out into the woods, I thought I'd better get some practice in. So I thought, Frogs. That'll do, because all my mates killed frogs anyway. They used to blow them up sticking a straw up their ass. That was the way to kill a frog. I didn't fancy that, I thought that was a little bit pervy. I thought a straightforward killing with a bash, hold the legs and just smash 'em on the head. You feel that you've got to learn to kill, like a farmer's boy who grows up and learns to kill that goose and wring that chicken's neck. But I didn't have the farm, so there was no other way to learn. I felt very conscious that I was going to shit out completely when this National Service arrived. I was going to be one of the guys who said, 'Sorry, sir, I'm a pacifist, I can't kill,' and I'd have to go to jail. I was in a dilemma in my mind. So I used to kill these frogs.
Interview from Many Years From Now, by Barry Miles (1997)
Gently Holding Frog:
My Mum was picking up... We were walking and she picked up a frog and moved it so it wouldn't get squashed. But the picture itself is all about the frog. He'd being held very firm but kind, and the expression on his face is just... it's bit like life, just like, don't fight it, just go with it.
Mary McCartney, 'In the Studio' Sotheby's Interview
Another anecdote about Linda:
PAUL MCCARTNEY: ...Linda cared so much for the natural world around us. I remember once, we were around some formal ladies, in a formal garden, and there was a frog. They all saw the frog. She picked it up. The ladies scream, ‘Oh no, you're touching a frog!' And of course, the frog pees. Probably because of all the screaming. It's an immediate reaction. And she would always say, 'His mommy loves him’.
Wings: The Story Of A Band On The Run (2025)