Paul Explains Lennon-McCartney vs. McCartney-Lennon [Archive]

beatlz

Apr 07, 2003, 12:42 AM

Paul Explains Lennon-McCartney vs. McCartney-Lennon
Sat Apr 5,12:18 AM ET

By Michelle Green

LONDON (Reuters) - Former Beatle Paul McCartney (news) hit back at critics on Saturday, saying a decision to reverse the traditional "Lennon-McCartney" songwriting credit on his new album was not a slur on his band mate but a chance to "put the record straight."

In an interview with Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper, 60-year-old McCartney -- currently on the European leg of his Back in the World tour -- said he was simply "letting people know that the songs I sing today are my own."

He said he had no doubts that fellow Beatle John Lennon (news) -- killed by a gunman on his New York doorstep 23 years ago -- would understand the decision.

"The bottom line is I know what I wrote and so did John," McCartney told the paper.

"I'm doing nothing wrong. There was an agreement between (us) that if we ever wanted to, we could switch the Lennon and McCartney thing."

And he dismissed claims from die-hard Beatles fans that he was tarnishing the legend of Lennon.

"It has come out like I'm trying to dance on John's grave which is a pity because I am his biggest fan," he said.

"I'm the guy who knew him best ... I'd hate people to think I'm trying to do him down."

McCartney has been performing 22 Beatles songs at each of his world tour dates, almost twice as many as the band ever played during its own British shows.

As well as classics such as "All My Loving," "Can't Buy Me Love" and "She's Leaving Home," McCartney performs a dozen hits from his time as a solo artist and with band Wings.

ALBUM SPARKS ROW WITH YOKO ONO

All of which has been captured on a live album, which last December sparked a high-profile row with Lennon's widow Yoko Ono (news).

Ono was reported to be considering legal action after McCartney switched the songwriter credits on the album to read "McCartney and Lennon," a move she said contravened a 40-year agreement.

Her spokesman, Elliot Mintz, told Reuters that Ono had repeatedly rejected McCartney's requests to reverse the credits on the grounds that a "deal is a deal."

But McCartney, who has long complained that Lennon, for instance, had no input in the hit "Yesterday," wants the songs fairly labeled.

"I personally don't see any harm in John's songs such as "Strawberry Fields" and "Help" being labeled Lennon and McCartney and my songs such as "Let It Be" and "Eleanor Rigby" being labeled McCartney and Lennon," he said last year.

Speaking to the Mirror, he reiterated that point: "I wasn't being big headed. I just asked that for once in 30 years, my name could be switched as a reward."

McCartney's 16-country, sell-out world tour, starts its British leg on Saturday, before moving on to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Vienna and Antwerp.

The tour grossed $70 million in America, breaking box-office records in 21 cities, won Billboard's Tour of the Year and has made the former Beatle the highest-earning celebrity on Earth.

beatlz

Apr 07, 2003, 12:49 AM

this is the interview macca did with the daily mirror:

PAUL McCARTNEY - REBORN Apr 5 2003

EXCLUSIVE http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12812612&method=full&siteid=50143

Brian Reade

THE taxi made a forced detour en route to the airport because a Japanese woman was opening a semi-detached house for the National Trust.

When I finally arrived at the departure lounge, I heard Yoko Ono explain over the radio why her dead husband's childhood home deserved to be a museum: "The spirit that changed the world profoundly has been remembered in this familiar place. He was a uniquely brilliant man," she said.

As we took off from the airport they now call Liverpool John Lennon, I looked down on the nearby council estate where the other half of the spirit that changed the world was brought up. A man whose own brilliance has been forever shaded by an assassin's bullet. And I wondered how Paul McCartney was getting on.

"Ole-ole-ole-ole, Pauly, Pauly..." There are 18,000 Spaniards screaming themselves hoarse for a third encore. It was the same pandemonium last night in this Barcelona sports arena.

In the seats, the fans no longer leave puddles but the middle-aged eyes become moist whenever McCartney goes into a Beatles number that drags them back to the best days of their lives. Which he does nearly two dozen times in two-and-a-half hours.

On the floor, those who weren't alive when the group split, twist and shout like ghosts of manic days past. Up on stage, a 60-year-old in red T-shirt and jeans is being reborn.

"After a tough few years, I feel like I'm back in the land of the living," says McCartney, relaxing in his dressing room after an afternoon bike-riding in the spring sunshine with wife Heather.

"I've had my low points but now I've got this great band and Heather and, well, that's the magic of life. I wake up every morning and think: 'Nah, it's got to end, it can't go on' but it does." And as he says it he touches wood for the fourth time in 10 minutes.

"This next one is for ma meve donna extraordinaire," he tells the Barcelona crowd, before launching into Your Loving Flame, a song he penned for his "extraordinary wife" on a piano in a New York hotel shortly after they had met. When he'd finished writing it, he rang Heather in London, played it to her and left her smitten for good.

"She is a fantastic woman with a great sense of purpose, a great sense of humour and, let's face it, she's not hard to look at," he says.

"She works her butt off for her landmines charity and she doesn't get a penny for it. People think I do a good job but it's nothing compared to her. She gives people their lives back. I've seen it."

