(6/4/02, 7 a.m. ET) -- Paul McCartney was the star of the show at London's Party At The Palace Monday (June 3), celebrating Queen Elizabeth II 50 years on the British throne. McCartney thrilled the crowd at London's Buckingham Palace when he led an all-star chorus through renditions of the Beatles classics "Hey Jude" and "All You Need Is Love." He also had a little fun with the royals when he played the Abbey Road closer "Her Majesty," which starts off, "Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl/but she doesn't have a lot to say." A recap of the concert, hosted by Sharon Osbourne, begins airing Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on VH1.
Legendary Singer/Songwriter Paul McCartney Talks
(with Host Chris Douridas) Exclusively on Sessions@AOL
About His New Album "Driving Rain", His Recently Completed
Driving USA Tour, Stagefright, John Lennon and More
WHO: Legendary singer and songwriter Paul McCartney
WHAT: AOL Music's Sessions@AOL is the first and only place to view
this never-before-seen interview with host Chris Douridas and
legendary singer and songwriter, Paul McCartney. AOL Members and web
music fans around the world can check out candid talk with one of the
world's most famous musicians, where he touches on subjects rarely
spoken about in public. Fans can hear why Paul chose to sing Beatles
songs on his Driving USA Tour, how his stomach felt like "herds of
hippos" during early on Beatles performances, what he and John Lennon
used to do while playing hookie from school, his musical influences
and much more.
WHEN: Starting today, Paul McCartney's Sessions@AOL interview will be
available to AOL members on the AOL service, as well as those
accessing the service via high-speed Internet connections - including
the AOL High Speed Broadband service available through Time Warner
Cable in more than 30 markets and nationwide via DSL.
WHERE: Check out AOL's Music Channel or AOL Keyword: Sessions@AOL
available on the AOL service. The interview can also be accessed
through the AOL Music Channel's "High Speed AOL" content strip that
automatically appears for all members on a high-speed connection.
Sessions@AOL is an exclusive archive of unique interviews and
performances from AOL studios available at AOL Keyword: Sessions@AOL.
Hosted by Chris Douridas, the program has offered rare glimpses at
artists like Alicia Keys, Moby, *NSYNC, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sean
'P. Diddy' Combs, U2 and many more.
The Driving USA Tour, Paul McCartney's first full-scale concert
tour in nearly a decade, spanned coast to coast beginning April 1 in
Oakland, CA-- finishing off in Ft. Lauderdale, FL on May 18. The tour
highlighted songs from his latest release, "Driving Rain", along with
several hits from the Beatles and Wings eras. After concluding the
North American leg, McCartney will travel abroad to play a string of
European dates.
Paul McCartney is one of the best-selling songwriters and
recording artists of all time. Along with his years as a member of the
Beatles, McCartney's 1970s band, Wings, scored seven No. 1 albums. In
1999, he was named the "Greatest Composer of the Last 1,000 Years" in
a BBC poll, beating Mozart, Bach and Beethoven. McCartney's songs have
hundreds of millions of copies worldwide; "Yesterday," written for the
Beatles in 1965, has been played over six million times on U.S. radio
stations, making it the most popular song in history. McCartney also
holds the world record for largest paid audience at a concert given by
a solo performer, drawing over 184,000 fans at a 1990 concert in Rio
de Janeiro.
The following article is from Curtis Ross of the Tampa Tribune. Thanks!
TAMPA - Paul McCartney was having a ``George Bush moment.''
``I'm scarfing up nuts and one of them went down the wrong way,''
McCartney said, coughing and requesting water.
``Lucky it wasn't a pretzel,'' he said, making reference to the
president's snack-related mishap in January.
McCartney was calling from backstage at Atlanta's Phillips Arena between
sound check and showtime of his Sunday show
there. The tour reaches Tampa's Ice Palace Wednesday.
McCartney is crossing the country on his ``Driving U.S.A.'' tour, his
first since 1993.
McCartney talked freely about his music - from the Beatles through Wings
to his most recent work.
