Happy birthday Pau... Sir Paul! (he's 70, not 64!)
Uke said
1:43 AM, 06/18/12
Paul McCartney at 70: still at number one
His performance at the Queen's jubilee concert was a reminder of his unique and deserved status in the national culture
His music has been loved for half a century, but Paul McCartney has probably never been more admired than he is on Monday, his 70th birthday and with good reason. His performance at the Queen's jubilee concert earlier this month was not his best, but it was an unerringly powerful reminder of his unique and deserved status in the national culture. So, likewise, will be his place at the climax of next month's Olympic games opening ceremony. Paul McCartney is the top of the bill for a reason.
That reason is his songs. Dozens, even hundreds, lots written with John Lennon, many written on his own, a few duds certainly but, all in all, the greatest songwriting career of the era. Where to start? Perhaps with PS, I Love You in 1962. Or maybe All My Loving, Can't Buy Me Love, I've Just Seen a Face, and loads more; you all know them, make your own list it will be a long one. He defined and moved with the swing of the 60s, morphing from besuited moptop to kaftanned hippie, as he broke out of the confines of the rock'n'roll ditty to dream up the Technicolour glories of Sgt Pepper. Through the dope and facial hair, there was always regard for deeper traditions, and from Penny Lane to Blackbird the one constant was craftsmanship in fusing melody and verse. The greatest songwriter since Schubert, the Times music critic William Mann boldly asserted back then. That claim doesn't seem hubristic now. No one has a back catalogue to touch his. But back catalogue doesn't do justice to the sheer artistic generosity he has bequeathed. His songs are our songs too.
He has gone through periods of being uncool but then McCartney is a working-class northerner in a London posh-boy dominated country and he has lived a long time. There was a time when the Stones had more attitude, then punk, then hip-hop. But whose songs will last longest? No contest. Lennon, edgier, more aggressive and dead, was more rebellious, more political. But it was the two of them together who led the revolution. And McCartney stayed in Britain, fought to save his local NHS hospital, sent his kids to state schools and would have been entitled to say "I earn a lot of money, so I pay a lot of taxes," even if, frustratingly, Google doesn't confirm the clear memory that he did.
Watching him at the jubilee concert was to be reminded that McCartney too is a national figure. If the Queen is an embodiment of one sort of Britain, McCartney is the embodiment of another, the egalitarian achieving social democratic optimism of the 1960s. From Love Me Do right through to Abbey Road's The End, his songs say I love you and I want you to love me a better philosophy than much that came later, not just in music. What makes you proud to be British? Well, Paul McCartney does, for one. Number one, yet again.
Uke said
1:44 AM, 06/18/12
P.S., Fuck Troll! (And Buckethead tu!)
Cy Valley said
1:49 AM, 06/18/12
Bucket will be along afterwhile to tell us he hates Sir Paul, too. Maybe. If he does (and I don't think he will), I'll add a hearty Fuck Bucket. On those conditions.
The Krink said
7:24 AM, 06/19/12
Paul is dead dont you know. I am the walrus koo-koo-ka-choo.
Cy Valley said
11:05 AM, 06/19/12
Yes, and Elvis is quietly retired in Michigan.
Troll said
6:05 AM, 06/20/12
Uke said
8:05 AM, 06/20/12
Guess who else is 70? Beach Boys main man, songwriter, lead singer...
Paul McCartney at 70: still at number one
His performance at the Queen's jubilee concert was a reminder of his unique and deserved status in the national culture
His music has been loved for half a century, but Paul McCartney has probably never been more admired than he is on Monday, his 70th birthday and with good reason. His performance at the Queen's jubilee concert earlier this month was not his best, but it was an unerringly powerful reminder of his unique and deserved status in the national culture. So, likewise, will be his place at the climax of next month's Olympic games opening ceremony. Paul McCartney is the top of the bill for a reason.
That reason is his songs. Dozens, even hundreds, lots written with John Lennon, many written on his own, a few duds certainly but, all in all, the greatest songwriting career of the era. Where to start? Perhaps with PS, I Love You in 1962. Or maybe All My Loving, Can't Buy Me Love, I've Just Seen a Face, and loads more; you all know them, make your own list it will be a long one. He defined and moved with the swing of the 60s, morphing from besuited moptop to kaftanned hippie, as he broke out of the confines of the rock'n'roll ditty to dream up the Technicolour glories of Sgt Pepper. Through the dope and facial hair, there was always regard for deeper traditions, and from Penny Lane to Blackbird the one constant was craftsmanship in fusing melody and verse. The greatest songwriter since Schubert, the Times music critic William Mann boldly asserted back then. That claim doesn't seem hubristic now. No one has a back catalogue to touch his. But back catalogue doesn't do justice to the sheer artistic generosity he has bequeathed. His songs are our songs too.
He has gone through periods of being uncool but then McCartney is a working-class northerner in a London posh-boy dominated country and he has lived a long time. There was a time when the Stones had more attitude, then punk, then hip-hop. But whose songs will last longest? No contest. Lennon, edgier, more aggressive and dead, was more rebellious, more political. But it was the two of them together who led the revolution. And McCartney stayed in Britain, fought to save his local NHS hospital, sent his kids to state schools and would have been entitled to say "I earn a lot of money, so I pay a lot of taxes," even if, frustratingly, Google doesn't confirm the clear memory that he did.
Watching him at the jubilee concert was to be reminded that McCartney too is a national figure. If the Queen is an embodiment of one sort of Britain, McCartney is the embodiment of another, the egalitarian achieving social democratic optimism of the 1960s. From Love Me Do right through to Abbey Road's The End, his songs say I love you and I want you to love me a better philosophy than much that came later, not just in music. What makes you proud to be British? Well, Paul McCartney does, for one. Number one, yet again.
Guess who else is 70? Beach Boys main man, songwriter, lead singer...
Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. On stage, Wilson provided many of the lead vocals, and often harmonized with the group in falsetto. Early during his on-stage career, Wilson primarily played bass on stage, but gradually transitioned to primarily playing piano/keyboards. Besides being the primary composer in The Beach Boys, he also functioned as the band's main producer and arranger. After signing with Capitol Records in mid-1962, Wilson wrote or co-wrote more than two dozen Top 40 hits including "Surfin' Safari", "Surfin' USA", "Shut Down", "Little Deuce Coupe", "Be True to Your School", "In My Room", "Fun, Fun, Fun", "I Get Around", "Dance Dance Dance", "Help Me Rhonda", "California Girls" and "Good Vibrations".[2]
-- Edited by Uke on Wednesday 20th of June 2012 08:09:28 AM
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