PAUL McCARTNEY

“But if this ever-changing world in which we live in,

Makes you give in and cry,

Say, live and let die”

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“C”

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Main Decade:

70's

Main Ages:

The Great Transition (1970-1980+)

​Key Members:

Paul McCartney: Wings, Solo, The Fireman

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Key Songs:

Maybe I’m Amazed, Live And Let Die, Band In The Run, Hope Of Deliverance, Too Many People, Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey, Monkberry Moon Delight, Off The Ground, Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five, Mull of Kintyre, Pipes Of Peace, Junk, Jet, Some People Never Know, Silly Love Songs, Tug o War, C’mon People, Rock Show, Biker Like An Icon, That Would Be Something, Mrs Vanderbilt, No More Lonely Nights, The Back Seat Of My Car, Venus And Mars, Coming Up, My Valentine

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I'm sure Paul McCartney has spent the 1980s trying to pay off his guilt for having broken up the Beatles and for the disputes they had during the 1970s, especially with John. I haven't read any individual biographies of Paul, but I have read a lot of material about the Beatles, and I must say I have a special bond with him: The Four Strings. While I admire Lennon on an intellectual and personal level, I learned a tremendous amount from Paul as a bassist, and you could say I play acceptably well because I learned as he became more complex in his lines and structures, particularly from 1965 onwards, with 1969 perhaps being his most brilliant year as a bassist. He was never overly technical, but he's living proof that you don't need to be to be among the best bassists in history; he was extremely creative, and that's enough. It must also be said that he had a different voice than John's, more refined, more educated, with a greater range and more expressive. I don't want to say better, but...

And it's true, he's always been accused of being more commercial. He's possibly the best-selling solo artist in history. He has 24 studio albums, not counting symphonic albums, soundtracks, live albums, and the electronic albums he released under the pseudonym The Fireman. For many, it's too much material, and that's why he's undervalued. But if there wasn't some quality music among so much, he wouldn't have 21 Grammys and 32 #1 singles, would he?

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James Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool on June 18, 1942. His mother, Mary, was a nurse, and his father, James McCartney, a motor factory worker and leader of a swing band. He had a relatively more normal childhood than the other Beatles. His family was middle-class, so they had no shortages despite the war. In 1944, his brother Michael was born. His father was the musically gifted one. They had an upright piano at home, and from a young age, he taught them to play traditional melodies. Mary left nursing to become a midwife. Paul would remember her leaving early on her bicycle to deliver babies. From a young age, he was diligent in school, a perfectionist, and somewhat flirtatious. Paul entered Liverpool Institute in 1954 for his secondary education. It was a prestigious school, and on the school bus, he met a boy named George Harrison, a year younger than him, with whom he became friends. On October 31, his mother died of a stroke. Paul was just 14 years old, and his father had just given him a trumpet. However, in 1955, Paul found refuge in the explosion of that new rhythm called rock & roll, and his father gave him his first guitar. It took him a while to master, mainly because he was left-handed, until he realized he had to reverse the order of the strings. If Elvis was John's idol, Little Richard was Paul's, and the first song he dared to play in public was "Long Tall Sally," and he began his first compositions. His friend George had also discovered a fascination with rock & roll and the guitar, and they eventually practiced and exchanged knowledge.

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On July 6, 1957, he attended an afternoon gathering outside St. Peter's Church in Woolton. There was a band called The Quarrymen there who were said to be good, and he went to hear them. The band's leader was named John Lennon, and seeing that he was having trouble with the tuning, he helped him get his guitar in tune. At the end of the concert, Lennon sought him out; they chatted for a while and became friends. Shortly after, Paul joined The Quarrymen as rhythm guitarist. Shortly after, John's mother died, run over by a drunken policeman. Paul had lost his mother and managed to empathize and support John during this critical time, so their bond grew closer. Shortly after, George's band broke up, and Paul insisted to John that he was too good not to have, although John had his doubts because Harrison was still very young. However, he let him audition with "Raunchee," and he eventually earned a spot in the band, changing the lineup to three guitars and leaving lead guitar duties to Harrison. Soon after, Stuart Sutcliffe, a friend of John's from art school, joined the band. He had no idea how to play, but had sold some paintings and had enough money to buy a bass guitar. Somehow, John convinced him to become the bassist. Pete Best joined on drums to complete the quintet lineup.

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In 1960, they changed their name to The Beatles, and with Alan White's management, they got a contract to perform in Hamburg nightclubs, so they packed up and left. Sutcliffe didn't return to England. He fell in love with Astrid Kircherr and stayed in Germany. After all, he wasn't very good on the bass. George was too good to be traded for lead guitar, and John didn't want to give up the guitar for anything in the world, so Paul had no choice but to switch to bass, circumstantially. Being a good guitarist and not having to play chords helped him master the basics very quickly. The rest, as they say, is history.

