Welcome to My Place in
Cyber Space!
The Beatles
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since
11.9.97
The Beatles have been a
part of me probably since I was born 19 short years ago. I have
always loved them and
probably always will. I
can't think of any other band that has made a bigger impact on
the music world,
than those lads from
Liverpool. I hope you like my place, tell me what you think
should or shouldn't be here. Thanks!
Features:
Pictures of the lads
A complete
discography
Link away from here
Paul McCartney:
essay by Jake Sparling
(same as on my poems and prose page)
On June 18, 1942, while
the world was being rocked by one of the most infamous wars in
history, a music legend was born. A boy who would later grow up
and rock the world himself: James Paul McCartney.
Paul McCartney was born
in a private wing of Walton Hospital in Liverpool, England, where
his mother, Mary Patricia McCartney, was a nurse. His father, Jim
McCartney, was a cotton salesman and part-time fireman, who came
from a poor family of nine children.
Mary McCartney was born
on September 29, 1909. When Mary was only ten years old, her
mother died during childbirth. Her father remarried shortly
afterwards. Mary and her new stepmother had a tumultuous
relationship, which caused Mary to move out when she was only
thirteen years of age. Soon after she left home, Mary became a
nurse. Eighteen months after Paul was born, his parents were
blessed with another child, Peter "Mike" McCartney.
Their mother then became a midwife, so that she could spend more
time with her children. When Paul was fourteen years old, his
mother died of breast cancer.
As a child, Paul was
active in Boy Scouts and bird watching. He and Mike spent much of
their childhood exploring their neighborhood next to the
Liverpool football club's stadium. Often their escapades led to
potentially dangerous situations. On one of their excursions,
both nearly drowned. While using a plank to cross a water filled
lime pit, both boys fell in. Neither boy knew how to swim.
Luckily Mike got hold of a root and they were able to climb to
safety. The boys often spent time playing around nearby train
tracks. They would put various objects on the tracks, including
coins, tree limbs, and even bricks, waiting to see what would
happen. Paul and Mike also threw turnips from a bridge, trying to
hit the train's engineer in the head.
Because of his academic
accomplishments, the Liverpool Institute, a very prestigious
school, accepted Paul as a student. His parents were extremely
proud of his admission into the school. While Paul's mother was
alive, he planned to fulfill her dream of his becoming a teacher.
However, after her death, music became his compulsion. According
to Paul, his father Jim, was his biggest musical influence. Jim
was a very fine piano and trumpet player. He was the leader of an
ensemble called Jim Mac's Band, which played at many dance halls
around Liverpool.
Paul did not show any
musical interests until after the death of his mother. At first,
he thought that he might want to play the trumpet like his
father, but Paul soon realized that he could not play the trumpet
and sing at the same time. Consequently, he decided to learn how
to play the guitar. Paul bought a left-handed Zenith six-string
guitar for fifteen pounds, equal to two weeks of his father's
salary. Paul played the guitar every chance he had. Mike once
commented that Paul was, "lost in another world,
particularly after mum died. It was useless talking to him. In
fact, I had better conversations with brick walls around this
period." He went on to say, "You lose a mother and find
a guitar?" (Flippo 18)
When Paul was only
fifteen years old, he met John Lennon at the St. Peter's Parish
Church in Woolton, England. Paul had gone there with Ivan
Vaughan, to hear John and his band, the Quarry Men, play. Ivan, a
mutual friend, introduced Paul to John. A few days later, the
band asked that Paul play with them. He postponed joining the
band until after he and Mike returned from the Nineteenth City
School Scout camp. On October 18, 1957, Paul played his first gig
with the Quarry Men, at the New Clubmoor Club in Liverpool. A few
months later, the band asked that George Harrison, one of Paul's
long time friends, join the group. Unlike other parents, George's
mother supported the idea of her son playing in a band. Then
called the Silver Beetles, the band members consisted of John
Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Stuart Sutcliffe.
They toured Scotland, playing backup for Johnny Gentle, a British
balladeer. Pete Best, whose mother owned The Cavern, a club where
the Silver Beetles often played, was asked to be the drummer for
the band. The group then dropped the word Silver from their name
and became the Beatles.
