Mary McCartney/MPL CommunicationsPaul McCartney has done an in-depth interview with the U.K. version of GQ magazine in which he reflects on being a member of The Beatles, his relationships with his band mates and how he’s been perceived as the guy who broke up the group.
McCartney says he feels it’s magical how the band came together with four musicians who could all sing, play well and write good songs, as well as having artistic interests and zany senses of humor.
“We knew we were different,” Sir Paul notes. “We knew we had something that all these other groups didn’t have. It gelled.”
McCartney also says that all the time The Beatles did playing clubs in Hamburg, Germany, helped them hone their musical skills to where they were very good.
In addition, Paul recalls bonding with John Lennon and George Harrison by going on separate hitchhiking trips with them.
“George and I hitchhiked one time to Wales…and stayed in a little place there and played a little gig,” McCartney remembers. “Then me and John went down to Reading, where my uncle had a pub. And we played a little gig there as The Nerk Twins. And then me and John hitchhiked to Paris.”
As for The Beatles’ split, and his part in it, McCartney says he’s often blamed because he wound up suing his three band mates, but he maintains that he felt he had to do what he did to keep the group’s publishing from falling into the hands of Allen Klein, whom he thought was “a f****** idiot” and who was managing Lennon, Harrison and Ringo Starr at the time.
McCartney admits that after the breakup, the guilt he felt and conflicts with his fellow Beatles led him to battle depression and alcohol issues, which he eventually overcame.
By Matt Friedlander
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