Among his newer works is ``Freedom,'' written in response to the Sept.
11 attacks and added last minute to his latest
album, ``Driving Rain,'' released in November.
Rather than a peace anthem, this 1960s icon penned a call to arms (``I
will fight for the right to live in freedom'').
``I'm a pacifist,'' McCartney said, ``but when you get attacked you're
placed in a very difficult situation.
``I always used to say, even in the '60s, that if I'd been around like
my dad was when Hitler was set to invade
England, I certainly wouldn't lay down my arms and go to jail as a
pacifist,'' he said. ``Because it would be my mother
or my wife or my children that I would feel I have to defend.''
Living Free
Freedom, McCartney said, is ``one of the great things about America,
where so many people from around the world have
come to escape oppressive regimes and set up a new free life.''
Artistic freedom, as well, is dear to McCartney.
Although his own albums focus on the melodic pop and rock for which he
is celebrated, other projects focus on his
appetite for the avant-garde.
He creates ambient house music with producer Youth under the name The
Fireman. The pair also collaborated on the music
heard before McCartney takes the stage.
``Liverpool Sound Collage,'' commissioned for an exhibit at the Tate
Gallery in McCartney's hometown of Liverpool, was
a return to the sound collage experiments of his ``Carnival of Light,'' a
legendary if little heard piece created in
1967 (and one Beatle-vote shy of being included on the ``Anthology''
series, McCartney said).
McCartney enlisted hot Welsh band Super Furry Animals for the
``Collage'' and returned the favor by munching carrots
on that group's ``Rings Around the World'' album, in tribute to the Beach
Boys' song ``Vegetables.''
Super Furry Animals are one of many bands over the years that have been
influenced by the Beatles and have tried to
capture some of the songwriting magic McCartney and partner John Lennon
made.
Not that McCartney could tell them how he did it.
``There is no method,'' McCartney said. ``People used to say to John and
I, `How do you write?' and we said `We don't
know. We make it up fresh every time. If we had a method we'd bottle it and
sell it.'
``I just let the song, hopefully, try and write itself,'' McCartney
said. ``Those are the best ones.''
He described a songwriting session beginning with him ``noodling
around'' on the guitar, finding a chord sequence he
likes.
``You find yourself humming along with it,'' McCartney said. ``I'd
listen to what I'm saying as I'm mumbling and I
might hear myself sort of, `Picks up the rice in a church ...'
``What does that mean? Who would that person be?'' McCartney asked.
``Let's say it's a woman, let's say she's a
cleaner and let's say she's got a lonely life. That then just leads itself
into `Eleanor Rigby.'''
The song's male character, Father McKenzie, originally was named Father
McCartney. ``John wanted me to keep [the name]
but I was uncomfortable with it,'' McCartney said.
Honoring The Past
McCartney's shows on the ``Driving U.S.A.'' tour feature tributes to
deceased Beatles Lennon and George Harrison, as
well as McCartney's late wife, Linda.
``It's difficult but in a nice way,'' McCartney said of the salutes.
``My take is that I'm privileged to have known
these people and to have spent part of my life with them. I'm privileged to
have been married to Linda for 30 years,
and to have known John and George and to have worked with them for so long.
``That gives me a feeling of joy,'' McCartney said. ``For a second, I
have to remember the loss, but I focus on the
joy. And there was a lot of it. I'm a privileged man.''
The tributes, which include McCartney performing Harrison's composition
``Something,'' are upbeat, as one might expect
from the famously optimistic McCartney.
He cites the downbeat ``Yesterday'' as one of his favorites of his own
tunes ``because it's been my most successful.''
But the other two he names, ``Maybe I'm Amazed'' and ``Here, There and
Everywhere,'' are celebratory love songs.
His current tour is ``delicious. The audiences are fantastic and the
band is really spectacular.''