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Paul would create a tremendous songwriting partnership with Lennon, and they would complement each other perfectly, helping each other finish songs and vocally. Paul had a much more melodic style that John balanced very well.

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In 1964, he met Jane Asher, a film and TV actress, when he served as a judge at the Jux Box Jury festival. They soon began a torrid courtship. By 1965, Paul was the only one who hadn't bought an ostentatious house, and he moved in with Jane's parents, with whom he had a good relationship. It was there that he woke up humming a melody he'd dreamed of, and played the melodic base on the Ashers' piano so he wouldn't forget it. The song would become "Yesterday," which would end up being the most covered song in history, and the first song recorded by a Beatle without help from any of the other three. Until then, John was the born leader, and no one had challenged him on that position, but his first problems with John arose during the Rubber Soul sessions, where they both had clashing ideas and McCartney was beginning to show himself as a perfectionist.

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During this period, an important change occurred. Due to the personal feud Macca had with Brian Wilson, he began experimenting with more complex bass lines, moving away from the dotted pattern or simple rock & roll scales most bassists performed. This change is already noticeable on Rubber Soul and is accentuated on the experimental Revolver. On this album, he still didn't dare take acid like the rest of his bandmates did regularly, for fear of not being able to control it and of what people would say if it got out. That's another point: he was very wary of public opinion. That same year, 1966, Paul had an accident in which he broke two teeth (as can be seen in the video for Rain) and sustained some bruises. But this incident and his stylistic change would lead to rumors of his death and his replacement with a guy not only identical, but with the same voice and left-handed. Around this time, his relationship with Jane Asher, about whom he speaks in the song "For No One," would begin to fray. Basically, they couldn't coincide due to their schedules, and they ended up breaking up. During the break they took between Revolver and Sgt. Peppers, Paul recorded the instrumental soundtrack for The Family Way, the first solo work by a Beatle, which won several awards. Paul would end up breaking the LSD taboo and would be the first to openly admit that he used it, also saying that he didn't see the problem. This was the first time the Beatles were involved in a scandal other than John's big mouth. He would later have problems with cocaine for a while and would get into legal trouble when marijuana was found on him at an airport (the only night he didn't sleep with Linda since their wedding was on that occasion because he was in jail in Tokyo).

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In May 1967, just before the release of Sgt. Peppers, he met American photographer Linda Eastman at a Georgie Fame concert. He photographed artists such as Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Eric Clapton, Simon and Garfunkel, The Who, The Doors, and Neil Young. He was on a mission to photograph the Beatles and thought he could hook up with the only single man to accomplish his mission. Not only did he succeed, but they would begin a serious relationship. On August 27 of that year, the group's manager, Brian Epstein, died from a combination of barbiturates and antidepressants. The band was in Wales for a three-day workshop with Maharishi Maheshi Yogi, whom they had gone to see at Harrison's request to learn transcendental meditation. Epstein's death hit home and left a void in the group's management; Paul saw the opportunity to take over as its leader. In 1968, they formed Apple Corp., which would manage their catalog and new albums, in addition to promoting other artists. The problem is that the company began to squander money and soon went into the red, with projects as bad as a hippie clothing boutique.

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In 1969, Linda became pregnant, and they married in March in a simple ceremony, which was interrupted by thousands of fans crying hysterically over the last single Beatle. Their first daughter, Mary, was born in August. It's important to note here that Linda would be a huge influence on Paul, with the added detail that she couldn't stand Yoko Ono, who also married Lennon that year. This would cause even more conflict between the two, in addition to the creative one, as Lennon was becoming more politicized than Paul liked, and McCartney was going through a particularly mellow period for obvious reasons. The problem was exacerbated by control of the group, as it was clear they needed not only a manager, but someone to put the finances in order. While Paul wanted to appoint his father-in-law, John Eastman, John, George, and Ringo wanted Allan Klein. All this would precipitate the fracture that was already noticeable at the end of 1969.
 

