Paul in Q
Alison Fiddler
Finally got around to typing in the interview Paul gave to Q for the folks
who can't get it.
Q. When you first wrote a song with John Lennon, did you realise you would
play one of the biggest parts in rock 'n' roll?
(Michael McConnell, Crawley, West Sussex)
A. Obviously not. But even with all the so-called "historical" events that
followed, you're just too inside it all, too busy doing it to realise
anything's "historical". You just get on with it. I'm not a great
ponderer. Some people would say that's a mistake but it's just the way I
am. It's quite cool not to always get the overall picture because it leaves
something to be found out.
The musicologists get paid to discover the differences between me and John.
I'm only just beginning to see it now, based probably on their analysis. So
John is often one note, I'm often more melodic. (McCartney is thinking
especially of Ian McDonald's book Revolution in the Head, where he describes
the ace partnership in contrasts: Lennon's method is "harmonic, dissonant",
McCartney's that of the "natural melodist".) It might sound amazing but we
never spotted that when we were writing. We just did our thing. But it is
kind of apparent when you bother to analyse it.
Q. If John Lennon could come back for a day, how would you spend it with
him?
(Mark Wilson, Deeside, Flintshire)
A. In bed.
Q. Were you ever envious that Brian Epstein didn't fancy you?
(Nick Gibson, London)
A. No, I didn't mind. We just used to go to these clubs at night and
wonder why there were so many men. It was OK. Brian was very cool about
his side to things. I think the nearest any of us got to it was the
John-going-to-Spain thing (it inspired the movie, The Hours And The Times)
and I'm not sure what the strength of all that was. I think it was power
play on John's part. But Brian kept his private life aside. He kept it out
of our faces (pause, possibly for effect). He kept it out of mine, anyway.
Q. What were the last records you bought?
(Chris Timms, Harrogate)
A. The Prodigy's The Fat Of The Land, Radiohead's OK Computer and Chopin's
Nocturnes.
Q. How do you feel about all the animosity between you and Oasis right now?
(Christina Vellano, Syracuse, New York, USA)
A. There is none as far as I'm concerned. What happened was I'd said, Good
group, good singer, good songwriters. But people asked me about it so much
that one time I decided to take it further and say that they don't mean
anything to me. I am not related to Oasis. I wish them good luck and
everything. But my kids mean something to me, John Lennon means something
to me, but Oasis ....
Q. Who would you pick to play with in your dream six-piece band?
(Alan Thatcher, Essex)
A. Dream? So we're into fantasy, aren't we? Ringo, John, George, that's
three. Me. Jimi Hendrix. That makes lots of guitarists, so Little Richard
on keyboards.
Q. With Wings, did you feel pressurised to live up to The Beatles?
(Andrew Williams, Neath)
A. Yes, it was a case of "follow that!". Impossible to do. Looking back
on it, it's a lot better than I thought, though some of it is just not
PLAYED as well as The Beatles. My son (James, co-worker on McCartney's last
pop album, Flaming Pie) plays a lot of Wings, so I'm re-listening, and
there's good shit that I'd forgotten about. A lot of the lyrics were off
the wall, drug stimulated. Things like "Soily - the cat in the satin
trousers says its oily". What was I on? I think the answer is stimulants.
Q. Do you still support the legislation of cannabis?
(Grahame Woods, Northwood, Middlesex)
A. I would make a distinction between legalising and decriminalising. I'm
in favour of the latter. The problem is that jails are stuffed full of kids
doing what a lot of people do. Why stuff the jails with young kids? Plus
it's one of the best places to score. I remember when I got busted in
Japan, nobody made the slightest effort to rehabilitate me (laughs). Just
stuck me in a box for nine days. Obviously you come out and you are fairly
resentful.
Q. Do you roll a wicked joint?
(Steve Kline, Bury)
A. I have nothing to say in answer to that question, m'lud. I wasn't even
at the venue.
Q. The critics have been harsh on your solo work. Did this ever
discourageyou?
