Only recently had I given his advanced age much thought. Seems like only recently Alamo Drafthouse had their sing-along for his 64th birthday; 2006 and still at the original Fourth and Colorado location. Paul is doing much better than other Pop stars at 80. Frank Sinatra was pretty disappointing according to those who paid money to see him plus a person I met wrote a paper on him saying his last wife ran things; she used medication to turn him “on” and “off” to generate revenue.
But today is about Paul and congratulation to him for living so long. Now if he’d tell his hordes of fans/worshippers to stop shoving the Beatles down my throat and telling me to collapse on my knees to thank the gods for them inventing everything! It’s why I call the Fab Four the North Korea of Pop Music. I don’t blame Paul and Ringo for this, it’s their diehard fans, especially the ones born too late to be actual first-generation of fans. Paul should be grateful that Ayn Rand’s missionaries and the Turdcoats pushing the boring Firefly show are worse.
His recent solo album McCartney III was pretty decent, not as appealing as his run in the Seventies yet not as boring as everything he did between 1985 to 2020. Working with producer Youth didn’t help in the Aughts; Youth almost ruined Crowded House in 1993. I can’t put my finger on why I didn’t like Flaming Pie, Flowers in the Dirt or Egypt Station. I just couldn’t sit through them. Nothing was appealing nor interesting. It’s a shame too. I loved his Seventies work all the way up to Tug of War, the latter was one of the first albums I received 40 years ago for my birthday. Many people shit on Tug due to the schmaltzy and lazy “Ebony and Ivory” hit he did with Stevie Wonder, oddly, you rarely hear it anywhere. I will give the critics the easy win there much like I do with the title tack on Hotel California. This hatred unfortunately blinds them to the superior tracks “Take It Away” and the better Wonder contribution, “What’s That You’re Doing?” Brian Wilson recently covered “Wanderlust” a decade ago which gave Paul’s odd ballad further listening reconsideration from me. I only wish he gave his blessing to the tribute Listen to What the Man Said due to all the heavy hitters contributing: The Finn Brothers, Sloan, Semisonic, They Might be Giants and Barenaked Ladies. The profits were donated to a charity fighting the cancer that killed Linda. I do applaud Paul’s willingness to collaborate to this day, namely singing lead vocals on a tune Steve Martin wrote called “Best Love” and I stumbled upon him covering “I’m Partial To Your Abracadabra,” for a tribute album dedicated to Ian Drury and the Blockheads. There’s numerous stories about him riding the bus around NYC too when he could have a personal car taking everywhere. I doubt it’s the stingy Scotsman in his DNA. To me this dismisses accusations of Paul having a huge ego. I’m confident he has one larger than many. I just don’t think it’s on the same scale as other, less talented shit birds. Kanye West quickly comes to mind.
Happy Birthday Paul! I’m glad you weren’t buried and had a doppelgänger take your place in the late Sixties. Such silliness is another example and major explanation for why weed is called dope.