Five Questions for Paul McCartney

Trying not to bore you, Sir Paul, with the same ol’ interrogation

The Beatles broke up fifty years ago this spring and since that time I can’t imagine there are many fresh and original questions to ask Paul McCartney, whether they’re to do with his career in the 1960s or later. Really, the man must be tired of hearing the same questions in different guises after all this time. However, I’ve come up with five that I believe are original and have never been asked. Paul, if you see this, I look forward to seeing what you have to say in the comments section.

1. The Anthology version of “And I love Her” features John, I presume, strumming his guitar. Hearing that song open with that rhythm guitar was quite a surprise. It’s an almost-completed performance. The guitar solo isn’t quite there and you flub some lines, and yet it sounds good. So I was surprised on first hearing this demo that you didn’t just polish it up and release it. But at some point along the way you, or someone else, decided the song needed to undergo a radical overhaul. My two-fold question: How did the released version of the song come to be, and are there any other examples of songs that underwent a dramatic change that the public doesn’t know about? (I’m assuming there’s lots more in the vaults beside the Anthology.)
2. “Maybe I’m Amazed” was written when you were still a Beatle. Was that song ever planned as a potential Beatles song, or did you have it in mind all along that this would be a song on your first solo album?
3. “Mull of Kintyre.” It’s been said — or so I’ve heard from a source I no longer recall — that you approached John with this song and asked him to sing on it. He declined the offer but made a suggestion: add bag pipes. If John did make that suggestion and you acted on it, it means that “Mull of Kintyre” is the closest the 1970s got to getting another Lennon and McCartney song! Anyway, is the rumor true? Did you approach John to sing on this song?
4. Another rumor, this one from 1979. The story goes that you signed a deal with Columbia Records with a proviso in the contract that the other musicians who would join you in the sessions would be John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Is this true? And were you about to act on this, or was this just something you wanted to have in your pocket in case there was a sudden decision to get the band back together?
5. What was the closest that you and your former bandmates came to reuniting? We know the four of you played on 1973's Ringo (but separately), but was there ever really a time when the four of you were just a few conversations or pen strokes away from getting back together?

Thanks, Paul.

Barry Lyons is a freelance writer in New York City. Here’s another piece that may interest you: Putting Together a List of Favorite Beatles Songs? Consider Some Rules.