(Robert Hemauer, Madison, Wisconsin, USA)
A. Yeah, sure, but you don't let it kill you. It's a difficult one,
because it's never cool for someone to tell you you're shit. Many people
through history were damned by the critics of their own time - Cezanne, Van
Gogh, Stravinsky, all great painters! Ha ha!
Q. We'd like to see your paintings but can't get to the exhibition in
Germany (McCartney unveils his work for the first time in Siegen, Germany,
next year). Any thoughts about putting your paintings on "tour", or
publishing a book of them?
(Kathy Goodman, San Diego, CA, USA)
A. A difficult one. If you're a so-called celebrity - like Bowie, Anthony
Quinn, Tony Curtis - and you exhibit any art, inevitably, people are not
going to think of you as a real painter. Gallery owners come up to me and
offer to give me exhibitions. I say, You haven't seen my pictures, and they
say, It doesn't matter. Well, it does to me. Otherwise, it's just trading
on the name. However, this guy from Germany came over, looked at all my
paintings, seems to like them. He's telling me what they're all about.
Q. You've done so many things - classical, films, music, art, drugs - is
there anything left you might have a go at?
(Tim Bowler, Swansea)
A. The thing is how reluctant I've often been to have a go. I think we
were brought up pretty repressed. Brought up to be seen and not heard, to
stay in your place, particularly a working class thing. And I think - I
hope - with The Beatles, we got rid of a lot of that. With the painting,
for instance, it was Willem de Kooning who liberated me. I used to go to
his studio, took in one of my paintings, said, Hey Bill, I hope you don't
mind but can you tell me what it is? (Affects American drawl) "Oh, looks
like a couch." Well it looked like a purple mountain to me. And he says,
"Well, whatever." Here's one of the greats, his works go for one million,
and it was great to see how little bullshit he was bringing to it all. It's
really important to explode these myths that surround the arts, music,
painting. It's Wizard of Oz time - so many myths, and it's often just a
little man behind the screen. The paraphernalia that surrounds them gets in
the way. Often you meet leaders in their field and they have none of that.
I remember asking a great painter - Peter Blake, maybe - for some advice
once, and he said "Just paint a lot". Similar to my approach to music.
Q. How do you know when a song's finished?
(Joyce Slavik, Palatine, Illinois)
A. It's full up. You've answered all of your questions. Normally, I start
following a thread: "Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice ... " The thread
might come out of nowhere, and I follow it and complete it, like a crossword
puzzle. When the crossword is full up, the song is finished.
Q. What's more embarrassing: writing Hi Hi Hi or Say Say Say?
(Tien Vu, Costa Mesa, California)
A. (Weighs up pros and cons). Say Say Say.
Q. Why did you give such extensive interviews for an authorised biography
(Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now) instead of writing an autobiography?
(Deena Hochberg, Southampton, Pennsylvania)
A. I don't think I'm a writer. I've never been moved to do it. You have
to have a pretty big fire in the belly to do something as big as that. I
fancy music more. I'm happier writing in songs rather than in prose, or
poetry. Though I wrote something that was never published about the time I
got busted in Japan - for my kids. Because I knew one day they'd say, "Hey
dad, what was it like, nine days in a Tokyo jail?". So I had a mate of
mind, who did all our printing, knock up a few copies, one for each of the
kids.
Q. I'd like to know if Sir Paul sings in the shower, and if so, what does
he sing?
(Jennifer Nash, Bursville, Minnesota)
A. It's normally the bath. I prefer a good bath. And the answer's
Firestarter - "I'm a firestarter, de-de-de-de-dera."
Q. As a kid you used to play pranks at school by throwing balloons filled
with something "worse than water". If you had one of those balloons right
now who would you like to hit with it?