Rather than as a Beatle, an animal rights activist, a knight or one of
the 20the century's most successful
songwriters, McCartney said he'd like to be remembered as ``a good human
being - who, happened to, by the way, do a bit
of this and a bit of that.''
``I used to say `with a smile,' '' McCartney says with a laugh. ``That
still kind of holds true.''
Here is a transcript of Paul's LIVE Web chat from May 9th:
Host_Budd_LiveEvents : Tonights event will start in just a few minutes
Paul_McCartney_Live says: Great thanks! Lovely to be here, vertually and really.
DishDiva says: Paul, since you are about to go onstage let's talk about your tour.
Macca_fan in Onstage_3 asks: What exactally was the pre-concert show, and where did the idea come from? Thanks
Paul_McCartney_Live says: It came from originally we were thinking of having a support act, but it gets difficult because
you have to move their stuff off stage and yours on.
So I thought of having the audience come in rather than have them feeling like
an auditorium.
Paul_McCartney_Live says: Then it turned into having them seem like they didn't know how they got there.
Then I worked with Youth, and that was it basically. It just gets the audience
in and gets them into the atmophere.
HailedEclipse in Onstage_1 asks: Paul Johnson from Essex UK. Other than the Jubilee gig, are you
planning any other live dates in the UK in the near future and if so do you
know where!? Also whats your opinion on Beatles tribute bands here in Britain?
Paul_McCartney_Live says: Thank you! What I am doing, as you say the Jubilee gig, and then there are no plans at the moment,
but I am looking into taking the band to Brittain, but I don't have any dates
yet. I want to make some of them Brittish dates.
jlw44 in Onstage_1 asks: I have been to 4 shows so far and I was exhausted watching
you. How do you keep your energy level up so high?
Paul_McCartney_Live says: I don't really know. I've been a vegitarian for a long time, that might have something
to do with it. I am just enjoying the whole thing. Enjoying playing with the
band. I have a very nice woman in my life. I think all of that helps in my
life to energize
Paul_McCartney_Live says: me. I'm just enjoying the whole thing, so that's the answer. Plus the veggie diet.
LoysEugeneCarter in Onstage_1 asks: Do you think, Sir, that you will
record more songs with Ringo, possibly including more unreleased songs by
Lennon and or Harrison, like "Real Love"?
Paul_McCartney_Live says: I don't know about that. It's an interesting idea.
When we did "Free As a Bird" and "Real Love" there was another track under
consideration for us to work on but we didn't get around to it so I wonder
if there will be a chance in the future. I wouldn't
mind doing it. It was just one of John's demos. But there's no plans at the
moment.
DishDiva says: Axl_Hacker_Rose from Brazil asks: Paul, what did you think about
Guns 'n' Roses version of "Live And Let Die"?
Paul_McCartney_Live says: (Speaks gibberish) I really did like it. (Speaks
gibberish) I actually met Axel Rose backstage and he said he was going to do
one of my songs. I didn't know it would be that song, but I thought it was
pretty cool.
SeasonedJet7 in Onstage_1 asks: My son and I had the pleasure of attending your
San Jose show. 2nd row, in front of you! How do you feel looking out on crowd,
seeing all the different age groups represented, singing along to all of your
music? You've touched so many.
Paul_McCartney_Live says: It's very interesting because the first thing you are
trying to do is remeber the notes, then the words to sing and the melody, so a
lot of effort is into that, then you look at the crowd and you're brain is
doing so much at once. You see the ages of
everyone, we do have a wide age rage from people older than myself to tiny kids.
We had one show where a lady was holding up a baby the whole time. I like
people, it doesn't matter what age they are so it feels great to see them. The
only difficult thing
is when people hold up sign because you also find yourself reading the signs
as you are doing everything else and it gets quite difficult. (laughs) But
it's all part of the show and I enjoy it.
GingerBlokeOnline in Onstage_1 asks: Songs become relevant to people at a
particular time and place in their lives. What song is relevant for you at
the moment? What do you play on the acoustic when alone?
