Paul McCartney Spreads His Wings (1982)

 

Paul McCartney Spreads His Wings

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The Gazette (Montreal, Canada)

April 24. 1982

"Will you still need me?

 Will you still feed me?

When I'm 64?"

From the song "When I'm 64" by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

     Paul McCartney was 25 when he wrote those words in 1967. He was the most popular member of the most beloved team in the history of pop music--a group whose exuberant message was built around youth and a sense of optimism. 

    So what could have been more playful in those days than a song about retirement, something that seemed a lifetime away today? Pushing 40, McCartney still exhibits the charm and disarming smile that made him the favorite Beatle in the '60s, but you can also see gray in his hair and lines around his eyes.

     He has gone through much in recent years, besides the trauma of John Lennon's death, was also the Tokyo drug bust for marijuana possession in 1980 that could have resulted in a lengthy prison sentence. Then there was the death of Elvis Presley, McCartney's first rock hero, and the responsibilities of raising four children. 

    So it's no wonder there is a lot of reflection in his new album, Tug of War (easily the most satisfying work from McCartney since his Band on the Run and Venus and Mars period in the mid 70s). For all his craftsmanship, McCartney has been frequently ridiculed by critics for the lack of substance in his music. But Tug of War, which is due for release in Montreal next Thursday, abounds with commentary, though much of it is packaged in such bright colors that the LPS tone remains hopeful. 

    The album, which reunites McCartney with Beatles producer George Martin, features such guest musicians as Stevie Wonder, Ringo Starr, Carl Perkins, and bassist Stanley Clarke. The tracks on Tug of War range from the reassuring "Somebody Who Cares" to the title tune, a richly designed but melancholy statement that outlines the album's primary theme, about life struggles. 

    The most immediately accessible number is "Ebony and Ivory," a graceful expression of brotherhood featuring a duet with Stevie Wonder. Wings guitarist Denny Laine and vocalist Linda McCartney, Paul's wife, are on most of the songs on Tug of War, but it is essentially a Paul McCartney album. In fact, its release signals the breakup, at least for the foreseeable future, of Wings as a group.

     Asked whether the challenge of working with Martin and Wonder seemed to have been good for him. McCartney nods vigorously. "I don't want to take away from Wings, but it's true, I needed that," he said. "I've been feeling there was something missing. And making this album, I found out what it was when George and I were working on the orchestral arrangements for the song 'Tug of War', for example, we recorded the orchestra, and it sounded pretty good, but we had some bass parts we hadn't recorded quite right. And George said, 'Look, this is my reputation, and yours going right on the line. Would you mind if we brought the orchestra back and recorded it again?' So we did it at a huge cost to somebody, probably us in the end, but it was worth it."

     Wonder also refused to settle for less than the best. After Wonder and McCartney had recorded "Ebony and Ivory," they began jamming in the studio. Wonder on synthesizer, McCartney on drums. "He told me I was playing a bit too busily," McCartney recalled, "and I slightly resented it at the time, but he was right. I played more simply and in five minutes, Stevie living and breathing music the way he does, we-- actually mostly he --had come up with another song."

     Tug of War also contains a song about John Lennon titled "Here Today". It's a deeply personal ballad in the "Yesterday" tradition. McCartney reconstructs the final dialogue with Lennon, trying to break through the public feud of the post-Beatle years to re-establish a strong emotional bond that he felt still existed.

     During a brief stop in Los Angeles to record some vocal tracks for the next Michael Jackson album, McCartney spoke about the song. "One of the feelings you always have when someone close to you dies is that you wish you could have seen him the day before to square everything up and make sure he knew how much you really cared. The song is about saying to John, 'Do we really have to keep this sort of thing (the feud) up?' But we never got around to doing it. I guess we never felt any urgency about it. We were behaving like we were going to live forever, which is what everyone thought in the Beatles days, right? I mean, whoever thought we were going to die?"

     About the album's reflective theme, McCartney said, "At one time, I didn't think life was a tug of war, even when I wrote "When I'm 64," I had the feeling that everything was possible. The age 64 seemed as far away to me as 150.  Not until you get into your 30s do you start seeing the other side of it. You see how your life can be affected by things that are irrational and beyond your control. You suddenly begin to realize how delicate everything is.