He's also felt it. Because she's done it for him. Given him the drive to do a sell-out world tour of 16 countries which finally arrives in Sheffield tonight. It grossed £70million in the USA, breaking box-office records in 21 cities, won Billboard's Tour Of The Year and made him the highest-earning celebrity on earth.

AT 60, Macca is in his element. Proving to his missus and the world that he's not half the man he used to be.

I ask if Heather is his mental Viagra. "I'm a Viagra donor. This is where the world gets it from. I don't need that stuff," and again he touches wood. Then remembers the other great love of his life.

"Not many men meet up with one good woman. So I knew how lucky I was to find Linda. And then it happened again with Heather.

"When I saw her at The Mirror Pride of Britain awards I thought: 'Wow, she looks great.' Which was exactly the same with Linda. With both I had a very strong physical attraction."

His children Heather, 39, Mary, 33, Stella, 31 and 26-year-old James weren't as enamoured. "It was tough at first but it's got a lot easier. After a year of intense grieving, I thought I'm not going to do this forever. I told the kids that I thought it was on the cards I'd find another woman. They said that was fine. But when I met one, it was different. They were shocked and had to take time to come around.

"But it's not as bad as it seems. Basically, the kids get on well with Heather and some nice things are happening recently such as Heather wearing one of Stella's frocks at a charity do. It's all coming together."

WOULD a baby be the icing on the cake for him? "I don't know. We're married, we love each other and we'll take whatever happens."

In a life that has swung violently from triumph to tragedy (his mother Mary died when he was 14) McCartney has learned to take nothing for granted.

"Sometimes when people pass away, there are things you wish you'd said," he tells the Barcelona crowd. "This next song is for mi amigo John."

The cheers are ear-splitting, as is the crowd's impromtpu rendition of Give Peace A Chance which Macca joins in before delivering his own tribute to Lennon, called Here Today.

When he sings the line "I am holding back the tears no more... I love you" a wave of raw emotion sweeps the arena. It is the same when black-and-white footage of the young Beatles appears on screens around the stage as he belts out All My Loving and Can't Buy Me Love.

He is playing the lexicon of all our lives. Potent reminders of who we were, who we loved and who we lost. And nobody is exempt from their power.

"I said at the beginning of the tour, 'what will happen if I cry?' Because it happens with these songs and you never know it's going to hit you," says McCartney.

"So I thought it's just too bad. I'm going to do it. I'll own up. I was doing Here Today on the radio for America and I lost it. But then there's a lot of emotion and time in these songs. I'm talking about meeting 16-year-old girls right through to Linda. All my life is in there."

There are 23 Beatles numbers in this 36-strong set, far more than the Fab Four use to play on tour in the 60s. Every one, apart from Something, written primarily by McCartney. And now we are in no doubt because the credits on the live CD read: Songs By McCartney And Lennon.

For some diehard fans, this is heresy. For Macca, it's his chance finally to put the record straight.

"I'm letting people know that the songs I sing today are my own and it makes sense to switch it around.

"I'm doing nothing wrong. There was an agreement between me, John and Brian Epstein that if we ever wanted to, we could switch the Lennon and McCartney thing.

"It came about because when we were proof-reading the Beatles Anthology, there was a picture of John and underneath it said: 'Yesterday by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.' I thought that should be under a picture of me. I wasn't being big-headed. I just asked that for once in 30 years, my name could be switched as a reward.

"It nearly happened but then it didn't," he says without mentioning that Yoko put her foot down. But now he has gone and done it regardless.

"The bottom line is I know what I wrote and so did John. It has come out like I'm trying to dance on John's grave which is a pity because I am his biggest fan.

"I'm the guy who knew him best. We slept together as teenagers, top-and-tailed in millions of hitch-hiking places. We were in little rooms doing the Beatles stuff when no one else was so I'd hate people to think I'm trying to do him down." I point out that things didn't go too well in the 70s. "We had our fall-outs over business. It was like a divorce and we bitched at each other. But we got to be good friends again before he died. It would have been really tough for me to deal with if we hadn't.

"I used to ring him and we had some lovely conversations about ordinary things. I'd say: 'What are you doing today?' and he'd say 'baking bread'. I'd go: 'I bake bread' and we were swapping recipes across the Atlantic.

"It was back to normal. I was proud to have him in my life. Same with Linda, George, my mum and dad. And I hope they were proud to have me in theirs. It's very sad but you have to move on." McCartney looks at least a decade younger than his age. And it's not all down to a fanatical vegetarianism which means the 116 roadcrew all have to forgo meat and fish in the backstage canteen.

During the day he will bicycle, jog or go sailing. And his voice is in astonishing shape, perfectly complementing the tightest, most talented group he has played with, outside the Beatles.

Two hours into his set, when he goes into Let It Be and Hey Jude, the audience is spellbound. The public reaction never lies. They knew in Barcelona, as they knew in Mexico and will see in Britain, that the man with the greatest musical repertoire alive is drawing freely on the best of it and delivering it like it's yesterday.

I have a hunch when this tour ends in June, a couple of miles down the road from John Lennon airport, the world will finally give McCartney the full credit he deserves.

That is what this re-birth is all about. And even Yoko must agree that it is way overdue.