All language subtitles for Tragic Details About Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney's importance to music in the
second half of the 20th century cannot be

overstated. His personal life, however, hasn't
always been easy. This is the tragic real-life

story of Paul McCartney.

James Paul McCartney was born on June 18,
1942, in Liverpool, England, to James and

Mary McCartney. His mother worked as a midwife
while his father worked at the Liverpool Cotton

Exchange. James McCartney was also the leader
of a jazz group called the Jim Mac's Jazz

Band. It was through his father that Paul
acquired his passion for music.

In 1956, Paul's life irreversibly changed
when his mother passed away from breast cancer.

The death inspired the Beatles song "Let It
Be" and may have sparked the lyrics to "Yesterday."

In an interview with Stephen Colbert, Paul
McCartney discussed how he initially did not

think losing his mother influenced his music
but realized her influence on his career later

in his life.

"To lose your mom at 14 is, you know, not
easy."

"And I never thought it affected my music
until years later."

He also spoke about how he and John Lennon
connected through their love of music and

losing their mother as teenagers, as Lennon
lost his mother when he was 17, not long after

meeting Paul.

After Stuart Sutcliffe, the Beatles' original
bass player, left the group to focus on other

artistic ventures, the remaining members found
themselves in a bind. The band initially attempted

to make Chas Newby their permanent bass player.
However, Newby did not wish to stay long term

with the band, and Paul McCartney soon realized
he would have to take on the role.

As the story goes, McCartney joined the band
as the lead guitar player but moved to rhythm

guitar because of his limitations as the lead.
McCartney then became the pianist, after his

guitar became inoperable. Finally, he accepted
his position as the band's bassist. It might

not have been his first choice of instrument,
but he made the most of the situation. In

July of 2020, Rolling Stone ranked Paul McCartney
at No. 9 on its list of the 50 greatest bassists

of all time.

In the band's early days, John Lennon was
understood to be the leader of the Beatles.

However, by the middle of the 1960s, Paul
McCartney would take the reins. While the

band would find continued success under McCartney's
leadership, the shift of power led to the

band members growing more distant from each
other.

According to Far Out, the origins of this
came in 1964, when McCartney broke away from

the pair's collaborative songwriting relationship
and wrote "Can't Buy Me Love," which took

the A-side on their band's next release. Lennon
reacted by writing, "A Hard Day's Night" and

most of the songs on the album of the same
name. The song-versus-song dynamic would continue

over the rest of the decade. McCartney would
write "Yesterday," and Lennon would follow

with "Norwegian Wood." Lennon would write
"Strawberry Fields Forever," and McCartney

would follow with "Penny Lane."

McCartney has said this competition was a
great way for him and Lennon to, quote, "keep

each other on our toes." According to Far
Out, however, Lennon was not always happy

about it. In his book, Revolution in the Head:
The Beatles' Records and the Sixties, Ian

Diamond writes,

"Lennon must have sensed that his era of dominance
over the band's output [...] was over. From

now on, his partner would be in the ascendant
not only as a songwriter, but also as instrumentalist,

arranger, producer, and de facto musical director
of The Beatles."

There is a segment of the population that
has been convinced that in 1966, Paul McCartney

died and was replaced by a lookalike. According
to Ultimate Classic Rock, the theory is that

while recording Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band, McCartney perished in a car crash.

Instead of ending the band or continuing with
a new member or as a trio, the surviving members

found a lookalike and soldiered on.

"That was a hoax, right?"

"Yeah, I wasn't really dead."

Rolling Stone reports that the rumor started
when a mystery caller told radio DJ Russ Gibb

to play The White Album backwards, saying
that he would hear messages including, quote,

"turn me on, dead man" and John Lennon saying,
quote, "I buried Paul." Of course, McCartney

did not die in a car accident and is alive
today. But fans have found so-called "evidence"

in album covers, song lyrics, music videos
and elsewhere. The Abbey Road cover was even

interpreted as a funeral procession, with
McCartney as the corpse.

Life magazine sent reporters to find McCartney
on his Scottish farm, and, Rolling Stone notes

that after throwing a bucket of water on them,
McCartney agreed to an interview and photos

to try to end the story. It didn't work. McCartney
was still discussing the rumor decades later,

including on a 2009 appearance on The Late
Show with David Letterman.

"So this started some rumor that because he
was bare-footed, he's dead. I couldn't see

the connection myself."

By the end of the 1960s, the Beatles were
operating under a cloud of tension and resentment.

Their manager, Brian Epstein, had died suddenly
in 1967, and without him, the group lacked

guidance and a figure to act as arbiter in
their creative disagreements. The ending came

on September 20, 1969. Despite the pleadings
of the group's new business manager, Allen

Klein, not to say anything, John Lennon told
Paul McCartney and drummer Ringo Starr he

was leaving the group.

The breakup did not come as a surprise. By
that point, the four members had been living

largely separate lives, getting married, having
babies, and making music outside of the group.

McCartney later said,

"I must admit we'd known it was coming at
some point because of his intense involvement

with Yoko. John needed to give space to his
and Yoko's thing."

The band kept things quiet for a few months,
until, on April 10, 1970, McCartney announced

to the public that the band was splitting
up.

A week after the news broke that the Beatles
were breaking up, Paul McCartney released

his self-titled solo debut, and to say McCartney
was on his own would be an understatement.

The former Beatle had written every song,
played every instrument, and worked as the

lone producer on the album. Today, it is considered
one of his best works, but at the time, critics

had mixed feelings about McCartney.

His next effort, Ram, met the same fate. Today,
Ultimate Classic Rock places Ram as McCartney's

second-best post-Beatles album. But, in 1971,
it was another failure on McCartney's part,

with Pitchfork describing it as "loathed"
by contemporary critics. Third time's a charm?