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1970 was spent working on solo projects. John had already released a few singles, so Paul sped ahead to record his debut, McCartney, at his farm in Campbeltown, Scotland. It would be a rough job, on which he recorded all the instruments, but it contained some very good songs that would become classics. In fact, it was a sort of divorce settlement for the quartet, as they refused to change the release date (April 17), which would overlap with Ringo's Sentimental Journey (March 27) and Let It Be (May 8). John and George even sent Ringo to try to convince him to postpone the release for the good of the group. Paul kicked him out of his house, telling him there was no group. On April 10, due to the conflict over the records, Paul issued a statement announcing his departure from the Beatles. On the last day of the year, he filed a lawsuit to legally dissolve the band. This dispute would cause a tremendous legal mess over royalties and ownership of the Beatles' catalog, particularly the songs in the Lennon/McCartney names. In the midst of the mess, ownership would change hands several times, incredibly ending up in the hands of Michael Jackson, until Paul was able to recover it in the 1990s.

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Paul's solo adventure thus began in a terrible emotional state. In the public's eyes, he had been the villain, and would be blamed, along with Yoko, for the dissolution of the Fab Four. In addition to his depression, he suffered tremendous insecurity. He had always worked with John, and Lennon apparently managed quite well without him, but McCartney wasn't so sure he could do it. His debut had sold very well, reaching number one in the US, but critics panned it (except for "Maybe I'm Amazed") and attributed the sales to the morbidity of the band's fracturing. Linda would be a fundamental pillar, encouraging him to continue. Paul encouraged her to teach him how to play keyboards so he'd have similar support to John's and also be able to co-credit songs together, which had its tax advantages. In 1970, they traveled to New York to record Ram, which featured drummer Denny Seiwell, who would later become a member of Wings. On this album, he harshly attacked John on the song "Too Many People" (which, I must insist, is still a great song), and the single "Uncle Albert/Admiral Helsey" would be his first #1 hit in the US.

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That same year, Danny Laine, former Moody Blues guitarist, joined them to begin conceiving Wings. Paul was reluctant to put together a band again, because it would inevitably draw comparisons, but he eventually recruited guitarist Henry McCullogh to complete the combo. In September 1971, their daughter Stella was born, who would become a prominent fashion designer. In December, they released Wings' first album, Wild Life, a rustic record that attempted to adopt a live sound. It featured the track "Dear Friend," in which he attempted to make peace with John, who had responded harshly to him on Imagine. Critics didn't take it very well, and he went on to criticize the new band, just as Paul had hoped. However, it sold well. Shortly after, in February 1972, Wings released the single "Give Ireland Back to the Irish," about Bloody Sunday. Lennon would also release a song with this theme.

 

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It's funny. Paul was always much more saccharine and sentimental in his songwriting, but he did release a handful of songs with strong political and social implications. However, while John was celebrated for every witty comment, whether appropriate or not, Paul was either ignored or criticized when he attempted to make political, social, or environmentalist comments, or anything that even attempted to sound like an anthem.

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Their first tour in 1972 was in universities or small venues in the UK because Paul was terrified of the reaction from fans and the press. After the tour, they felt more confident enough to try larger venues and began their first European tour, which was well received by the public.

 

In 1973, Wings reunited to record their second album, Red Rose Speedway, with which they achieved their first No. 1 hit in the US with "My Love," a cheesy McCartney-branded song. The album sold well, but what gave Paul the most confidence was the result of the single "Live and Let Die," commissioned for the 007 film of the same name, and which he worked with George Martin on for the first time since his split from the Beatles. The song would be a spectacular blend of ballad with reggae and explosions of quasi-symphonic metal, a powerful track that would become another of his classics. With it, he not only reached another #1 hit in the US, but also earned an Oscar nomination and won a Grammy. This would be the turning point for Paul, who stopped feeling like an outcast and finally began to receive good reviews from the press, in addition to winning over fans. He found the time, in addition to helping Ringo with his eponymous album.

 

Shortly after, McCullough and Seiwell left the band, and McCartney and Laine traveled to Lagos as a trio to record Band n The Run. The album would top the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, be the first of seven consecutive platinum albums, and McCartney would take home another pair of Grammys. It was Paul's debut as one of the best-selling artists of the decade. The album is huge, very rocking, and in addition to the stupendous multi-part title track, it featured songs like "Jet" and "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five." Wings' tours were colossal and filled stadiums. After the massive tour, they would take a break and take the opportunity to recruit Jimmy McCulloch on guitar and Joe English on drums.

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In 1975, they would return to the studio, now with the new lineup, to record Venus And Mars, featuring songs like "Rock Show" and "Letting Go," reaching #1 for the second time in the US and UK. With the album, they would embark on a colossal 14-month world tour, the first in which Paul dared to perform his compositions from the Beatles era. This tour would produce the triple live album Wings Over America. In 1976, during a stop in New York, legend has it that he showed up at the Dakota with his guitar slung over his back to greet John and try to make peace, but the latter slammed the door in his face.

