In October of 1983, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney got together to film the video for their playful hit “Say Say Say.” The director was Bob Giraldi, and they shot the old-timey saloon scenes at the 1880 Union Hotel in the little California town of Los Alamos.
While they were out there in the rolling hills, Paul and his wife Linda were staying nearby at a place called Sycamore Valley Ranch, about five miles from Los Olivos. Michael came to visit them there.
And something about that ranch got hold of him.
He looked around at the land, the trees and the quiet, and told them he’d love to buy a place like it one day. It was the kind of thing people say and forget. Michael didn’t forget. Five years later, in March of 1988, he bought that very ranch.
First, here’s the video the two of them made that October.
“Say Say Say” with Michael and Paul McCartney
The video is pure fun. Michael and Paul play a pair of traveling con men called Mac and Jack, going from town to town selling a so-called miracle potion to anyone who’ll hand over a coin. Linda McCartney pops up, and so does one of Michael’s own sisters, La Toya. It’s silly and sweet, and the song was a monster, sitting at No. 1 on the Hot 100 for six straight weeks.
But the real story is that ranch five miles down the road.
Once Michael bought it, he turned it into the most famous private home in all of pop music. He built it into a dreamworld with its own amusement rides and animals, a place where the child he never got to be could finally run free. You almost certainly know the name he gave it.
That’s the quiet magic of this little tale. A superstar tags along to visit a friend, falls for the view out the window, and a few years later that same patch of California becomes the stuff of legend. The famous name it took is waiting for you in the full story.
Think about that next time “Say Say Say” comes on. The same month those two were clowning around as medicine-show hustlers, Michael was quietly falling in love with a ranch just up the road.
Press play on the video above and enjoy two legends having the time of their lives.