In June of 1961, Stuart
Sutcliffe, the band's bassist, left the group to marry a German
photographer. Paul then decided that he would switch from playing
guitar to bass to take Stuart's place. McCartney played the bass,
piano and sang for the group. Later that same year, Ringo Starr
was asked to replace Pete Best as the band's drummer. During the
group's early years, the Beatles played in clubs around
Liverpool. The Cavern was one of their favorite clubs. Over a two
year period, they played there 292 times.
The Beatles released
their first single, Love Me Do, in September of 1962. Within two
years, the quartet held the top five spots on the Billboard music
charts. They also had seven other songs rated in the top
one-hundred single releases. In 1963, while recording a BBC radio
special, Paul met a young woman by the name of Jane Asher. In
1967, the couple announced their engagement, after dating for
four years. However, seven months later Jane canceled their
engagement. While Paul was still engaged to Miss Asher, he met a
young rock ‘n' roll photographer named Linda Eastman. On
March 12, 1969, Paul and Linda were married.
John and Paul wrote most
of the Beatles music. They credited their songs to
Lennon-McCartney, although many of their songs were written
individually. Paul wrote many of his songs in a third person
point of view, whereas John wrote his in a first person point of
view. McCartney wrote some of the Beatles' biggest hits, such as
Yesterday, Hey Jude, and Eleanor Rigby. He thought of the lyrics
to Hey Jude while going to visit Cynthia Lennon, John's ex-wife,
after she and John had separated. Paul was sympathizing with
John's son Julian, nicknamed Jules, and thought of the song
title, Hey Jules. Later Paul changed the title to Hey Jude,
because it had more of a country-western sound. One morning Paul
awoke, walked over to the piano and began composing a song. Not
having any lyrics, he simply sang "scrambled eggs"
repeatedly to the music. Paul later wrote lyrics for the now
popular ballad known as Yesterday, of which he is very proud.
The Beatles toured
around the world for four years. Their final concert was in
Candlestick Park, in San Francisco on August 29, 1966. Soon
after, they started to record the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band album. It was their ninth album since their debut
record, Please Please Me. Some of their other albums included,
Revolver, Help!, A Hard Day's Night, and Rubber Soul. Magical
Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road, Let It Be, and Hey
Jude, followed the recording of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club
Band. The Beatles also appeared on the screen in the movies, A
Hard Day's Night, Magical Mystery Tour, and Help!.
In 1970, the Beatles
disbanded and the musicians each went their separate way. John,
then married to Yoko Ono, started recording with Yoko full time.
Paul and Linda McCartney started a new band called Wings. Paul
played the bass, while Linda played the keyboard and sang backup
vocals. Also included in the band were two guitarists and a
drummer.
Paul like many other
musicians got involved with the use of illicit drugs. He admits
that he experimented with LSD early in his life. While in
Hamburg, Germany, he also started using amphetamines, along with
the rest of the then newly formed Beatles. In early 1980, Paul
spent nine days in a Japanese prison for the possession of
marijuana. Paul said that the jail was very much like a recording
studio, "You sit around and do goofball things like a bunch
of guys do stuck in a room together. I developed this great
little trick where we'd see who could jump the highest up the
wall. Now, me being the taller than most of them, I tended to win
this game." (Castro 48)
After the band's
breakup, John and Paul argued back and forth for a long time.
They called each other names through the media. At the time, Paul
was living in England and John was living in the United States.
Eventually, they reconciled and planned to visit each other.
However, Paul was too busy to get away from his work and John was
unable to leave the United States. Before they could reunite,
John was assassinated on Tuesday, December 9, 1980. The news of
his friend's death devastated Paul.
Over the years, many
rumors about Paul's apparent death have been circulated.
According to reports, he had died sometime before the recording
of Abbey Road. On the cover of the album, Paul was the only one
in the group that was barefoot. Because bare feet are reportedly
an old Mafia sign for death, people interpreted this to be of
significance. In reality, Paul went to the photo shoot without
his shoes on because it was a hot day and he did not think that
they were necessary. On the White Album, a secret message is
hidden in one of the songs. The message is heard if the song
Revolution 9 is played backwards. It sounds as if someone is
saying, "Turn me on dead man." Although the message
probably was not intentional, many people regarded it as evidence
that Paul was dead. In the movie, Magical Mystery Tour, Paul
portrays the walrus, regarded by some as the animal of death.