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In 1976, they released Wings at the Speed ​​of Sound, which was equally successful worldwide, although the critical acclaim was less enthusiastic. In September 1977, Paul and Linda had their first son, James. Two months later, the single "Mull of Kentyre" became an unprecedented phenomenon in the British Isles, becoming the best-selling single in history, surpassing the previous record held by "She Loves You."

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'78's London Town confirmed Paul's creative decline, although it was the best-selling album since Band on the Run, presumably due to the hype generated by "Mull of Kentyre." The reviews were not good, and even Paul was disappointed, although "With a Little Luck" reached number one in the US.

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In 1979, Paul released Back to the Egg, but after the departure of the new members, he was forced to ask old friends for help on some of the tracks. Thus, he formed a supergroup consisting of Pete Townshend, David Gilmour, Gary Brooker, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham, under the name Wings. Yes, you read that right: members of Procol Harum, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Who, and Led Zeppelin. If you haven't heard of it, it's because the album is pretty awful, and the names generate too much expectation about the result. Still, it has its moments and is worth a listen. He would put together a band to accompany him on what would be Wings' final tour, effectively burying the project once and for all.

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In 1980, he would release his third solo album, McCartney II, on which he again recorded all the instruments himself. "Coming Up" would be a hit single, but the album would no longer reach the top of the charts in the US.

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On December 8, the world shook with the murder of John Lennon. The next day, the press criticized him for his reaction to the cameras and for being the only one who didn't attend the funeral, but he later admitted that he spent the entire day crying and trembling from anger and helplessness.

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In his own words:

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“It was early in the morning, I was in the countryside, and I got a phone call, and it was like... I think it was like that for everyone. The saddest thing was knowing I wouldn't see him again, that we wouldn't spend time together anymore. It was just horrible. I couldn't accept it, and I couldn't accept it, and for days I couldn't imagine he was gone... It was a huge shock. After I recovered from the shock, I had to break the sad news to Linda and the boys, which was also very, very difficult... It was difficult for everyone. Especially because there was no real reason. A phrase kept repeating in my head: The most asshole of all assholes. I told myself: This guy is just a son of a bitch, this guy isn't even politically motivated, it's just a fluke. I didn't go to the funeral, not because I didn't care, but because I couldn't. I was paralyzed, I was devastated.”

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And you know what? I believe him.

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While the story of the slammed door is well-known, little is known about the fact that they had a chance to make peace:

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"All those fights and arguments eventually bored us, and we started talking again, coinciding with the time our wives gave birth. When we became parents, we realized the arguments had been over business and there were more important things to be said. We started talking about "normal things," like parenting issues or bread recipes. The story isn't about the breakup, which is true, but it's not the main part; the most important thing is the affection we had for each other."

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I'm convinced this would be another turning point for Paul. Until then, he had only played for himself, and I get the impression that little by little he would play to rescue the Beatle legacy, pay tribute to John, get closer to his former bandmates, and make peace with Yoko, something the public recognized over time.

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In 1981, Paul attended Ringo's wedding to Barbara Bach, marking the first time the three ex-Beatles had reunited in public since their split. He would later pursue his solo career, perhaps most notably the collaborations he made in the early 1980s with Stevie Wonder on "Ebony and Ivory" and with Michael Jackson on "The Girl is Mine" from Thriller and "Say Say Say" from Pipes of Peace. I won't bore you with the pile of albums from the 1980s, where he fell, like every band formed before '78, into a terrible rut trying to follow the synthpop trend. I simply want to highlight Back in the USSR, a studio album of R&R covers, following John's example with his rock & roll, as a way of thanking his Russian fans, who couldn't legally buy his records. This album would be a way to legally reach that market. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the album was made available to the rest of the world in 1991.

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From then on, Paul, who had stagnated during the decade, slowly began to recover. In 1990, he released his first live album, which chronicled the Paul McCartney World Tour, his first world tour in 15 years. In 1991, he released an unplugged album featuring songs from his time with the Beatles, with Wings, and as a solo artist, returning to the charts and receiving significant airplay on MTV. Later that year, he released Liverpool Oratorio, his first classical album.

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But his true comeback came with 1993's Off the Ground, where he returned to the high level we knew from the '70s, but with an updated, fresher sound and more influences. "Hope of Deliverance" was a kind of minor anthem, with Latin sounds and a spectacular melody. Around this time, Paul and Linda's vegetarianism (although they had been following it since 1975) and their commitment to environmental and animal welfare causes became known. The title track, "Biker Like an Icon," and "C'mon People" would also be played extensively on the radio that year. This album was the one through which I first encountered Paul as a solo artist, so it holds special meaning for me. With this album, Paul would launch his Paul is Live world tour, which stopped in Mexico. I was about 13 years old at the time and was devastated when my parents refused to let me travel to Mexico City to see him. Instead, I got hold of the live album that chronicles the tour, which shows that Paul had since become one of the greatest live acts in the world.

