All language subtitles for McCartney.3.2.1.S01E05.720p.HULU.WEBRip.x264-GalaxyTV

Yeah.

We were told that,
you'll never make it from Liverpool.

You'll never make it.

Of course, that just
strengthened our resolve.

"We'll show you, mate."

You know?
‐ Yeah.

‐ We thought we were different.

‐ Yeah.
‐ We knew we were different.

And then that, um...
found its way into the music.

It's just so interesting.

The choices
you're making in the playing.

I think the bass is really straight.

‐ Pretty straight, yeah.

I come in and ruin it.

‐ Good thing you wrote it.

‐ It feels almost like
the bass is doing

like what an orchestra
would do, you know.

It's adding all
of the other counterpoint...

‐ Yeah.
‐ ...and extra rhythm.

‐ But then when the vocal comes in,
I get out the way.

But then I come back,
I'm too tempted‐‐

Yeah, yeah.

But, I like
doing that, you know.

‐ You started
as a guitar player though.

‐ Yeah, me and John were
the guitar players. Yeah.

I used to think I could be lead guitar.

‐ Yeah.

‐ Because at home, I could,
I could play nice little songs.

But I got terrible stage fright
at a place in Liverpool

um, called Broadway,
funnily enough.

It just came my time
to play the solo

and I, aah,

I, like, froze, you know,

sticky fingers
and nothing would work.

And after that, I thought,
right, no more lead.

That's it, you know, we'll give that
to somebody else.

‐ Wow.

‐ But yeah, I did start on guitar,
originally acoustic,

and then,
when we went to Hamburg,

I bought a little electric guitar,
very cheap.

But it looked good.
‐ Yeah.

‐ Looked kind of rock and roll.

Kind of red thing,

Rosetti Lucky 7.

But it was terrible.

But I could‐‐ you know, it worked
until we got to Hamburg

and then it fell apart.

So then I would, I was turning
my back on the audience

and playing piano.

But it was good. Good practice.

For a bass player, we had Stuart,

who was a friend of John's
from art school,

but he ended up wanting
to stay in Hamburg

because he fell in love.

So then it was a question of me,
John, or George becoming the bass player,

and the two of them said,
well, I'm not doing it.

So it was‐‐ I was left.

‐ Were you already writing songs
at this point or not really?

‐ Yeah. Yeah.

‐ Even from the Hamburg days?

‐ Before.

‐ Really?
‐ Yeah.

I wrote, um,
my first one when I was like 14.

‐ Wow.

‐ And that was just a little,
little guitar thing.

‐ Do you want me to show you?
‐ Yes.

‐ Okay.
‐ Let's go.

‐ I will find a guitar.

Yeah, I liked the idea
that the baseline would go up.

Then I wanted this to come down.

So you get that little thing.
That was the big thing for me.

‐ Yeah.
‐ So it was just‐‐

But it is interesting,
the first song I should write

has got a little
contra vocal thing going.

‐ Absolutely.

‐ I'm fingering down on that‐‐

‐ Two parts going on
at the same time right out of the box.

‐ Yeah.
‐ Unusual for a young kid.

‐ Yeah. You know,
and it's a funny thing

as you get older, you think,

well, how did I know that?

‐ Yes.
‐ And I, I haven't got an answer.

When John and I had got together

and I told him about
that little song that I'd written,

and I'd written a couple of others.

And he said, so have I.

And that was,
that was the big difference.

I talked to other people,

and they sort of said,
"Well, what do you do?"

I said, "I've got a hobby,

I kind of, I've written
a couple of songs."

And most people would just
ignore that and go,

"Okay, you know, what sports
do you like," and move on.

But, when I said that to John,
he said, "Yeah, so have I."

I said, "Yeah, great.

"Well, let me see yours,

I'll show you mine,"
kind of thing, you know.

And that was it.

We, we started writing together

with that in mind, you know.

‐ You know, we were trying
to make money.

We were kind of guys,
none of us was rich,

so we would play pubs and ballrooms.

The Aintree Institute
would have, like, a dance.

But when we'd got
Brian Epstein as our manager,

Brian said, you could play cabaret clubs,

but you'll have to smarten up.

‐ Because we were a bit rock and roll.
‐ Yeah.

‐ He says you'll have
to sort of smarten up,

and you'll have to do
your more sort of ballady songs.

It can't just be
a straight rock and roll set.

‐ But you could see this
at a cabaret club.

‐ Yeah, for sure.

‐ You know, ladies and gentlemen,
presenting the Beatles.

Lights go down, little spots come up.

‐ Let's see.

‐ And then we get John's‐‐

No music.

‐ That was beautiful.
‐ Yeah.

‐ You know, we wanted to, um,
show different sides of ourselves.

We could've just been
one guy sings the vocal

and we'll back him up.

But we kept wanting
to stretch it a little bit.

So this whole song is just
a three‐part harmony thing.

‐ Those were exciting things
to do, you know,

to, to branch out like that.

Then we wanted to add
these other layers,

which as the Beatles went on,
we added more and more.

‐ What is going on with the bass?

Like, it's the greatest thing
I've ever heard.

How did this happen?

