And when Paul\u2019s mother\u2014Mary McCartney\u2014passed away when he was just 14, music was his greatest solace.<\/p>\n
Music, Mike McCartney\u2014Paul\u2019s younger brother\u2014told Philip Norman, author of Paul McCartney: The Life<\/em> \u201cbecame an obsession…took over his whole life. It came along at just the right moment and became his escape.\u201d<\/p>\n Less than a month after Mary McCartney\u2019s death, Paul took up guitar. He carried it around everywhere\u2014even strumming it as he sat on the toilet; it became a mode of expression in those teenage years when an emotional breakdown in front of peers felt humiliating.<\/p>\n After Mary\u2019s death, \u201cthe house was full of laughter,\u201d Mike McCartney told Norman, \u201cThere was always music playing\u2014Dad with his records or on the piano, or the relatives along for a sing-song.\u201d<\/p>\n Born a year prior to McCartney, Philip Norman envied McCartney from the moment McCartney became a big name in music. \u201cLike almost every young male in the Western Hemisphere, my daily fantasy was to swap lives with a Beatle. And there was no question as to which one. Paul, a year my senior, was the most obviously good-looking,\u201d Norman said.<\/p>\n Norman\u2019s biography immerses readers into a timeline of McCartney\u2019s life, beginning before McCartney\u2019s conception\u2014with the story of his parents\u2014and continuing until 2016. Norman enlightens readers with the obstacles that the McCartney family had to face during WWII, explaining how Paul\u2019s parents overcame those barriers to raise Paul and his younger brother, Mike, in an upbeat household.<\/p>\n Norman also dives deeply into the relationships between Paul McCartney and his family members, friends, bandmates, ex-wives, ex-girlfriends, and his love for Linda McCartney. While Norman gathers information about McCartney and speaks to McCartney\u2019s friends and family members who had not yet communicated with the press, he learns that fame and fortune can sometimes be more of a burden than an asset.<\/p>\n If it weren\u2019t for Jim McCartney\u2019s musical history, Paul McCartney may have never learned or appreciated music\u2014in short, he may have never become the legendary rock star we know today.<\/p>\n World War II, noted Norman, \u201chad made popular music a vital part of everyday life.\u201d Although Jim McCartney was excused from serving in the military since he was both partially deaf and over the age of service, he volunteered as a fireman. He witnessed the bombing of nearby homes during air raids, fearing the safety of his loved ones.<\/p>\n Over 20,000 homes in Liverpool were demolished by bombs during World War II, and music became an essential escape in those fearful times. Nearly every home in Liverpool had at least one radio. The cheerful pop music of artists such as Doris Day and Guy Mitchell helped Jim\u2019s generation temporarily tune out the calamity of the war.<\/p>\n Jim taught himself piano and trumpet and formed a semi-professional dance band with his brother, Jack, on trombone. Together, they played for local dances, social gatherings, and occasionally silent movies shows.<\/p>\n According to Norman, Jim handed Paul a trumpet on Paul\u2019s fourteenth birthday, saying, \u201cif you can play something, son, you\u2019ll always get invited to parties.\u201d<\/p>\n Although the trumpet didn\u2019t last long before Paul traded it for a guitar, his father would have never guessed that the simple gift would launch him into an illustrious career.<\/p>\n While many may feel that Paul receiving a trumpet was the starting point of his career, Mike McCartney attributes a different occasion as the key moment to Paul\u2019s eventual fame.<\/p>\n Mike tells Norman of the night when Jim McCartney brought a set of black Bakelite headphones to him and Paul. \u201cThere were wires disappearing through the floorboards to the radio below, so that we\u2019d be able to listen to Radio Luxemburg in our bedrooms,\u201d Mike recalled, \u201cSo Dad would have his Mantovani downstairs while upstairs we\u2019d have Elvis, Little Richard, Fats Domino, and Chuck Berry.