     McCartney, always the gentleman, is courteous in interviews, but he seemed much more at ease this day than during the interviews.  In 1974, for instance, he was especially uncomfortable when discussing the Beatles. After a few questions on the old group, he flatly refused to consider any more.  By his 1976 tour with his group Wings, however, he was more open to the early days. One reason was that the success of the tour and the Band On the Run album eased some of the insecurity about his solo career. Yet McCartney still seemed guarded at the time, weighing answers in his head before speaking to make sure it sounded okay. This time, however, McCartney responded quickly, and no subject was off limits. He seemed especially pleased with his new album, and was excited about working with musicians of the caliber of Wonder and Jackson.

Question:  Why did you decide to work with George Martin again? Do you think you may have avoided working with him before because of his ties to the Beatles days?

Answer: Sure, I did "Live and Let Die" with him, but never a whole album. I don't think I could have for a while after the Beatles break up, everything was so weird. Everyone was warring, and we didn't want to be around anything or anyone who reminded us of the pain. In my shows, I wouldn't even do Beatles songs at first; they almost had to break my arm to get me to even do "Yesterday", which was silly, because I loved a lot of those songs. The thing is, I had to convince myself there was life for me after the Beatles. So I couldn't very well go back to George Martin because he was part of the Beatles. Eventually, though, you get over all that.

 Question: Did you approach the new album differently from the others with Wings?

Answer: Yes. Normally, I just sort of run in and start the album. But this time, we did a lot of preparation ahead of time. For one thing, we decided not to use the other guys in Wings. I wanted the freedom to use anyone. If I  made another album with Wings, I felt I'd be limiting myself.  If I wanted a certain guitar sound,  I wanted to be able to get the right guitarist. So we ended up casting each part just the way you might in a movie.

 Question: When you wrote "64", what did you think you would be doing at 40?

 Answer: We used to laugh at the idea of still rocking at 40. I remember when I was a kid, there were pop guys like Frank Ifield, who seemed ancient when he was only 25.  We were sure the whole thing would be over at 30. Then you start pushing it back to 30 and 40, and now 45?  The truth is, I'm still very excited about the future musically. I suddenly realized I got millions of musical ambitions. There are so many things I still haven't done. It's been really liberating working with some of these new musicians.

 Question:  What about touring?

 Answer: Before John's death, I'd been thinking about it, but his death changed a lot of that stuff, because it made me--- don't know,--- it just sort of changed my plans. Now I'm not really bothering to have any plans about it, but I do still enjoy performing. I eventually like to go out with some of the musicians I've been working with lately. They're so good, and they challenge you to do your best, but like I used to get with the Beatles.

 Question:  There seems to be more ambitious concepts involved in Tug of War than in most of your albums. 

Answer:   I didn't want a formal concept, but I did have this idea about a tug of war, which is the struggle of all types, man, woman, yes, no, life, death, countries, anything. It's nice to have a general theme to an album because it gives you a direction. If we have a song about crying, we could immediately follow with one about laughing. Everything really is a tug of war. I eventually wrote a song to go along with that idea.

Question:   Did you resist writing the song about John at first?

 Answer: Yes. I worried that it might not be good enough and that someone might think I was trying to cash in on it or something, but eventually I realized it was silly. I figured I'd just let it happen naturally. If I wrote a song about John, okay, if I didn't, it's okay too. I've always had two sides to me, the creative and the judicial. The creative starts to do something, and the judicial starts to question and second-guess 'Is that right? "Does that make sense?" "What will people think?'  I've been trying to make sure the judicial doesn't interfere with the creative.  Anyway, I kind of forgot about the whole thing until I sat down one day and struck the beginning chords of "Here Today", and it fell out. 

Question: It must have been quite moving for you.

 Answer:  I was kind of crying when I wrote it. I'm sure you understand why, without me going into it. His death is something that the three of us find very difficult to talk about, even to each other. 

Question: The song is like a dialogue with John. 

Answer:  One of my feelings, even when he used to lay into me, was that he really didn't mean it. I could always see why he was doing it. There was this attempt to get rid of the specter of me, which I understand, because he had to clear the decks just like I did, at least, that's my feeling. And Yoko may read it and think 'that's not how it was at all.'  And the song John would hear me say that and say, 'Oh, piss off. You don't know me at all!  We're worlds apart. You used to know me, but I've changed.'  But I feel I still knew him. The song is me trying to talk back to him, but realizing the futility of it, because he's no longer here, even though that's a fact I can't quite believe to this day. 

Question: Was the I love you part hard to say?

 Answer: Of course.  Part of me said, 'Wait a minute. Are you really going to do that?' I finally just said, 'Yeah, I've got to. It's true."