‐ I mean‐‐
‐ How does this exist?

‐ It's very tempting when you're
on the bass to sort of go‐‐

And I probably started simple.

Yeah.

‐ And then you might find that the bit
we were kind of liking,

it's a nice little melody.

‐ It's doing so much work

that really is
in the service of the record.

‐ It's pretty adventurous, you know.

‐ Did you have that
all worked out before the‐‐

‐ No.

‐ So tell me what happens
the day of this recording.

What happens?

‐ Um... George comes in,
shows us the song.

That would just be with a guitar
and all just 'round,

a couple of chairs
'round a little circle.

It was all fairly instant.
‐ Yeah.

‐ You know, it's just
we've got to do this song.

We've got to do it.
Let's just try it every which way,

until we settle on,
yeah, this feels good.

‐ It's the interaction.

‐ Yeah.

Yeah.

‐ Classic George song.

Alright.

‐ Do you remember after finishing
the song, thinking‐‐

‐ It's a good one.
‐ Did you feel that?

‐ Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
‐ I think you know the good songs.

‐ Yeah. Yeah.

Would it be whoever wrote the song

would sort of have the vision
for the project for that?

‐ Normally was, yeah.
And then I'd butt in.

And they'd hate me for it.

I'd go, "But it's a good idea, boys."

‐ If you had a good idea, it's like‐‐

Got to get 'em in.

‐ Yeah.
‐ Got to get them in.

‐ I mean, it was kind of
an awkward thing, you know,

that if you had a good idea for something,

you'd say it.
‐ Yeah.

‐ But often the other guy would
sort of say, well, you play it.

‐ Yeah.

‐ You know, there was
there was a lot of freedom.

‐ Yeah, yeah, yeah.

‐ So we did that a lot.

Like, I think I talked to George
a lot about the solo on Taxman.

And I think that's what happened.

He said, "Well, you play it."

No wonder George said you do it.

‐ But what was the insp‐‐
Like, what were you‐‐

‐ I don't know, just free, free.

I mean, and a little bit
of Indian in there, too.

‐ Yeah.

‐ I wouldn't have thought about it
or written it or anything.

‐ It would just be like, it's,
the track's so cooking...
‐ Yeah.

‐ ...that if we're going to have a solo,
it should be just ridiculous.

‐ Amazing.
‐ You know.

Nice bass lick as well.

‐ It was funny because it was like
a double‐edged sword.

People sort of saying,
well, couldn't you just play straighter,

you know, and I'm going,
I don't know.

I think it lends something
doing all this.

I did get sort of reprimanded
once or twice,

for just being too busy.
‐ Yeah.

‐ But you know, by that time
I'd heard James Jamerson.

‐ He was great.

He had melodic baselines,
and I love that.

It kind of opened my eyes to it.
It was like, yeah, wow.

‐ Yeah.
‐ You can groove, make it move, you know.

Because originally, the bass player

in the groups in Liverpool,
it was the fat guy.

And he would just stand
at the back‐‐

And the guitar player...

He had all the fancy stuff.

But later, when I heard people
like James Jamerson,

I realized, wow, you can,

you can really do
a big thing with a bass.

You can actually control
the band with the bass.

‐ It's interesting.

And it's, it's in some ways,
is why we're having this conversation is

the fascination
with how important the bass is

in the context of these songs.

And the songs are so ubiquitous
in our culture

that we don't really think
of them in pieces.

Do you know what I mean?

We just think of them as that song.

‐ That song, yeah.
‐ You know. Yeah, yeah.

‐ It really happened
quite organically in the studio.

Um... you know,
my famous occasion

with bass radically altering

the whole attitude of the song
was when John came in‐‐

I said,
wait a minute, wait a minute,

that's a Chuck Berry song.

That's a Chuck Berry song,

which is called You Can't Catch Me.

Which not only is like that‐‐

The opening line is,
"Here come old flat‐top."

It actually is the Chuck Berry song.

It actually is the Chuck Berry song,
so I said, "Man,"

I said, you know, "Look,
it's a great song. I love it."

I said, "But we got to do something
to get away from that."

So I just suggested we slowed it down.

So instead of the‐‐

We go...

Which now gave it a kind of
real nice swampy back and forth.

And it changed his attitude to it.

‐ I just want to hear the vocals,

just to understand where it's...
the writing style.

‐ The signature of the song.

‐ Ringo.

‐ It's just the bass and the drums.
‐ It's a groove, isn't it?

Yeah.

That's it.

I'm playing that piano.

Guitars.

That's John and George.

- Together?
- Both. No, that's George.

‐ John's probably playing the rhythm.

‐ Yeah, John's playing
the rhythm, yeah.

‐ Bass sounds incredible.
‐ Yeah.

‐ Really rockin'.

‐ And we sort of knew
we'd got something funky.

‐ Yeah.
‐ And that was always the aim.

Like, if you could take whatever
the little song was you had

and just put that little
extra something on it.

‐ Did it feel like it happened
most of the time?

‐ Yeah.
‐ It seems like it.

Lis‐listening to the records,
it sounds like that.

‐ I know. Yeah.

