PBW: Hi Paul, I’m a member of the Steve Hoffman Music Forums. Let’s chat about McCartney III.
Macca: I’m a fan! Welcome! Your going to ask me why I’m a fan - it is because I get insomnia from time to time, so I read it.....(laughs)..go on, my staff are the real fans, they track everything!
PBW: You and our members are well aware of all the info on this album, the backstory, etc, I’ll try and ask questions that will........
Macca: ...Don’t worry, I’ll give you guys new stuff......
PBW: Clear this up - did Rusty get in trouble for saying he and Abe was on a track and....
Macca, Not at all. The “suits” were pissed, the whole purity of my solo album bit....nonsense, I did everything, but that track was old...anyway, when I heard, I rang Rusty and we laughed.....and edited his video, not at my wish...the suits...
PBW: overall, anything we don’t know already on the making of.......
Macca: Only one thing - the Magic Closet . I have it in my studio, it has clothes......from my musical past.....sometimes I’m writing/recording and I’ll feel the spirit of that time and put the Vintage Clothes on to get the vibe going that way, other times... it’s the reverse.
PBW; I see, I think, like ......would that apply to this album?
Macca: Totally, like When Winter Comes. Put on The Whites” - the clothes we wore in India. You know those acoustic songs,. But now that one was back in Flaming Pie Days. The intro to WWC and first song. Long Tail Winter Bird was a White Clothes time. “Do you miss me “ implies I have returned to my roots , back from being “Dead”
And taking me back where I came from.....(laughs). White Album. There’s a lot going on in that song, it hits you right in the face, but affects you on different layers, actually the whole album does that. I baked it that way. I missed me! Got nice rhythms cooking on that! That came from India.
PBW:Your not pulling my leg , are you?
Macca: No - but Taylor Swift- I pulled HER leg! Nice person, talented, friends , but I had to laugh when in The Rolling Stone Interview she dropped some of her contemporaries names, like I was supposed to be impressed ........uh if I wanted to drop names, Jimi, Jimmy, Eric,Mick, John, George, Rings.....(laughs).
PBW: Find My Way.....
Macca: Yeah, no dress up for that, modern vibe, natural high, feeling great, want to help everyone as anxiety is rampant with COVID, call me, it’s also the internet , open 24/7, lights on. You know that line about being afraid of days like these? Thank you, John Lennon for coining that phrase, fits the pandemic period well. Nobody Told Me (There’d Be Days Like These) You Know before Yoko I helped him with his anxieties.....
That Dick Dale faux surf riff does mean surfing! But surfing the internet! Open ‘round the clock, seeking info, SHF, (laughs). Woo Hoo!
PBW: Some readers - not all- get annoyed with Interviewers and you with all the Beatle references.....l.
Macca; Look! They are my brothers, 2 passed early, both were victims of violence, Assination, then Cancer
We made the best music together, we , John and I were ......Sorry, I agree to some extent, I’ve had great mates in my bands and of course the love of my li.......uh.Linda. But George and Ringo, all of us , no musical or friendship is even planers away from that. We were Blood Brothers.
Hey you mentioned Rusty, he, Wix, Abe , Brian are fab musicians, great friends. Wonderful people.
You see, they are of my kids generation, so that bond can never. .... Sorry, yeah , the guys in Wings , we were close, at times, but we really are talking about the creative nature of making magic - music and that standard for me is.......speaking of all those Pretty Boys...
PBW: Please do.....
Macca: Your thinking it sounds like Vanilla Sky, Why So Blue? Right? I’ve heard that, you guys have no idea how different they are. Make a song someday and get back to me about that.......oh yeah it’s about......
PBW: You, your old band and manager Brian Epstein.
Macca: Got more theories?
PBW: Commentary On sexism by guys towards women, so you reversed the roles.
How society creates fantasy life which is so unrealistic there is not enough reality for a true fantasy. Is it about Stella’s Industry , Fashion?
Macca: Yes.
PBW: Any of that on the mark?
Macca: All of it. None of it. It’s up to the listener. Look, art I see is an exchange between the artist and the recipient of that art, song in this case. It’s not stagnant, it’s alive. I was deliberately vague. Maybe too vague. Maybe too close to home.
PBW: Speaking of Home..... Woman and Wives sounds very down home.
Macca: Your right on that, the music is very earthy, blues, speaking of fate, action, ups, downs, despite my very whiteness (laughs), being very Anglo, it surprises people that I am very earthy, roots oriented, more than one great Soul Singer has said I’ve got something they recognize in me. And vice versa. I think this song is important for balance on this record, so much of it is of light, sky and modernism - the Earth of this song needs to ground it. Plus it’s fun for me.
I made a video for Early Days with some true Bluesmen. I had good teaching there.
PBW: Any Vintage Clothes you put on for the making of Lavatory Lill?
Macca: I’ll tell you - but first - it’s not (looking very serious here) NOT about my daughter’s mom. I would never slag the mother of my daughter, to anyone - ESPECIALLY in song - released to the world! Look, (takes several deep breaths)
I m not mad at you, it’s just the tabloids have been out of control, worse in England over the years. George put it perfectly when he said we sacrificed our nervous systems. Sometimes, I throw the Tabs a bone - so they keep other stuff quiet.
Where were we? (Smiles) Oh Lill, I put on The Leather from Hamburg, we would drink, pop pills in the lavatories.
Sometimes a gal, Lill if you will, would come in to the Lav and consummate our new acquaintance. Up until Hamburg it was just the Magazines that had the girl water skiers remove their clothes.......you know that song?
The chorus in the Lill song is there because me and my mates were there in the Lav with Lill. So when anyone screws around with us since then, we consider them as no better than those poor tarts we were friends with....
PBW: one more before we break?
Macca: Wimp. ( laughs), what better thing do have to do? I believe Slidin’ is next?
PBW: (Nervous laughter)
Macca: For this song I had a nice little jam from a pre concert rehearsal . THEN I went to the Magic Closet and put on my Wings Over America Glitter Suit...and BAM! It all came together. Very Led Zeppy. First half of recording, I wish I’d have mixed it with more air to breath, it’s a bit dense and cluttered. But then it smokes Redwood Trees! Whew , Rusty comes in hot and we are in flight. Abe propelling us into the sky with his drum sticks! You know this is about doing donuts with airplanes. Loop de loop! Windows in my hair - think about that! Rock and Roll!
We agree to meet in a small while for the second side.
TO BE CONTINUED...................
What the fuck have I just read?
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