\u201d<\/p>\n Mike mentioned that Paul would sing along with the artists playing upstairs while frantically writing down lyrics. \u201cI sometimes think that if it hadn\u2019t been for those Bakelite headphones, there wouldn\u2019t have been any Beatles,\u201d Mike told Norman.\n[awesome-gallery id=4487] (Left to right)Elvis Presley promoting Jail House Rock. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer Inc. \/ Commons Wikimedia, public domain. Little Richard performing at the University of Texas Forty Acres Festival in 2007. Photo: Public domain by its author, Annableker at wikipedia<\/p><\/p>\n Among the ever-popularizing rock artists on the radio, Paul\u2019s main inspirations were Little Richard and Elvis.<\/p>\n Little Richard \u201ccombined a demented shriek with outrageous camp that went completely over most British heads,\u201d Norman said. Although Paul was a soft and soothing alto, he was able to incorporate a mumble like Elvis\u2019 and a shriek like Little Richard\u2019s into his repertoire.<\/p>\n Once Paul felt like he mastered the Little Richard scream and Elvis mumble, he began performing in front of his classmates. Soon, his peers gathered around him at his school playground \u201cnot to hear a radio but a rock show,\u201d Norman said.<\/p>\n Paul often wondered what it was like to be Little Richard or Elvis and he envied them for their talent and ability to draw in large, ecstatic crowds. In fact, Paul\u2019s curiosities over these stars lead to his friendship with George Harrison. The two aspiring musicians bonded over conversations of Elvis on the school bus and soon became friends.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter \u2018Heartbreak Hotel\u2019 came out,\u201d Norman noted, \u201cmuch of Paul and George\u2019s conversation revolved around Elvis\u2014his astounding voice, his amazing clothes, the guitar that seemed his indispensable accomplice in whipping up female frenzy.\u201d<\/p>\n At the time when Paul met George, his primary instrument was the trumpet, but he also enjoyed dabbling on his family\u2019s piano. Idolizing the latest rock \u2018n\u2019 roll stars and skiffle music, a mixture of jazz, blues, and folk, of the time, Paul considered quitting the trumpet in favor of a guitar. Norman discovered that one memorable concert by British skiffle singer and songwriter Lonnie Donegan finally persuaded Paul to learn the guitar:<\/p>\n By now, the \u2018King of Skiffle\u2019 had dropped all 1930s-hobo visuals from his act, performing the ragged-arsed repertoire of Lead Belly and Woodie Guthrie in black tie, with a tuxedo trio that included a virtuoso electric guitarist, Dennie Wright. That touch of sophistication was Paul\u2019s Damascene moment; from then on, he burned to play a guitar and sing\u2014an impossibility with a trumpet.<\/p>\n After the concert, Paul forfeited his attempts to mimic Little Richard and Elvis. Mike McCartney told Norman that Paul begun to sing in his own unique voice, which seemed to differ from any other well-known artist. Out of all the artists in the charts at the time, Paul\u2019s voice most closely resembled the jazz singer, Mel Torm\u00e9, but even then, he could give it a \u201csandpapery rock \u2018n\u2019 roll edge,\u201d Norman described.<\/p>\n Photo: Akg Images. Quarrymen days. (Right to Left) Paul, John and an absurdly young looking George play at a family party<\/p><\/div>\n Soon after McCartney found his true voice, he met John Lennon at St. Peter\u2019s church in Liverpool, just before Lennon and his band, the Quarrymen, performed for an eight p.m. show. McCartney was amazed by Lennon\u2019s talent and Lennon was equally surprised by McCartney\u2019s natural ability.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the time John met Paul, his guitar and rock \u2018n\u2019 roll were all he cared about. He had just crowned his school career by failing his GCE O-Level exams in every subject,\u201d mentioned Norman.<\/p>\n An aspiring rock star, Lennon only allowed the most serious musicians to fill the empty spots in his band. Therefore, it was no surprise that McCartney was quickly welcomed by Lennon.