Paul Vs. the "Big Boys"

 Paul v. the Big Boys

Written By Mark Cox

Reading Evening Post

February 12, 1993

    Paul McCartney is stuck for words. The ex-Beatle, famous for his beautiful ballads, said the state of the world is making him swear. Paul explains the obscene lyrics on his latest CD single as a protest against "men in suits," greedy businessmen, and the government putting profits over people. 

    Paul, 50 says the effects of the recession and holes in the ozone layer are giving him sleepless nights at his sheep farm in Scotland, and he said that's the reason he's used blue language on the controversial track Big Boys Bickering for the first time in his 30 year recording career.

     He said,  "It's just about men in smoke-filled rooms deciding our future and nearly always deciding a lot of things we don't want. It's a protest song against that kind of thing, people just arbitrarily signing our future away. I had to use the F word in it, which, to me, isn't that shocking. Instead of saying, 'They're mucking it up for everyone,' I used the F word. I've never used it before in a song, and I don't use it that often in conversation, but I felt it was essential to the plot in that song."

     Some radio stations have banned the track, but Paul is defiant. "Basically, I'd advise people with young kids who don't want them to hear that word on my record, to lock them out of the room or not buy the CD single. As far as human rights issues go, I don't really want to go around the world preaching, but I'm the father of four kids, and I think people like to hear me standing up for things like human rights and ecology."

    " If the governments sort out, then I'll sit down because I don't really want this job."  Paul added, "I'm not saying I'm depressed about the state of the world because I'm pretty optimistic normally, but it's in a bit of a funny state. Now, you've only got to look at the news and stuff with the with the recession and stuff over the last few years, it's obviously got very difficult for people. Maybe it doesn't affect someone like me, who's well off so much, but you still sense the climate, and you still look at the news, and you still say, 'Oh God, it's all going wrong.' 

    People will say, 'Hey, you're just a pop star. What do you know? You don't know the details,' but I am a person, and I'm talking as a person and as a father. And it doesn't take much intelligence to see a 50-mile hole in the sky letting in skin cancer to have an opinion on it."

     Paul said writing his last batch of songs took him back to his heyday with The Beatles. "I suppose in the 60s, we did a lot of that kind of stuff. And I don't see anything wrong with it if you can express that spirit."

     And he gets back with the other two Beatles, George Harrison and Ringo Starr later this year. "They (a television company) are making a 10-part documentary series about the Beatles story. I suggested that if they wanted any bits of music that they needed, it might be a good idea for me, George, and Ringo to maybe make a fresh piece of music. It kind of gives us an excuse to get together, really, without a heavy pressure situation. It's only a little revival."

    Making this new album was a useful warm-up for his forthcoming World Tour, which takes off in Australia in March, and it was an exercise in pure nostalgia at a one-and-a-half-hour rehearsal concert for fan club members and invited guests at the London Dockland.

     Paul and his band went down a storm performing songs from the new album, as well as Beatles classics like "Lady Madonna", "Let It Be," "Michelle," and "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". But Paul has no plans to re-record Beatles favorites. I" don't think there's much chance of buying the Beatles songs off Michael Jackson. He was able to buy them because they were just for sale on the open market, and he had a lot of money after his Thriller album. In actual fact, I advised him to get into music publishing, and he said to me, 'I'm going to buy your songs'. I thought he was joking."

     Paul's personal wealth is 380 million pounds. It is probably higher than the Queen's, about 150 million, but he still feels as strongly on issues like vegetarianism. Paul said, "Normally, I just talk about it at home with Linda and the kids or with friends or whatever. When I get this higher profile, I think it's silly to waste it, and I feel that people don't mind me being their voice for these kind of things."