Video: 'Paul McCartney Band on the Run BBC Documentary classic albums' (McCartneys mugged at 19:55)

(Monday, September 17, 1973, evening West Africa Time; during recording sessions for Band on the Run) — While in Lagos, Nigeria, to record his next studio album with his British-American group, Wings, former Beatle Paul McCartney and his wife, Linda, were mugged tonight while out for a stroll on a dirt road when a car pulled up beside them and asked if they needed a lift.

“People kept telling us it was too dangerous to walk around,” Paul later said. “But we’d been to Jamaica, we’d been to the Caribbean and these people were squares.

“Suddenly, a car comes along this dark road and slows down in front of us. A guy winds down the window and starts shouting. I go into friendly Liverpudlian mode. You know, ‘Hey mate, we don’t need a lift, ta very much.’”

After repeatedly telling the group of men no, six men then got out of the car and one of them held a knife.

“They’re taking our money, our tape recorders, everything,” he added. “Suddenly, Linda says, ‘Don’t kill him, he’s a musician!’ Well, maybe it did help because apparently muggers in Nigeria often kill their victims to make sure they don’t go to the police.”

One of the valuables the muggers took was the “original demos” for Band on the Run.

Despite losing his demo tapes, McCartney was able to remember all the songs including the title track, “Band On The Run,” as he had just recorded many of the basic tracks in the Lagos EMI studio.

On the following day, an exhausted and stressed McCartney would faint at the recording studio he was using and rushed to a local hospital, spend two days resting at his villa, return to the studio on Sept. 21 to compile the masters of the seven recordings he had made in Lagos since Sept. 3, depart Nigeria on Sept. 22 and arrive safely back in London on Sept. 23, 1973.

After the band’s return to England, final overdubs and further recording were carried out in London, mostly at AIR Studios.