<\/p>\n A year later, George Harrison joined and the trio embarked on a long and unpredictable journey to fame. While McCartney, Harrison, and Lennon were able to find temporary drummers along the way, it wasn\u2019t until 1962 that Ringo Starr joined.<\/p>\n When pop music entrepreneur Allan Williams\u2014under the direction of English pop manager and British rock manager Larry Parnes\u2014announced that an opening band for Billy Fury\u2014Britain\u2019s second most popular male popstar\u2014was needed, the newly named \u201cSilver Beatles\u201d promptly prepared for auditions.<\/p>\n According to Norman, the quintet of McCartney, Lennon, Harrison, bass player Stuart Sutcliffe, and last-minute drummer Johnny Hutchinson dressed in \u201cmatching black shirts, black jeans with white-piped rear pockets, and two-tone Italian shoes which Larry Parnes, in the twilight, mistook for \u2018tennis shoes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Although the Silver Beatles did not win the gig with Fury, Parnes \u201csaw something in those leaping lads in \u2018tennis shoes,\u2019\u201d Norman said. The band was therefore offered a bleak one week gig in Scotland. Harrison claimed the Beatles in Scotland were \u201clike Orphans \u2026 shoes full of holes, clothes a mess,\u201d according to Norman.<\/p>\n After the disastrous trip around Scotland, Parnes immediately terminated his working relationship with the Silver Beatles, deeming them unfit for fame. The five hopefuls returned home drained and defeated.<\/p>\n Luckily, Williams had a glimmer of hope for the future Beatles and later offered them a gig that would transform them from unknown to unbeatable.<\/p>\n AKG Images. The Apple rooftop concert, January 1969. Destined to be imitated by other bands down the decades.<\/p><\/div>\n Bruno Koschmider\u2014a club owner in the St. Pauli quarter of Hamburg, Germany\u2014asked Williams to send a band to play in one of his small establishments, the Indra, and his larger establishment, the Kaiserkeller, for six weeks. The Silver Beatles were by no means Williams\u2019 first choice to send to Hamburg, but the band lucked out when none of Williams\u2019 other options could attend.<\/p>\n The opportunity struck just before McCartney would enter teacher-training college. Since McCartney was not yet 18, he needed his father\u2019s written consent to take the gig. Like any concerned parent, Jim McCartney was hesitant to grant permission.<\/p>\n \u201cJim McCartney was predictably horrified by the thought of Paul giving up school and, even more, of his taking employment in the country which had bombed Liverpool to ruins only 20 years earlier,\u201d Norman said.<\/p>\n After thorough convincing from Paul and Mike McCartney\u2014and that Paul would earn \u00a315 a week, which was more than his father made\u2014Jim grudgingly wrote his consent.<\/p>\n Drummer Johnny Hutchinson wanted nothing more to do with the band, so McCartney, Lennon, Harrison, and Sutcliffe frantically searched for a replacement. They found his successor in a zippy coffee club called Casbah, where the Quarrymen had performed a year prior.<\/p>\n The Silver Beatles spotted Pete Best\u2014son of the coffee club owner, Mona Best\u2014drumming with his band, the Blackjacks. McCartney felt a flood of optimism as he watched Best perform. They were impressed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe band\u2019s early unofficial manager, Allan Williams, hired [him] to play the drums. The early core of the band, the famous first line-up was in place,\u201d said Noah Fleisher, author of The Beatles\u2014Fab Finds of the Fab Four.<\/em><\/p>\n The excited band arrived in Hamburg on August 17, 1960 to perform in one of the most famous red-light districts in Europe \u2026 and experience a tremendous culture shock.<\/p>\n The Beatles slept in a dreary, rat-infested room devoid of a kitchen or private toilet. Cinema shows blared at the nearby Bambi Kino, often preventing even a wink of shut eye. The band had to grow accustomed to falling asleep atop their shabby bunk beds in the freezing cold while absorbing the aroma of the nearby public bathrooms.