Paul Lashes at Sniping Beatle Fans (1966)

 Paul lashes at sniping Beatle Fans

By Ray Coleman

Disc & Music Echo

June 18, 1966

    Paul McCartney has only one regret at being famous. It finally hit him one day when he woke up to find that an admirer had painted messages on the front door of the Beatle's new house in London. 

    "Who do they think we are, mugs?" He exploded. "I don't think the people who take liberties and do things like this can really be fans. They're troublemakers, and we can do without them, because they're just not decent people.

    "People explain it all away by saying, 'Oh, well, Paul, if you're in business as a big star and you like the limelight, you've got to take all that goes with it.' That's a load of crap. I've never believed that we have to put up with this sort of treatment, and we wouldn't, whoever we were. 

    "I've got a new house, and like anybody with a new house, I take pride in it. I don't expect people to come up there day and night and dab paint all over it. I expect they thought, 'Ha, ha, isn't it cute painting the front door pink for Paul?' Well, it depends on the shade of pink. 

    "Fans should realize that we are normal human beings who occasionally like to get away from it all. I don't have any time for the wreckers, because they just can't be fans if they treat us like fools."

     The penalties of Beatledom affect autograph hunters, too. Paul is hounded by those who have discovered where he lives, and he says he finds it embarrassing to deal with them. "They think, 'Oh, he's hanging around doing nothing. He'll sign this for me.' The trouble is that if you sign a few one day, the fans who got them that day will be back later with a dozen other friends, and the thing snowballs like mad.

     "Surely people can realize that we like a bit of time off. Some of them must wonder why we run away, and we won't sign autographs, but it's not a question of being lousy or tight or difficult. We've just got to protect ourselves from being invaded all the time, every day. That's why pop stars don't talk to fans as much as they'd like to. The fans don't make it easy. 

    "I still love meeting fans, but if I went up to a fan and start talking, I just make things impossible for myself.

    "Why do you think the Walkers don't talk to people very freely? It's just the same, fans go mad and make stars' lives hell. 

    "Do you know Joan Baez never gives autographs? We were with her once in the States, and when somebody went up to her and asked her to sign. She said, 'Sorry, I don't sign autographs, but I'll shake your hand.'"

     But despite the rigors of fanmanship, Paul thinks Beatle life well worth the trials. "Sometimes," he said, "I wonder about it all. We have to go through all this business with the so-called fans, but for every dozen who are wreckers and fools, there are about 1000 real fans, and we never get tired of them. They make it all worthwhile."