Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBEis an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. With John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, he gained worldwide fame with the rock band the Beatles, one of the most popular and influential groups in the history of pop music. His songwriting partnership with Lennon is one of the most celebrated of the 20th century. After the band's break-up, he pursued a solo career and formed Wings with his first wife, Linda, and Denny Laine...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth18 June 1942
CityLiverpool, England
I guess the ultimate luxury professionally is to be able to change your direction, to work in another medium.
I didn't earn that much in record royalties. You've only got to look at my sales in 1980 to figure that one out.
By the time we made "Abbey Road", John and I were openly critical of each other's music, and I felt John wasn't much interested in performing anything he hadn't written himself.
My arrest was on every bloody TV set. The other prisoners all knew who I was and asked me to sing.
When you get the money, you still need to keep going; you don't stop. There has to be something else. I think it's the freedom to do what you want and to live your dreams.
This was one of the best things about Lennon and McCartney, the competitive element within the team. It was great. But hard to live with.
There are a lot of artists who haven't lost anything to domesticity. In my case, it probably did happen.
The strange thing is, we never owned our own publishing; it was always getting bought and sold.
I just start singing some words with a tune. I don't ever write a song thinking, Now I'll write a song about... .
It's as serious as anyone ever gets, you know. It's just words. It's just good poetry.
If anyone had told me in the '60s that 20 years later we'd still be talking about whether pot was worse than this or that, I'd have said, Oh, come off it, boys.
I'm trying to do it honestly and genuinely; if some of it's not working to your taste, what can I say?
I'm not into, Hey, what's your sign? or any of that. But I don't know how I got here, and I don't know how I write songs. I don't know why I breathe.
I would quite like to have been a 1920s writer.