<\/p>\n How did McCartney handle the conditions? \u201cHe imagined himself a struggling artist, a young Picasso or Matisse, surviving in a Parisian attic,\u201d Norman said.<\/p>\n The Beatles befriended the members of The Big Three, a band who\u2019d arrived in Hamburg two weeks prior. Lennon often ventured to Carmen\u2019s Bar with Brian Griffiths, a guitarist for The Big Three, while McCartney continued rehearsing.<\/p>\n Griffiths recalls the night when he and Lennon were returning from Carmen\u2019s and caught sight of McCartney rehearsing music. \u201cAbout nine o\u2019clock the next morning, we were walking back to the Indra and as we get closer, we hear a noise . . . it\u2019s Paul, alone in the empty club, practising Elvis\u2019s big ballad of 1960, \u2018It\u2019s Now or Never,\u2019\u201d Griffiths tells Norman.<\/p>\n The Beatles credited McCartney as the hardest worker, since he was always brainstorming the best lineup or incorporating the musical styles of other genres into his repertoire. \u201cThere is no doubt that the left-handed guitarist, Paul McCartney, was, is, and always will be a workaholic,\u201d said Larry Kane, author of When They Were Boys: The True Story of the Beatles\u2019 Rise to the Top.<\/em><\/p>\n Combined with awful sleeping conditions, the Beatles were pushed past exhaustion as they played five-and-a-half hours each night at the Kaiserkeller. Still, they tried their best to impress their audience, and they were succeeding. Fans would buy drinks for the Beatles until the entire front stage was brimming with beers.<\/p>\n One of the Beatles\u2019 fans was a photographer named Astrid Kirchherr with whom Sutcliffe was instantly infatuated. The two started dating and got engaged very quickly. Sutcliffe, who was a talented painter, decided to stay in Hamburg with Kirchherr and enroll in the Hamburg College of Art, leaving the Beatles to find another bassist.<\/p>\n The rest of the Beatles journeyed home with newfound confidence. If they could rile up audiences in Hamburg despite their constant fatigue, they could certainly make a greater mark in their hometown.<\/p>\n Once Paul arrived home, his father and brother quickly quenched that confidence, pointing out Paul\u2019s sickly appearance.<\/p>\n Mike McCartney told Norman that when Paul returned, he was \u201clike an emaciated skeleton,\u201d and \u201cwhen he sat down, the ankles showing above the winkle-pickers were as thin and white as Dad\u2019s pipe-cleaners.\u201d Even if McCartney had drawn new fans, it was unrealistic to continue such an unhealthy lifestyle. Consequently, Paul\u2019s father told him to get a job or leave the house.<\/p>\n Paul accepted a temporary parcel-delivery job at \u00a37 per week after his father\u2019s warning, but it wasn\u2019t long until he fell back into his dream of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. Disobeying his father for the first time, Paul decided to quit his job after Lennon called telling Paul on the phone, \u201cEither come or you\u2019re out,\u2019\u201d Lennon said, according to Norman.<\/p>\n Mona Best was eager to advertise for the band her son was in and created signs that said, \u201cThe Beatles\u2014Direct from Hamburg.\u201d She hung those signs around the neighborhood where the Casbah coffee club was located. The advertisements piqued the interest of locals, who dropped in to watch the mystery band that they thought consisted of German members.<\/p>\n Pete and Mona Best became the Beatles\u2019 new managers and organized the first gigs upon the band\u2019s return to Liverpool. According to Norman, it was on the snowy night of December 27, 1960 when the first recorded outbreak of Beatlemania occurred:<\/p>\n \u201cSince the earliest rock \u2018n\u2019 roll era \u2013 and the swing era before that \u2013 dance-hall practice had never changed: the band played while its audience danced,\u201d Norman said, \u201cBut as Paul started \u2018Long Tall Sally\u2019 in his best Little Richard scream . . . the entire crowd rushed to the stage-front and just stood there, gazing and gaping upwards.