(Brett Yuskiewicz, Leipzig, Germany)
A. Jonathan King. He's a prat from way back.
Q. Which football team did/does each Beatle support?(WC Chan, Maryland,
USA)
A. None of us were big footie types. We weren't very sporty, unlike other
groups who were always having knock-arounds. My dad was an Everton fan,
which I was most of my life. But then Liverpool started playing well, and
Everton didn't, so I took the unprecedented move of supporting them both.
It's not allowed, I know, but there you go.
Q. For years, you've claimed it's you in the Walrus costume in the Magical
Mystery Tour film. But watching the footage shows that for it to be you,
you and John would have had to exchange all your clothes. Are you winding
us up, or have you not watched the film in 30 years?
(Dorothy Northcutt, Tucker, Georgia)
A. The big one. Very good question. I tell you what it was. In the
stills we had taken, I was the one with the Walrus head on - in the film
it's different. So John then immortalised it in Glass Onion, "I've got news
for you all, the walrus was Paul". Obviously at the time you don't care,
it's just a Walrus head. You don't realise years later people like our
friend from Georgia will analyse it.
Q. What is the quality of each of the other Beatles that you like(d) the
best about?
(S. Breggles, Richmond)
A. All of them - musical talent. All of them - honesty. Ringo -funny, and
kind-hearted. George - straightforward and open. John - witty with a soft
centre, or maybe hard with a soft centre.
Q. Do the copulating beetles on the sleeve of Ram (1970) stand for F**k The
Beatles?
(Luc Van de Wiele, Wemmel, Belgium)
A. It happened to be a picture Linda had taken. We couldn't resist it just
because of the way it looked. She'd caught these two beetles f**king, and
then the significance hit us. We saw that pun, yeah, thought why not?
Q. Was there ever a third Lennon song for Anthology 3?
(Jake Lennington, Rush City, MN, USA)
A. There was, but George didn't like it. The Beatles being a democracy, we
didn't do it.
Q. I have a Beatles t-shirt which I bought from The Grapes (celebrated
Liverpool pub). I was told the band are pictured in their favourite seats -
adjacent to the Ladies where you would often catch a glimpse of the girls
changing for an evening at The Cavern. True?
(Alan Tomkins, Goring, West Sussex)
A. I hope so. It SOUNDS true. Had there been an opportunity to spot the
girls changing, I'm sure we would have sat there.
Q. If you hadn't been a musician, what do you think you would have been?
(Tony Carter, Manchester)
A. The only thing I could have probably qualified for was teaching. So I
might have been an English teacher.
Q. Does it do your head in - stuff like the handwritten lyrics to Getting
Better selling for $249,000 at Sothebys?
(Peggy Robinson, Trinant, Gwent)
A. It's the price of fame - literally. You scribble them on the back of an
envelope, and it gets to be famous. People want it, so it becomes a
desirable object. Like Mozart's bog paper, which is another highly
desirable object, apparently. More valuable obviously if it's been used.
Q. What is the inscription on the ID bracelet you wear?
(Rachel Hyland, West Harford, Connecticut)
A. It says Paul - for when I forget who I am.
Q. How does it feel to have a star named after you (the christening
courtesy of American astronomy fans)?
(John Sales, Barry, Glamorgan)
A. Really cool. The good thing is that as you get on, your fans get on
too. And some of them are pretty swotty. Like the people who started
Apple, they were just Beatles fans, hence the name. You don't sit around
looking at the sky, trying to find it, but it's like getting a very nice
birthday present. I'm not religious, I don't believe in any one system - I
sort fo think the universe is basically benevolent and we f**k it up - but I
am spiritual. I
saw Stephen Hawking on TV the other night, and he was saying that we are
made of the same stuff as the stars. Which is great. We are all
stardust,luv.
Q. What do you want written on your gravestone?
(Tom Mangold, Exeter)
A. Here lies Gracie Fields. Anything to keep people away.
Q. Hey, is it true you are dead, and if you are, what is it like?
(L.A. Patterson, Hamlet, North Carolina)
A. Yes. And it's very interesting. It's a very interesting afterlife.