Also in the same movie, at the end of the song Strawberry Fields
Forever, it sounds as if John says, "I buried Paul." In
fact he was only saying "cranberry sauce." Paul
explained that this was just an example of John's humor. If
someone did not understand John's form of wit, then the phrase
might be interpreted differently.
During Paul and Linda's
twenty-seven year marriage, the couple has only spent eleven days
apart. They have three daughters, Mary, Heather, and Stella.
Heather, who was born on December 31, 1963, is from Linda's
previous marriage with Melvin See. Heather is currently working
as a potter. Mary, Paul's first child, was born on August 29,
1969. She presently works at her father's company, MPL
Communications, where she is in charge of the copyrights. Stella
was born on September 13, 1971, and is studying fashion design.
The McCartney's only son, James, was born on September 12, 1977.
He has blond hair and looks much like his father. James is a fan
of Jimi Hendrix, and plays Paul's left-handed guitar although
James is right-handed. Paul, Linda and James currently live in
Sussex, England, just south of London. They live in a circular
house that Paul himself designed and is accessible only by foot
or four-wheel drive vehicle.
Paul was always regarded
as the best looking of the Beatles. Now, with his long,
salt-and-pepper hair, and hazel eyes, he is still considered an
attractive man at the age of fifty-three. He continues to play
his famous Hofner bass with his band Wings, and recently finished
a New World Tour. The tour included seventy-eight concerts
throughout Europe, Australia, the United States, the United
Kingdom, Japan and South America.
Paul McCartney has
earned many honors in his musical career that identify him as a
music legend. He is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records
as the most successful songwriter in history. Since the breakup
of the Beatles, Paul has released twenty-three albums. During his
musical career, he has recorded thirty-two number one hits, more
than any other musician in history. John Lennon has the second
most hits, twenty-three. Paul also holds the record for the most
Gold and Platinum disks, with seventy-five. He keeps his MBE
(Member of the Order of the British Empire) medal in storage,
along with his Gold and Platinum disks. Paul says that he does
not feel that he should display his awards because, "One
thing that can bring you bad luck is when you start to get
bigheaded. I'd rather be remembered as a musician than a
celebrity." (Booth 86) Paul holds the record for the most
recorded song in history, with over two-thousand recorded
versions of the ballad Yesterday.
McCartney owns the
copyrights to more than three-thousand songs, including all of
the songs written by Buddy Holly, Paul's childhood idol. Paul
also owns the publishing rights to musical scores such as Guys
and Dolls, A Chorus Line, and Grease. He has written songs with
Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello, and of course,
John Lennon. McCartney's estimated worth is approximately $600
million, and he is by far the most financially successful of the
Beatles. However, Paul is no longer motivated by money or
popularity, but now plays for his own enjoyment. "He is
richer and more successful than any other pop star in history,
but he is, he insists, just an ‘ordinary bloke'."
(Benson 7)
In 1985, Michael Jackson
bought the publishing rights to the Lennon/McCartney catalog for
$147.5 million. Since then, Paul has written Jackson and asked
him to consider selling the rights to McCartney, but Michael
never replies. Meanwhile, Jackson has used the songs for
television commercials and for his own profit.
In Paul's spare time, he
enjoys sailing, carpentry, and painting, a hobby he began at age
forty. Since he and his family are vegetarians, he also spends
much of his time in his organic garden.
Paul McCartney and his
music have rocked the world for the past thirty-eight years.
During his lifetime, he has accomplished more than any other
musician in history.
"The
Beatles were like a great stone thrown into the water. While the
immediate, explosive splash may well have subsided, the
far-ranging ripples of their great, inspired work certainly
haven't. And despite Paul's commercial ups and downs of recent
years, to the educated listener his music still has the power to
entertain and enlighten in a way far beyond the scope of most of
today's so-called current artists." (Giuliano xiii)