\u201d<\/p>\n Once the first episode of Beatlemania struck, the Beatles knew they were ready to take on Liverpool\u2019s Cavern Club, a worn-down venue that would eventually catapult them into worldly fame. Ray McFall, the owner, proposed that the Beatles should play during lunch hours where they would catch the attention of young, female office employees who commuted to Liverpool every day. It was here where the final four Beatles formed.<\/p>\n After dropping in on a lunchtime Beatles performance in the Cavern Club on November 9, 1961, English music entrepreneur Brian Epstein was thoroughly impressed and reported to music producer George Martin. Martin was initially hesitant about the band but signed the Beatles to a recording contract on account of Epstein\u2019s persuasion and the humorous personality of the Beatles.<\/p>\n Pete Best was soon replaced with Ringo Starr under Martin\u2019s advisement, and the duo of Epstein and Martin swiftly brought the Beatles to stardom. By the summer of 1963, the Beatles \u201cbecame like a verbal virus,\u201d Norman noted. Their name was \u201cspread by screaming teens and drumming headlines, from which no stratum of society seemed immune,\u201d Norman concluded.<\/p>\n Brain Epstein told the Beatles that they would become more acclaimed than Elvis, a phrase that would have rendered young McCartney and Harrison speechless during their school bus discussions. However, once the Beatles started to surpass Elvis in popularity, McCartney couldn\u2019t help but feel a twinge of guilt for outshining his long-loved idol. According to Norman, Paul admitted, \u201cWe never wanted to beat him. We wanted to coexist with him.\u201d<\/p>\n The year of 1963 was the breakthrough of immense fame for the Beatles. Andy Neil, editor of Looking Through You: Rare and Unseen Photographs from the Beatles Book Archive<\/em>, recounts the success of the Beatles that year:\nAs the remarkable year of 1963 ended the list of Beatle statistics was staggering\u2014\u201cShe Loves You\u201d spent four weeks perched atop the British single charts, falling back at one point but then regaining the pole position for another two weeks at the end of November before being displaced by \u201cI Want to Hold Your Hand,\u201d both singles selling well over a million: Please Please Me<\/em> had been knocked off the top of the album by its successor With the Beatles<\/em>: and Twist and Shout<\/em>, an EP with four tracks from their debut LP, made EP sales records with over 250,000 sold.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the hasty uprising of the Beatles into the spotlight contributed to the band\u2019s downfall. By 1966, the Beatles decided to embark on their last commercial tour. \u201cThanks to the unceasing, mindless screams that assailed them on every continent, they hadn\u2019t been able to hear themselves onstage since late 1963,\u201d Norman said.<\/p>\n The Beatles wanted to continue with their music, but they also wanted to hear themselves play. According to Norman, the Beatles would play songs completely out-of-tune, strike the wrong notes, or omit lyrics and roaring audiences wouldn\u2019t even notice. The band agreed that they would host their last tour together in 1966 before unwinding in the recording studio where they could peacefully perform.<\/p>\n The crazed fans and protestors had gotten out of hand during the final tour. In Tokyo, Japanese nationalists sent out death threats to the Beatles, because they abhorred the idea of a pop concert taking place in their beloved martial arts arena, Budokan Hall. In the Philippines, police and airport staff fought the Beatles for neglecting a photo-op with first lady Imelda Marcos. In America, the Ku Klux Klan sought \u201crevenge\u201d on the Beatles after Lennon made a controversial statement that the Beatles were \u201cmore popular than Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n Needless to say, the band was more exhausted than when they visited Hamburg for the first time, performing for hours on end with meager meals and scanty sleep. Norman stated that the Beatles cut their lineups to six or seven songs and even attempted to rush through the concert as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n McCartney kept his cool through the hectic period by creating disguises and purchasing a home in one of the most isolated areas of Scotland. The home he purchased is called High Park Farm, a three-bedroom home surrounded by 183 acres of rolling fields, a small loch, and the nearby Machrihanish Bay.