Paul_McCartney_Live says: When I'm touring I don't really find myself sitting
around playing acoustic, because you're doing so much in the day that time off
is time off. I really just play whatever comes into my mind, it could be an old
song that I learned when I first learned
guitar, or something new, or someone else's song. Or I'm writing a song when
I have time off, I just play nothing in particular and just see if an interesting idea comes out of that. It just depends on the mood you're in. I like doing it and always have
one with me, but on tour I don't always use it that much.
MaccaRules0 in Onstage_1 asks: Do you have any plans to release a DVD music
video collection? Lot of great ones that I would love to see again!
Paul_McCartney_Live says: That's one of those things that has been cooking for
a while. Often something gets in the bit of the way of it. There's been talk of
a DVD or live record of this tour so that would mean the DVD would be put into
next year. I would love to do them and look
at them back to back. So I would like that for myself so one day we'll get
around to that. But like I said, there may be a DVD from this tour coming at
the end of this year.
VeeJay1062 in Onstage_1 asks: Hi there, Paul! My 5 year old daughter (her name
is McCartney, by the way!) would like to know if any of your concerts, from your
current tour, will be shown on television? She loves to watch the concert I
taped from your New World Tour.
Paul_McCartney_Live says: Yeah, I think that may happen. I love that, her first
name McCartney, I hope her second name isn't McCartney. (laughs) The good news
is for dad and daughter we are making the DVD which would include doing a TV
show that would have most of this tour.
Paul_McCartney_Live says: That's being talked about at the moment so that
everyone that didn't make it to the concert, will be able to see what goes on.
DishDiva says: So many of your fans here seem to go to one show after
another. . .
Paul_McCartney_Live says: I love that. It's a tribute really. Sometimes when
you go to see someone you get enough, but I love when they can't get enough
and that's a tribute to the band and to us. I do think that the people on the
tour with us say you can watch the show more than
once and always see something new.
BobKing_1 in Onstage_3 asks: Greetings Mr McCartney! Your version of 'Something'
on your current tour is beautiful. Did you tallk to George about covering his
song?
Paul_McCartney_Live says: As I say on stage, what happened was, I actually
played it for George, kind of half of a joke after dinner. I had been sitting
around and hope playing around with it on the ukulele. I found myself singing
it so I didn't say to George that I was going to
sing it on stage because I didn't know I was going to. But I played it for him
and he got a laugh from it.
ShadowBoxDriver in Onstage_3 asks: Will Paul like to do "Today" a sequel to his
famous "Yesterday" anthology?
Paul_McCartney_Live says: I did a song called "Tomorrow" and "Yesterday" so the
next should be "Today" (sings tooo-tooo-day). (laughs)
sacomom in Onstage_1 asks: Hi Paul - I'm a librarian in Maine and a big fan of
yours since 1964. What is your favorite genre of book and who is your favorite
author? Great concert in Boston! Thank you!
Paul_McCartney_Live says: Thanks for the compliment. You know I think the kind
of book I enjoy most is sort of old novels by Dickens, Wilke Collins or Thomas
Hardy because they transform you out of this world
I love the descriptions and characters of Dickens. I just get immersed in them.
I don't read them all in one go, but I enjoy being transported to a different
place and time.
DishDiva says: ElbowedDigo from Brazil asks: What do you compose at first, the
lyrics or the melody?
Paul_McCartney_Live says: It's nearly always the melody. I've written one or
two songs where the words came first. I was once with The Beatles on a tour bus
and didn't have a piano (that would have been a really cool tour bus) and I did
all the words to "All My Loving." And had to
wait to put the melody to it. In the case of Yesterday, it was a melody that I
dreamed and then I put some silly words to it like "scrambled eggs, oh my baby
how I love your legs." Those of course had to be changed.
Paul_McCartney_Live says: As I'm sitting here in my dressing room in Dallas,
I'm sitting here with Sir George Martin, his wife, and my lovely fiancee
Heather.
DishDiva says: Congratulations from all your fans on your recent engagement
Paul_McCartney_Live says: Thank you.