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In 1994, he took a break to fully dedicate himself to a new project: The Beatles Anthology. He would meet with Ringo, George Harrison, and George Martin to work exhaustively on restoring old, unreleased recordings and outtakes. But the most significant work was the work they did on "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love," songs Lennon had left behind as demos in very poor condition. Yoko gave them the tapes, and George, Paul, and Ringo worked on them to restore John's voice, add bridges, choruses, and instrumentation, updating the songs that would become the Anthologies' flagship singles. These three double albums would create a new mini-Beatlemania, coinciding with the CD re-release of the Beatles' entire studio catalog. I felt fortunate to be on that wave, and Paul would finally emerge vindicated from his role in history, becoming one of the most beloved and respected artists in the world.

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In 1995, Paul would receive another tremendous blow. Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer. Despite treatment, the cancer spread to her liver. Paul practically retired to care for her. Linda finally lost the fight on April 17, 1998, dying in Paul's arms. She was cremated in Tucson, where she was born, and her ashes were scattered on the McCartney farm in Sussex, England. Paul fell into a severe depression after losing his lifelong partner. In 2000, he opened the Linda McCartney Center at Liverpool Hospital to treat cancer patients.

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In September 2001, Paul was at JFK Airport in New York when he watched, horrified, as smoke billowed from one of the Twin Towers. Shortly afterward, they watched as a plane crashed into the second tower, causing both to collapse. The horror they experienced led him to take the lead in organizing a concert for New York City, and he released the song "Freedom" on the album Driving Rain, in response to the attacks.
 

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On November 29, 2011, George Harrison died of cancer. His wife, Olivia, was able to arrange a private meeting with Ringo and Paul days before, when doctors confirmed his condition was terminal. Paul was able to say goodbye to his friend and smooth over any rough edges. George was in very poor condition, but the three reportedly spent hours laughing and joking like old times. As he left, clutching a gift of a ukulele, Paul burst into tears knowing he would never see him again.

 

A year later, Paul would participate in the Concert for George, organized by Dhani Harrison and Eric Clapton as a tribute. That year, he married Heather Mills, whom history has portrayed as the equivalent of Yoko, one of the most hated figures in Beatles history, proving to be an opportunist. Since then, Paul has been very active. He participated in a Superbowl halftime show, performed at Live 8 in Hyde Park in 2005, continued releasing albums, began his electronic experimentation under the pseudonym The Fireman, played during the 50th anniversary of Elizabeth II's reign, released a new single with Nirvana (believe it or not), and launched a television special commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. After his divorce from Heather Mills in 2008, he married Nancy Shevell in 2011, with whom he seems to have found some stability and happiness.

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Paul has become an icon in his own right. He's one of the best-selling musicians ever, and I couldn't find the data, but I have a theory that he's the person who has brought the most people to concerts to see him, not even counting his time with the Beatles. His bass, a Hoffner Violin model, is a symbol as powerful as John's round glasses. Every bassist wishes they had one, even if it's just for private play, although there are a few with the courage to use it in concert. Is it mellow? Yes. Do their 80s albums suck? Yes, like almost everyone's. The important thing is that it has an immense number of great songs that have also become part of the soundtrack of our lives. As I said, at some point in the 80s I would begin to try to free myself from that guilt with John and the Beatles by focusing more on that legacy, without neglecting his best solo songs, knowing that people were going to see Paul McCartney, and that he could afford to play only his own material, but aware that only a few had the opportunity to see the quartet live during the 60s. So his shows are a time machine, very emotionally charged, and where even at his age he displays tremendous energy and proves himself to be a very powerful frontman, doing what he wants with the crowd, letting himself be loved, but also giving those people one of the best shows in the world. I had the honor of finally seeing him in 2012 with the Up and Coming Tour, and I still think it's one of the best I've been to. Paul knows perfectly well that he's no longer just representing himself, but also John and George, and in a way, Ringo.
 

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Paul is a living legend, and it's incredible how much people love him. I'm not ready. He's not getting any younger, and he's one of the two musical figures I'll have to lock myself away and grieve for for a week when the time comes, but I'd rather not think about it. He's been paying off a debt for what happened in 1970 for 30 years… If you ask me, he's more than paid it off, but I have no qualms about him continuing to do what he's doing.

 

 

Thanks, Paul!

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By Corvan

Jun/16/2017

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