During each two-and-a-half-hour show on Paul McCartney's first tour since 1976, his warmth and natural showmanship-a blend of personality, 25 years of hit songs, and musicianship-convert the sell-out arena crowd from an expectant but "show me" audience to a frenzied throng. That should inspire confidence in anyone. That's onstage.
But when it comes to write and record a new song, there's always that uncertainty factor: After so many years of turning out a stream of catchy tunes and creating some of the most influential bass lines in pop music, is there still magic waiting to be brought forth? Every time he sits down to write, and every time he plugs in the bass, it's back to square one.
Yeah, he was a Beatle. Yeah, he's incredibly famous. And, yeah, he's likely more successful than any player in history. But above all else, he's a musician, and like any of his peers-famous or not-past accomplishments are no guarantee of future success.
Paul's had ups and downs, and to most people it would seem that being in the world's biggest band would be a virtually impossible act to follow. When the Beatles broke up, he could have walked away from the music business, and who would have blamed him? There's just one catch. The man loves music. At 48, he's leading his latest band with the enthusiasm characteristic of players half his age. From the minute he hits the stage for an afternoon soundcheck until the last note of the evening's encore, he's into it.
Before he had money or fame, or even a decent guitar, Paul McCartney was digging Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Fats Domino, tapping into rock and roll to inspire his budding writing, singing, and playing abilities. Those influences are a strong part of early Beatles music, the propulsive force behind the Fab Four-Paul, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr-But as time passed, Paul's songwriting and playing evolved dramatically, becoming practically a genre unto themselves, almost as far removed from Chuck Berry as from Beethoven or Bach.
Despite decades of evolution, McCartney never lost touch with his roots. He returned to them for Back In The U.S.S.R., a 1988 album on which he covered '50s gems by his early heroes (the album was originally released only in the U.S.S.R.). During the jams that culminated in the LP Paul also started playing guitar in a band, something he hasn't done since long before the Beatles conquered the world. Of course, he hadn't given up for all those years: He picked guitar in the studio with the Beatles and Wings, as well as on solo recordings. However, he had almost always appeared onstage with his violin-shaped Hofner or his Rickenbacker 4001 bass.
Besides picking up the guitar again, Paul-at the insistence of new songwriting partner Elvis Costello-dusted off the old Hofner that had been in hibernation since the Beatles did "Get Back" on Apple Studios' rooftop for Let It Be in 1969. He applied it to Costello's "Veronica" on 1988's Spike.
For 1989's Flowers In The Dirt, McCartney used a variety of guitars and basses, including his old Hofner friend and his new 5-string Wal. Partly as a result of the Flowers sessions, partly as fallout from the U.S.S.R. album, and partly as an outgrowth of weekly jam sessions, a new band evolved, featuring McCartney on bass, guitar, piano, and vocals, his wife Linda on keyboards and backing vocals, Chris Whitten on drums, Hamish Stuart on guitar, bass, and backing vocals, Robbie McIntosh on guitar and vocals, and Paul Wickens (a.k.a. Wix) on keyboards. Since last year, McCartney and band have played to packed stadiums all over the world (including a 150,000-person venue in Rio de Janeiro).
Over the years, Paul has participated in charitable events, including Live Aid and the Prince's Trust concerts. He is currently promoting Friends Of The Earth, an environmental group. For musicians, though, few projects that he has lent his name to can equal his participation in Standing In The Shadows Of Motown: The Life And Music Of Legendary Bassist James Jamerson [Hal Leonard]. Acting as emcee to the accompanying cassettes, the English bassist had a rare opportunity to pay tribute to one of his contemporaries-and influences-from the '60s, a man who, like Paul McCartney, played a major role in shaping rock bass.
Q. You contributed to the book on James Jamerson. When did you first hear about him?
A. Well, I didn't realize who I was hearing for all those years-like a lot of people on the Motown stuff. I was always attracted to the bass lines. They had their own guys in Motown and their regular house band.
Q. You knew who the fronting artist was, but not the support players.
A. Exactly. It was just an artist on Motown. And we loved all those backing tracks and all those sort of "Heard It Through The Grapevine" songs. They were huge pieces of music for us. Just the backing tracks-never mind the great vocals in front of them. When they used to ask me who my favorite bass player was, I would say, "That Motown guy. The guy who plays in the band." But I never really knew who he was. Then James Jamerson, Jr. wrote and said, "I'm doing this big project to kind of get my dad's name known a bit more." I didn't even know who he was. So I did that, and it was very nice. I was happy to be of some use.
Q. By the time you first heard James Jamerson, you'd formed your own style. But was there anything that made you say, "Oh, I'll take a little of this or a little of that"?
A. Oh, sure. I'm always taking a little of this and a little of that. It's called being influenced. It's either called that or stealing. And what do they say? A good artist borrows; a great artist steals-or something like that. That makes us great artists then, because we stole a lot of stuff. If anyone ever said to us, "Wow! Where's that from?" we'd say, "Well, Chuck Berry," or that the "I Saw Her Standing There" riff is from [Berry's] "I'm Talki...
https://www.beatles.ru/books/paper.asp?id=2458
