Thursday, November 18, 2021

Two Terry Gross interviews with Paul McCartney, 20 years apart

The first interview is from 2001. McCartney mentions he had "people to talk to" in his "large supportive family." Compared to Lennon's "small range" and "strange upbringing" which "didn't help his emotional profile."

A few years ago I observed that "Eleanor Rigby" was a real feat of emotional imagination by McCartney. He sang about middle-aged loneliness as a pop star in his twenties who had an upbringing in a large supportive family. 

I learned something new about Lennon/McCartney in this interview - Lennon cleared the line "the Walrus was Paul" from "Glass Onion" with McCartney. 

McCartney loses his shit, just a little bit, talking about the fact that his wife and his mother both got  cancer, at minute 42:00 - "... echos... I tried not to notice." 




This second interview is very recent - November 3, 2021. Gross is now 70, McCartney is 79. Gross's voice is pretty much unchanged from the 2001 interview. McCartney's is noticeably different. 

McCartney says his best song is "Here, There and Everywhere" but I think "I've Just Seen a Face" is his supreme masterpiece. 

There's quite a bit of discussion about the new Peter Jackson film made from the "Let It Be" sessions outtakes. McCartney likes it because he felt that the original Let It Be made him look like the bad guy - and so much that he came to believe it. But, he says, the new footage "proves... that we loved each other."

The best part was when Terry asks him about being almost 80 and he says: "I'm twenty-five, actually..." which is the exact age I think I am, in my head. Also great - they share a laugh and I don't think I've ever heard McCartney just laugh out loud like that. At minute 33:45 ish. Good stuff.




Another Terry Gross Fresh Air goody - her tribute to the Colbert Report with excerpts from several interviews with Colbert.