Paul McCartney – Interview

Pop stars come. Pop stars go. I mean, whatever happened to the so-called King of Pop anyway? Word is he’s working on a comeback; people don’t realize that some never need to come back because they never leave us. Paul McCartney is arguably the most influential musician alive today. And after a two and a half year layoff, he is back with what may be his most rock ‘n’ roll album since his days with the Beatles.

Throughout his career, Paul McCartney seemed to be living the blessed life, until his wife, Linda, passed away. McCartney decided to do the one thing that could help his mind away from his pain, and that is to make music. Into the studio McCartney went, joining an all-star cast of musicians: Dave Gilmour and Mick Green on guitars, Ian Paice on drums, and Pete Wingfield on piano. “At the early recording sessions of The Beatles we worked in a very specific way, recording two songs in the morning and two more after lunch. I have a professional nostalgia for that way of recording and I wanted to see if we could do that with this album,” said McCartney.

So what’s with all of the hoopla? Recently, McCartney released his first real rock ‘n’ roll album since ’88. Run Devil Run is made up mostly of cover tunes and contains three new tracks. McCartney says about the album’s covers, “I got together twenty-five songs that I just remembered; we hadn’t done them with the Beatles, but I just liked them. A lot of the songs were obscure B-sides from way back. When we were doing early gigs with the Beatles we were drawn to B-sides, because we had to be. With the Beatles we’d turn up at a gig [and] there’d be a couple of bands on ahead of us and what would happen was that they’d be waiting to go on, only to discover that the bands ahead of you were doing your set! They’d be doing “Long Tall Sally” or “What’d I Say” and you’d be in the dressing room thinking ‘Oh God, there goes our big number Run Devil Run was recorded in Abbey Road studios in just five days. Amazing, considering it often takes bands six months to a year to record albums today. “We booked Abbey Road studios for just five days, Monday to Friday. And by the end of that time we’d recorded nineteen songs, fifteen of which are on the album. We raced through them like we did in the early days with the Beatles.” McCartney finished, “I deliberately planned it like that. I remembered the early recording sessions at Abbey Road with the Beatles, which happened in a very specific way when we’d arrive at the studio at 10 a.m., get your guitar in tune and your bass set up, everything ready to go by 10:30 a.m., when the producer and the engineer – the grown-ups would arrive and ask what you’d be doing. In the next three hours until 1:30, you’d record two songs, have lunch till 2:30 and then do another two songs before 5:30.” oh no there goes another’.” McCartney continues, “And they would wipe out your whole act. So we took to looking for B-sides, songs that were a little bit more obscure, in the hope that other acts wouldn’t play them at gigs before you did.”

In a continual search for B-sides, the duo, Lennon and McCartney, began writing their own songs. “There was no other reason for that than that you knew that then other bands couldn’t access our stuff. That’s the truth; John and I never sat down and decided ‘we must become composers,’ we just wrote because it was the only way of saving our act,” McCartney explains.

Perhaps most bizarre is the fact that McCartney never allowed the other musicians on Run Devil Run to know what songs they were going to play until they played them. “Ian Paice said ‘Is there any idea of what we’re going to do, I could learn up a couple of songs,’ and I told him, ‘No, there’s no homework allowed on this project, just come in fresh and I’ll tell you all about it on Monday morning.’ That was another that was like the way we recorded with the Beatles early on. Back then John and I would have written the songs a week before and often George and Ringo would not have heard them before we ran them through for them at the studio they weren’t with John and I when we wrote the songs and so it kept it really fresh,” explains McCartney.

And how did that effect the music? “We didn’t have time to think,” notes McCartney. “We had to decide quickly and I think when faced with that there is a spirit in people that makes for a good decision. Allen Ginsberg used to say to me ‘First thought, best thought.’ You know that when you are writing a poem or something, the first thing that comes into your mind is often the best one. So that is how we did it.”

Aside from the B-sides that McCartney and band had to iron out, Paul also wrote three new tracks that needed to be finished as well: “Run Devil Run”, “Try Not To Cry”, and “What It Is”. McCartney explains his musical mindset in writing his new tracks. “I like trying to write rock and roll, but rock and roll songs are actually very hard to write. Most songwriters will tell you that it is easier to write a ballad. Some people have said to me that the three songs I wrote on the album don’t stand out as ‘obvious McCartney tracks.’ If that’s the case, I’ll be pleased because I was worried about that. One day at the studio we were doing one of the new songs, one of my songs, and one of the roadies said ‘Who did this one?’ And that was cool; he didn’t know it was a new track. So we thought, ‘We’re cracking it here.’ Actually, somebody said it would be an interesting game to play to play the album and see if you can tell which songs I wrote without looking at the credits.”

Paul adds, “This album is something I’ve wanted to do for years. Some people may think I’ve gone all classical now, maybe this will tell them that’s not the case. I still love my rock and roll.”

+ charlie craine