Pauley at Seventy-Seven

Paul McCartney turned sixty-four thirteen years ago today.

McCartney is the only ex-Fab that I've never written a piece about in the thirteen years I've been writing this blog. So it seemed like a long-overdue thing to tackle this, the seventy-seventh anniversary of the day that he was born. The thing that I always loved about The Beatles was the fact that they were four frustrated comedians. Truth be told, Paul McCartney never tickled my funny bone half as much as the other three did. But let's give he man his due: he was indeed talented, and, as the years transpired, he did become a heck of a lot funnier. I'm happy to be able to report to you that the madcap lunacy of John Lennon eventually did wear off on the guy.

The relationship between Paul McCartney and I has been contentious for many decades. While I always loved the music (with the exception of the Speed of Sound LP, which I always thought to be the first post-Beatles LP to be unlistenable) It was always my opinion that 1971's Ram was one of the best solo-Beatles LP ever produced. I still feel that way. It still sends me into the clouds.

My feelings about Paul McCartney were somewhat disrupted a few years ago during an incident that involved my brother, Pete.  He has a copy of the Beatles Anthology book that he has spent years getting people from their history to sign - everyone from Frieda Kelly to Pete Best to Bill Harry to Astrid Kirshner to Giles Martin. If they might have been even a mere footnote in the history of the Fabulous Fabs, Pete  had their autograph in that damned book. On the night that he asked Paul to sign it, he was met this angry and hostile retort, delivered at full volume:

"DON'T YOU REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED TO JOHN LENNON???"

Pete's response was pure Pete:

"I'm sorry, Paul, I wasn't trying to kill you, I just wanted an autograph for my book."

Whatever. We cannot deny that the man's genius.

Let's drink a toast to - and raise a glass to - one of the great geniuses of the twentieth century. Let's not deny the debt we owe this incredible band. I love The Beatles. That's never going to change - not in this lifetime, nor the next.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY 



SUGGESTED READING:

The Beatles
by Bob Spitz

The best book on that band ever written.