DishDiva says: Heather looks great in her new ad campaign.
Paul_McCartney_Live says: As you enjoy those pictures because money is raised
by that Inc. for Land Mine Clearance and that's something we're really proud of.
But she does look beautiful doesn't she
Sunni626 in Onstage_1 asks: Hi Paul your concert at the garden in NYC was
awesome,my husband works for the NYC fire Dept and this concert was the best
for all of us.
Paul_McCartney_Live says: Oh yeah! There was no doubt about it. The concert for
New York was a high spot in our year and we were all very proud of it because
of the coming together, standing and being counted, and the emotion of the
evening. So if we had to do it again, I would do
DishDiva says: If you had to do it all over again, would you do it the same way?
Paul_McCartney_Live says: it 100 times over. It was a very special concert for us.
I think it was great to assist in lifting the spirits of New Yorkers and
Americans especially fire fighters.
And Port Authority.
DishDiva says: Paul I undertand you need to get ready for your concert, from all
of your fans here on MSN, best of luck with the Driving Rain tour and for being
here tonight on MSN Live.
Paul_McCartney_Live says: I just want to say thank you for being so wonderful
and your support. Not just on the tour, but me personally. Thank you for the
good vibes that you have been sending me. So from the dressing room here in
Dallas from me, my fiancee Heather, Sir Martin, we
send our best wishes to everyone around the world.
DishDiva says: Thank you to Paul McCartney for joining us tonight from Dallas,
Texas.
Paul McCartney's ongoing Driving USA tour will produce a home
video/DVD release, according to the artist. "It will be a documentary,"
McCartney said Friday before his first of two shows at New York's Madison Square
Garden. "We're starting to think about what we might do for it. This tour is
going so well, we thought it might be nice to capture it all."
The tour, which kicked off April 1 in Oakland, Calif., finds McCartney
supported by his touring band which includes guitarist Rusty Anderson and
drummer Abe Laboriel Jr., both of whom played on his latest Capitol set, Driving Rain. Brian Ray rounds out the band, handling bass
and guitar during the show, which features material from the Beatles, Wings, and McCartney's solo albums, as well as an
acoustic set that features McCartney alone with a guitar.
The North American leg of the tour is set to close with a pair of shows, May
17-18, at the National Car Rental Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Aside from a
June 3 appearance at Buckingham Palace in London for the "Party at the Palace"
in celebration of the Queen's golden jubilee, international touring plans are
still up in the air. That fact has not stopped rumors about where McCartney
might play, including speculation that has the former Beatle visiting Cuba.
"Those are just rumors," McCartney stressed. "I don't care how good [Cuban
leader] Fidel Castro thinks he is on the guitar, he's not joining our group
(laughs). All we've got planned is this American tour, but what's happening is
that we're enjoying it so much that we think it would be a pity to shelve it.
We're starting to think of doing [another tour] toward the end the year, but we
don't know where yet."
No matter where the tour goes, one thing McCartney is unapologetic about is
the relatively high cost of tickets for his shows, which run from $50 to $250.
"This is what I do for a living," he said. "If I earn money on this tour, a lot
of it will go to charity. As far as the high prices of the tickets, they're not
high compared to what everyone else charges. I say to the promoters, `What do U2
or the Rolling Stones charge?' I figure I'm somewhere in that ballpark. Tickets
[for this tour] start at $50, which isn't that high. Actually, the Stones are
going to charge more than us [for their 2002 tour], so there's your story."
During his backstage visit with Billboard and other media outlets, McCartney
chatted amiably about a variety of subjects, including the music he's performing
on the road and his thoughts on retiring. Here are some highlights from that
conversation:
On how he keeps his live show fresh:
"Whenever I go out on tour, it's exciting to stick in a few things I haven't
done before, because there's a bit of a nervous edge to it. On this tour, I'm
doing the acoustic thing, which I haven't done before. It's great to do it. I've
gotten over those nerves [from the first show of the tour], and I'm quite at
home with it. You have to do something a bit different each time you go out [on
tour] or else you get bored, and that shows with the audience."