Perhaps not. Wild Life was McCartney's third
effort and first with his new band, Wings.

Unlike the first two albums, Wild Life did
not see a reevaluation years later. Rolling

Stone called it, quote, "trivial and unaffecting,"
and decades later, it is still considered

one of McCartney's weakest works.

John Lennon's and Paul McCartney's songwriting
partnership is remembered today as the greatest

in pop music history. But after bonding over
a mutual love of music and reaching unimaginable

peaks, their relationship soured. During the
final years of the Beatles and after the band

split, the former friends would spend the
next decade in a love/hate relationship.

The pair met on July 6, 1957, when Lennon
was performing with his skiffle band, The

Quarrymen. A mutual friend introduced the
two, and a few months later, Lennon asked

McCartney to join the group. It evolved into
the Beatles, with Lennon and McCartney as

the main singer/songwriters. By the time the
band broke up, the two were at each other's

throats. They wrote one another angry letters,
as well as insult songs directed at each other.

McCartney's included "Too Many People," and
Lennon's response was "How Do You Sleep?"

The two eventually reconciled and maintained
contact over the final years of Lennon's life.

McCartney has also said that their last conversation
before Lennon's murder was friendly. Linda

McCartney said that Lennon's final words to
McCartney were:

"[T]hink about me every now and then, old
friend."

As bad as his relationship with John Lennon
was at times, Paul McCartney's friendship

with George Harrison was even more contentious.
On Lennon's 1971 song attacking McCartney,

"How Do You Sleep?," Harrison played guitar.
According to Far Out, by 1974, Lennon and

McCartney were not only speaking to each other
but jamming together. Lennon and Harrison

had also joined Ringo Starr on songs for the
drummer's solo album. As rumors swirled about

a potential Beatles reunion, Harrison stomped
that idea into the ground, saying,

"Paul is a fine bass player, but he's a bit
overpowering at times. To tell the truth,

I'd join a band with John Lennon any day,
but I couldn't join a band with Paul McCartney."

In the Beatles, Harrison was overshadowed
by the dominance of Lennon and McCartney,

according to the Guardian. When he walked
out of the studio in 1969, Lennon suggested

the band replace Harrison with Eric Clapton,
Biography reports. Harrison remained at odds

with McCartney over the decades, and the pair
did not reunite to make music until the mid-1990s,

when they performed a short medley of their
songs.

While the Beatles were in their final days,
a family of pre-teen musicians hit the charts

almost as hard as the Fab Four. The Jackson
5 became hugely successful in the late 1960s,

and Michael Jackson went on to become a superstar.
In the 1980s, Jackson tapped Paul McCartney

for a series of duets. McCartney had written
a song, "Girlfriend," for Jackson. The song

appeared on the 1978 Wings album, London Town,
before Jackson included it on his album Off

the Wall.

McCartney and Jackson also came together for
"The Girl is Mine" on Jackson's Thriller album

and both "The Man" and "Say, Say, Say" for
McCartney's Pipes of Peace album. While working

together, McCartney had talked to Jackson
about the importance of music publishing and

owning catalogs. McCartney had purchased the
back catalog of the late rock icon Buddy Holly.

Jackson took the advice to heart and in 1985,
bought the most sought-after catalog in pop

music, that of the Beatles.

"And I said you ought to think of getting
into song publishing. And so he kind of looked

at me and said, 'I'm going to buy yours.'"

After this, the pair never spoke to each other
again. McCartney said,

"I think it's dodgy to do something like that.
To be someone's friend, and then buy the rug

they're standing on."

In 1967 photographer Linda Eastman got a chance
to work with the most popular group of the

era: the Beatles. Eastman was no stranger
to celebrities, having worked on photoshoots

with Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, and the Grateful
Dead. But while working with the Beatles,

Eastman caught the eye of Paul McCartney and
the two fell head over heels in love.

The couple married on March 12, 1969, and
had three children, Mary, Stella, and James,

in addition to raising a child from Linda's
previous marriage, Heather. Linda and Paul

McCartney formed the band Wings in the 1970s
and toured while raising their children. Linda

continued to work as a photographer and was
an advocate for vegetarianism and animal rights.

Unfortunately, in 1995, Linda was diagnosed
with breast cancer. The same disease that

took Paul McCartney's mother would take Linda
McCartney on April 17, 1998. McCartney was

overcome with grief after Linda's passing,
telling the BBC,

"I think I cried for about a year on and off."

After the passing of Linda McCartney, Paul
McCartney married model and media personality

Heather Mills. Their marriage drew criticism
from Paul's daughter Stella McCartney, who

had mixed feelings about Mills' and her father's
decision. The union led to a daughter named

Beatrice. Unfortunately, after only six years
of marriage, Paul and Mills divorced, and

the drama was played out in the British tabloids.

Ultimate Classic Rock reports that the pair
acquired the lawyers used during the divorce

proceedings for Prince Charles and Princess
Diana. Attempts to reach a settlement that

included a confidentiality clause failed,
and all the details were made public. Mills

accused Paul of abuse and rampant drug use,
while Paul claimed she was irresponsible and

rude to his staff.

Mills also accused her ex-husband of abusing
his first wife, Linda McCartney. Stella McCartney,

Paul and Linda's daughter, spoke out against
the accusation and even questioned her father

for marrying Mills. Both former partners denied
each other's claims, and the divorce was finalized

in 2008, with Mills receiving just $30 million
after requesting $150 million. She reportedly

said that she was, quote, "very, very, very,
pleased" with the outcome. In 2011, Paul married

Nancy Shevell, and the pair have been together
ever since.

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