<\/p>\n A rocky pathway separated the farm from the nearest town and is only passable by vehicles designed for off-roading. According to Norman, McCartney told Courier that High Park Farm was the most serene location he\u2019d ever encountered.<\/p>\n Norman also discovered that McCartney was not instantly welcomed into High Park Farm until the locals finally agreed that he was amicable and merely looking for an escape. A Cambeltown taxi driver named Reggie McManus told Norman, \u201cWe had no Swinging Sixties here. And a lot of people thought we were going to be invaded by hippies with all their drug-taking and free love.\u201d<\/p>\n Aside from scoping out the most remote areas to live, McCartney enjoyed experimenting with multiple disguises and walking through crowds of people unnoticed. After the Beatles\u2019 final tour, McCartney went on to tour France wearing a wig and a fake mustache. \u201cOf all the Beatles in this immediate post-touring period, Paul was the one who made most effort to return to a reasonably normal life,\u201d said Norman, referring to McCartney\u2019s clever disguises and hideouts.<\/p>\n Shortly before the Beatles announced their breakup on April 10, 1970, McCartney returned to High Park Farms and fell into depression until his wife, Linda, dragged him out and urged him to write music again.<\/p>\n The first album that McCartney created after the breakup was titled McCartney and ranked number one on the Billboard 200 chart for three weeks after its release. Although many critics disapproved of the album\u2019s unfinished songs and unpolished feel, they had nothing but praise for \u201cMaybe I\u2019m Amazed,\u201d which became the top song in the album and was inspired by his love for Linda.<\/p>\n McCartney realized that the Beatles breakup shouldn\u2019t prevent him from continuing his favorite hobby. Just as music helped McCartney cope with the loss of his mother, it also eased him out of post-Beatles depression. He was thankful that Linda encouraged him to follow his passion and formed the band Wings, assigning her to the keyboard and background vocals. Among the Wings\u2019 greatest hits were \u201cBand on the Run\u201d and \u201cLive and Let Die.\u201d<\/p>\n In later years, Paul McCartney confessed that he wasn\u2019t greatly satisfied with the Wings\u2019 musicality. Linda McCartney often endured criticism for her mediocre keyboard skills and out-of-tune singing. Still, the band achieved multiple awards before breaking up in 1981, not long after Lennon\u2019s death.<\/p>\n McCartney was devastated at the news of Lennon\u2019s murder, but later reminisced upon the competition between himself and Lennon. \u201cLennon was the avant-garde, the experimenter and risk-taker, McCartney the tuneful, the sentimental, the safe,\u201d Norman said.<\/p>\n According to Norman, McCartney realized that he preferred the \u201cback seat,\u201d saying, \u201cWhoever\u2019s second . . . just waltzes through and has an easy life.\u201d Norman also revealed that McCartney joked about Lennon\u2019s death as a \u201cfinal act of one-upmanship,\u201d saying, \u201cHe died a legend and I\u2019m going to die an old man. Typical John!\u201d<\/p>\n After Lennon\u2019s death and the breakup of Wings, McCartney vowed not to fall back into drunken despair. He returned to a solo career from that point onward, collaborating with many renowned artists along the way such as Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on March 11, 1997, just 13 months before Linda McCartney passed away from breast cancer.<\/p>\n Linda\u2019s death was one of the greatest blows for Paul, but he was guided by the memory of Linda pushing him forward in his darkest days, encouraging him to pursue music for well-being.