I mean, for me, I've grown
to be a fan of the Beatles.

‐ Yeah. Yeah.
‐ Because then I was just a Beatle.

But now that the Beatles' volume
of work is finished...

‐ Yes.

‐ I, I listen back to it,

and, you know, like that
you just think, what was that bassline?

Now this is good
because I actually, now I know‐‐

‐ Now you understand how it works.
‐ Now I know what I played, yeah.

‐ Yeah, yeah.

You talked a little bit about becoming
a fan of the Beatles again.

‐ Yeah.
‐ So tell me first about,

Beatles break up.

In that moment,

what's your feeling
about your last ten years of music?

‐ I knew we'd done
something great.

‐ Yes.
‐ We'd had a lot of fun in the studio,

and I was sad to see it break up.
‐ Yeah.

‐ I thought I'd be
in this band forever.

‐ But various things were happening.

There was a lot
of heavy business stuff

that had,
that had influenced decisions.

So we, we split up,

and, I was heartbroken, really.

And I kind of disappeared
off the face of the Earth.

I went up to a farm in Scotland

and just became a sort of
hippie farmer, which was great.

When you've been
a musician all that time,

the idea of just not doing it
was a bit sad.

I just wanted to keep going with music.

‐ Yeah.

‐ You know, it was
a very difficult thing to shake off

if you're this invested
like you and I are.

‐ Yeah.

You just can't sort of say,
I'll do it tomorrow.

‐ Can't imagine it. Can't imagine.

‐ So I just went right back
to basics, and it wasn't easy.

‐ Never finished the lyrics.

‐ No, this is jazz.

I had some recording equipment at home.

I had an amp, guitar, piano,
a little drum set.

So I just thought, well,
I'll just record some stuff, you know.

‐ And literally yourself,
meaning not even an engineer.

Nobody was there except you.
‐ No. Nobody.

‐ Wow.

Beautiful.

This was the first album
that you made in this way.

Everything at home, all by yourself.

‐ Yeah.

I mean, once you do
something like this,

it's a nice little home project.

‐ Yeah.

‐ It's like, you know,
if you've built a table,

you've got some time off,
I'll build a chair, something.

You know, it's just that good feeling
you're doing something for yourself.

‐ Yeah.

‐ But then, you know,
you've suddenly got

enough tracks for an album.

Once you've been to the top,

going back down
to the bottom of the ladder,

and clawing your way back up,
is, is a bit of a number.

But I had Linda by my side,

and she'd helped me through that period.

She was very, a great strength.

‐ Bringing the energy.

‐ I wonder if that's tucked in there,
I never heard that before.

‐ No.
‐ No, you left it out?

‐ I don't know.

It might be this.
‐ Yeah, it might be‐‐

‐ Sounds like I mixed it out.
I can't remember.

‐ That got it.

‐ That's when the audience applauds,
you go, wait for it, wait for it.

‐ I'd seen something
that made me think,

John's got a new record out,

and it's called Lennon.

I thought, wow, that's great.

Boy. I missed that boat.

‐ Yeah.
‐ You know.

And it turned out not to be so.
‐ Wow.

‐ So I said, well,
that's a great idea though.

‐ Yeah.
‐ You just call it your surname.

‐ Yes.
‐ So I said, I'll have that.

So I just named my first record McCartney.

‐ You were feeling good that day.

When was the moment
when it switched from,

okay, the old band broke up,

there's some bad feelings,
business stuff,

and now I'm moving on.

I'm starting at the bottom
myself, over again.

When could you look back
and realize,

what we did back then
was really good and special?

‐ I think once I'd got over the fact

that the Beatles had broken up.

Um, once I could allow myself to do
a Beatles song in, in our show.

‐ Would that have been five years
or ten years or‐‐

‐ No, I think it was,
it was a few years.

I wanted a whole new thing.
‐ Yes.

‐ Whole new sound, new songs.
‐ Yeah.

‐ So once we'd got that...
‐ Yes.

‐ I felt vindicated and I thought, okay,

now, why don't‐‐ I can,
I can now safely put a Beatles song in.

‐ Yes.
‐ And, then you started to think,

ooh, what about that one?

And I never would do a John song.

‐ Because I would just only go
to songs that I'd instigated.

‐ Yeah.
‐ Um‐‐

But after a while, I got
so comfortable with it,

I thought, yeah,
I'll do a John song.

I love that song.

‐ I want to read to you one little thing.

‐ Yeah.

‐ It says, "Paul is one of
the most innovative bass players

"that ever played bass, and half
of the stuff that's going on now

"is directly ripped off
from his Beatle period.

"He has always been a bit coy
about his bass playing,

but he's a great, great musician."

‐ Did I write that?
‐ That is John Lennon.

‐ That's John?
‐ Yeah.

‐ Alright.

Come on, Johnny.

‐ Yeah.
‐ That's beautiful.

I hadn't‐‐ I hadn't heard that before.

‐ It's interesting
considering obviously,

you're two leaders of something,
and just competitive situation.

‐ Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
‐ So to hear that.

‐ He'd never said that to me.
‐ Yeah.

‐ So, but it's nice to hear
that he said it to someone.

That's amazing.