On which song the audiences are reacting to the most on this
tour:
"The one I think that they're reacting to the most is a little-known song I
wrote after John [Lennon] died: `Here Today.' It's in my poetry book, `Blackbird
Singing,' and I've been reading it at poetry readings, so it worked as just the
words. Then I decided to reinstate the song and try it in this acoustic set. A
lot of the audience don't know the song -- they're hearing it for the first
time -- and I've rediscovered the song. It's quite poignant. I tell them
it's for John and it gets quite emotional, in a good way. It's reaffirmation of
how much we loved him and still do."
On the meaning behind the Beatles song "Blackbird" and why he tells the story on this tour:
"When you do a show, there are certain songs you find yourself talking about.
You could talk about all of the songs, but when you find a story that means
something you tend to keep it in. I remember the genesis of the song. In
England, we call girls "birds" and "Blackbird" means black woman. The song is
about the [civil rights] struggles going on in the '60s. A lot of us with any
morals around the world were very sensitive to and supportive of the people
going through the struggles. So I wrote the song with that in mind."
On why he deliberately flubs the lyrics of "You Never Give Me Your Money" during his live set:
"I just goofed around, and a lot of people started to laugh. So I did it the
next time and the next time, and the next time, and it stayed in the show. I
actually do know the lyrics now (laughs), but I don't really like the lyrics, to
tell you the truth. We did have some disputes over it, but we just decided, `Sod
it. We'll just have a laugh at that point.' This is very much a live show. We're
not [lip-synching] and if we want to goof around, we'll goof around."
On the Concert for New York City (held Oct. 20, 2001, at Madison
Square Garden):
"That concert was very influential in deciding to do the tour. When Sept. 11
happened, I was in New York, so I experienced Sept. 11 with the American people.
[Before Sept. 11], I was supposed to go to Russia, where I had another concert
planned to see if I was going to like touring again, but it didn't seem
appropriate to do the concert there. So we thought the concert should be for New
York and the U.S. That became the concert to see if I still liked playing for an
audience. It was a very special concert and a very emotional evening, with the
firefighters and rescue workers being there. I did say afterward that I'd like
to get back on tour. That was the concert that got me back on the road."
On personal safety after Sept. 11:
"I feel as safe as I've ever felt. You can walk down any street anywhere and
you can be at risk. We're all at risk, but I'm enjoying life and I feel pretty
safe."
On finding happiness since the tragic 1998 death of his wife,
Linda:
"I'm happy and I'm very lucky. With Linda passing, we had some terrible
times... the whole horror of her getting cancer and us losing the battle. So to
come out of that long, dark tunnel makes you happier. I've got a new band, which
I really like playing with. I've realized how much I really like playing live
music. I'm due to be married to a very lovely girl [Heather Mills]. So the
combination of all those things has really made me happy. I'm at a better point
in my life than I've been in a while. I just consider myself to be very lucky to
be playing, particularly at this time in American history. It's a very
interesting time to do an upbeat, healing show. There's a great feeling in the
audience, which is really special and which I haven't experienced before."
On which album of his he would most like to see turned into a
musical:
"[The 1973 Paul McCartney and Wings album] Band on the Run. The only reason why I say that is someone
said to me that would make a good musical. I'm really stupid and just take other
people's answers. I think making Band on the Run a musical is a good
idea."
On when he'll retire:
"As far as retirement is concerned, I'd never consider it, although I'm
getting up toward retirement age. I think someone falsified my birth certificate
because I can't feel it. I don't want to retire. I love what I do. I always said
if people don't come to the shows, I'll do this as a hobby. I have a vision of
me at age 90, being wheeled on stage very slowly, doing `Yesterday.' At the
moment, it's not like that. It's the opposite of that. We're loving it, the
audiences are loving it, so while that's happening, I'm keeping on rocking."