<\/p>\n On June 8, 1998, Harrison, Starr, and McCartney performed at Linda\u2019s memorial service. \u201cThe hymns in which the congregation joined (\u2018All Things Bright and Beautiful\u2019 and \u2018Let it Be\u2019) made it possible to say they\u2019d sung together for the first time since the Apple rooftop concert in 1969,\u201d said Norman.<\/p>\n Today, McCartney continues to perform hit Beatles songs onstage with boundless energy. \u201cWhenever I do a Beatles number, all the phones come out,\u201d McCartney tells Norman. However, having won 8 of his 18 Grammy awards outside of the Beatles, it would be a crime to think of him solely in context of the Beatles.<\/p>\n McCartney has enough awards to embellish an entire home, yet he constantly craves more. He is his own greatest critic, always working to better his music and onstage persona. \u201cIn his own mind he never became the superstar he became in everyone else\u2019s,\u201d said du Noyer. McCartney relentlessly nitpicks his music and deliberates the desires of his faithful followers.<\/p>\n Even in a detailed 816-page biography, Norman can\u2019t uncover all of McCartney\u2019s secrets. But if one thing\u2019s for sure, it\u2019s that readers realize that music is McCartney\u2019s mainstay. \u201cFor all his taste and sophistication, he remains primarily a musician who functions best late at night and is happiest among others of his profession,\u201d Norman said. At 74, McCartney still prances around stages with the energy of a 20-year-old while letting music be his energizer.<\/p>\n McCartney has forever altered the music scene and continues to expand musical diversity with every new song he creates. For as long as he lives, he won\u2019t leave the music alone\u2014he just won\u2019t \u201cLet it Be.\u201d<\/p>\n Celebrating Paul McCartney<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4750,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2016","category-fall-2016-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4272"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4484,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4272\/revisions\/4484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"norman_paulmccartney-462w\"](\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Norman_PAULMcCARTNEY-462w.jpg\")
Philip Norman Turns Beatle Fascination into Biography<\/h4>\nLike Father, Like Son<\/h4>\n
Where Would He Be Without Those Bakelite Headphones?<\/h4>\n
Earliest Inspirations<\/h4>\n
Donegan Changed McCartney\u2019s Mind<\/h4>\n
![\"Photo:](\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/AKG-Images.Quarrymen-days_r-to-l_Paul.-John-and-an-absurdly-young-looking-George-play-at-a-family-party-750.jpg\")
McCartney Meets Lennon<\/h4>\n
The Godawful Gig in Scotland<\/h4>\n
![\"AKG](\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/AKG-Images.-The-Apple-rooftop-concert-January-1969.-Destined-to-be-imitaged-by-other-bands-down-the-decades...-750.jpg\")
The Beatles Head to Hamburg<\/h4>\n
Sleepless Nights in a Room of Sludge<\/h4>\n
McCartney Must Find a \u201cReal\u201d Job<\/h4>\n
Returning to the Casbah Coffee Club<\/h4>\n
A Surprise Lunchtime Guest<\/h4>\n
Becoming \u201cBigger Than Elvis\u201d<\/h4>\n
McCartney: A Master of Disguise<\/h4>\n
Post-Beatles McCartney Returns to Music<\/h4>\n
McCartney Never Backs Down from his Greatest Passion<\/h4>\n
![\"conversationwithmccartney-book-cover-456\"](\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/ConversationWithMcCartney-book-cover-456.jpg\")
Paul du Noyer, author of Conversations with McCartney<\/em>, considers it unfair that McCartney\u2019s time with the Beatles is still the principal interest among most interviewers, authors, and fans. \u201cThe trap is that the Beatles make us skimp the great music he\u2019s made in his forty-five solo years,\u201d said du Noyer, In his book, du Noyer wants to correct that imbalance. \u201cPaul said to me that his career will one day be seen in its totality.\u201d<\/p>\nPAUL MCCARTNEY: THE LIFE<\/em> by Philip Norman, published by Little, Brown and Company. Copyright \u00a9 2016 by Philip Norman. Hardcover<\/h5>\n
Conversations with McCartney\u00a0<\/em>by\u00a0Paul Du Noyer, published by The Overbrook Press. Copyright\u00a0\u00a9 2016. Hardcover.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"