Paul McCartney – The Beatles – A Biography
James Paul McCartney was born on June 18, 1942 in Liverpool. He was the first child of Mary and James McCartney. His brother, Peter Michael McCartney, was born eighteen months later. Paul’s mother was a midwife, who died of breast cancer in 1955 when Paul was just 14 years old, this troubled him deeply. Paul’s father was a cotton salesman by day for the A. Hannay Co. and a jazz musician in Jim Mac’s Jazz Band by night. Paul did very well in school. He passed his 11-Plus exam in 1957 and entered Liverpool Institute, a very popular secondary school. There he met a younger student named George Harrison, whom Paul later brought into John’s group, The Quarrymen. As a child, Paul did not show any particular interest in music. Both he and his brother were sent to piano lessons, but these did not last long. Then some guy gave him a trumpet and he started to teach himself. His musical talent probably came from his father. Of all the Beatles, Paul’s family was the only one with a musical background or interest. At the Liverpool Institute, Paul became popular. His treatment of the girls, however, had little effect on his grades. He was an excellent student, but soon discovered that school was interfering with his social life. Like John and the others, Paul was influenced by early rock songs. Still, it was Elvis who made the biggest impression on him. Paul first puts John through a mutual friend, Ivan Vaughan. Vaughan invited Paul to see The Quarrymen play in Wooton Parish. c The Quarrymen, and Paul accepted. Paul’s first public performance with The Quarrymen was at a ball at the Conservative Club on Broadway. Paul was supposed to play a solo that night, but for some reason, he never did. What he did after the dance was play John some songs that he had written himself. John was impressed and later tried to write his own songs. Neither wrote anything of much value, but the two began to collaborate, prodding each other to do better work. From that day to the end of The Beatles, they never stopped and together they became “Lennon & McCartney”, one of the most recognizable songwriting duos of the 20th century. Once they became established songwriters, Paul and John often wrote independently of each other. John’s songs were more raw rock ‘n’ roll, while Paul’s tended to be more romantic. Songs like “Yesterday,” “Michelle” and “Lovely Rita” are typical McCartney songs. An early agreement between Paul and John ensured that all Beatles songs the two wrote would carry the “Lennon & McCartney” trademark. Paul met Jane Asher at a pop concert at the Albert Hall. She was then seventeen years old. The Radio Times asked her to come to the concert to give her impressions of The Beatles. After the concert, she was invited back to her hotel for a drink. That night, Paul and Jane spent the night together. “I realized that she was the girl for me,” Paul once said. Jane, however, summed up the boys’ impression of her by exclaiming, “They couldn’t believe she was a virgin.” Paul wanted Jane to stop acting so she could be with him constantly. She turned him down. This led to a series of arguments, but Paul was still attracted to her. It was for Jane Asher that he wrote “I’m Looking Through You” and “And I Love Her”. The marriage seemed inevitable, and on Christmas Day 1967, Paul asked Jane to be his wife. She accepted (Bio..)(Paul Mc…)
In 1969 rumors began to spread that Paul was dead. Rumors of death were exaggerated. No one knows for sure where the “Paul is dead” rumor started. Some rumors spread that Paul had been dead for three years and that he had been replaced by a lookalike. Beatles fans everywhere searched for clues left intentionally in lyrics, album covers and images that would reveal the truth about the hoax.
The idea that Paul McCartney was dead for three years arose during the launch of Abbey Road in September 1969. Early hints of the hoax were published in two Midwestern College newspapers (Iowa’s Drake University Times-Delphic and Northern Illinois University’s Northern Star). . Russel Gibb, a Detroit radio jock for WKNR FM, read the story in the college newspaper articles and made up new “clues” for listeners. Listeners called the radio station and claimed to be able to hear secret messages by playing Revolution #9 and other songs backwards. A walrus is a Greek symbol for death. In the song Glass Onion, John Lennon sings, “well here’s another clue for y’all, the walrus is Paul”, connecting Paul to his “death of him”.
According to a myth Paul left the recording studio angry, after a fight with the rest of the group. Paul stormed out of the studio, jumped in his car and sped off (I Buried P…). All clues point to a car accident that reportedly occurred before Paul left the studio in anger. On November 10, 1966 a British newspaper reported that on Wednesday morning at five o’clock someone was involved in a car accident, according to the newspaper the accident was so serious that the body could not be identified in any way. In A Day In The Life, John Lennon sings: “He went crazy in a car, didn’t realize the light had changed, a crowd of people stopped and stared, they’d seen his face before, no one was quite sure. if he was from the house of god (in the song god sounds like Paul)(I Buried P…)
Many visual cues were on the Abbey Road LP. The media began reporting the prank as fact as soon as it was published. The rumors started to get bigger. In October 1969, McCartney himself made a public appearance in which he declared the breakup of The Beatles. In a 1970 Rolling Stone interview with John Lennon, Lennon was asked if any of the hidden clues were supposed to have any significance. Lennon replied: “No. That was a lie. It was all made up.”
The Beatles enjoyed the attention. They were jokers; maybe they were just having a little fun with their fans. Some people today still believe that Paul is dead due to the many compelling clues. No evidence shows that any of the members were behind the hoax. No one can prove that it did or did not happen. The fact is that Paul is alive today. He is currently married to a former model. He is touring the concert world. And he remains a living legend.
