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5.57pm
8 November 2012
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There’s a new interview with Paul in the new Mojo coming out Tuesday, and the site has an excerpt. I wanted to highlight a couple of quotes in particular:
PREVIEWING HIS FORTHCOMING 24th solo studio album – entitled New – in the latest MOJO magazine, Paul McCartney pricks the bubble of received wisdom that surrounds his former, quite-well-known band, The Beatles. One song, Early Days , refers pointedly to those who “weren’t there” and their wayward takes on his history.
“It’s a constant niggle,” he tells MOJO’s Pat Gilbert. “The fact is there’s only a given body of people who really know inside out what goes on, and other people analyse it and that’s fine. But when they get it wrong, you just have to live with it.”
and
“Someone said it to me the other day and it was kind of horrifying, ‘Well, John was the clever one, you were the cute one, Ringo was the funny one and George was the spiritual one.’ And I’m like, (sighs incredulously) ‘Yeeeah, that’s it.’”
LOL, poor Paul. Looks like it’ll be a good one. Didn’t want to start a whole thread just for this one, so figured I’d keep the topic general in case anyone wants to contribute Paul interviews of note.
parlance
3.23pm
8 November 2012
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I figured I’d x-post this from the news thread so it doesn’t get lost. A friend sent me this link… Paul participated in a benefit tribute to Fela Kuti called Red Hot + Fela, available in stores now. Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive clip of his interview.
parlance
1.54am
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20 August 2013
Offline I’ve had a chance to listen to some Paul’s recent Howard Stern interview. Paul claims that John didn’t hit women in his younger days. And that the lines in “It’s Getting Better All the Time”
“I used to be cruel to my woman
I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved”
were just them being macho.
So what’s the truth here? I’ve read comments on the forum that he was a bit of a scoundrel which was a reflection of the culture he grew up in. Please educate me. I haven’t read enough Beatles books yet.
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3.01am
8 November 2012
Offline I haven’t had a chance to watch that interview yet, but someone commented that Paul looked visibly uncomfortable answering it, so I wonder if there was some white washing on his part.
parlance
5.20am
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17 December 2012
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cbatcu said
I’ve had a chance to listen to some Paul’s recent Howard Stern interview. Paul claims that John didn’t hit women in his younger days. And that the lines in “It’s Getting Better All the Time”“I used to be cruel to my woman
I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved”were just them being macho.
So what’s the truth here? I’ve read comments on the forum that he was a bit of a scoundrel which was a reflection of the culture he grew up in. Please educate me. I haven’t read enough Beatles books yet.
I think John’s comments, closer in time, on his contribution to the song about what he was admitting to in his contribution have more validity than recent revisionism from Paul. John was always quite open about what he was saying, “It is a diary form of writing. All that ‘I used to be cruel to my woman, I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved’ was me. I used to be cruel to my woman, and physically – any woman. I was a hitter. I couldn’t express myself and I hit. I fought men and I hit women. That is why I am always on about peace, you see. It is the most violent people who go for love and peace. Everything’s the opposite. But I sincerely believe in love and peace. I am a violent man who has learned not to be violent and regrets his violence. I will have to be a lot older before I can face in public how I treated women as a youngster.”
There are enough episodes, from Liverpool through to May Pang, that support John’s admission he was a man capable of physical violence, including towards women – partly as a result of the age he grew up in and surroundings, who was struggling to contain that side of his personality because he had realised how wrong it was.
I think maybe Paul is now embarrassed by those flaws in his friend, and those of their generation and background. I am not suggesting Paul was ever a hitter, and give no weight to how the one-legged one portrayed their marriage as it broke up, yet I think – were Jane Asher to talk of their relationship in depth – there would be those who might see Paul was capable of being cruel to women. Certainly there have been suggestions over the years that Paul has often been a typical Northern male of his generation in his attitude to the fairer sex.
Maybe, as you grow older and change, those admissions are easier to deny, especially when the words aren’t yours but your friend’s. It could be easier just to say that it was for artistic effect, to represent a certain type of man, than be asked the obvious follow-up of how alike John he was in his treatment of women in the past.
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
5.49am
1 November 2012
Offline mja’s cogent presentation there makes me wonder if Paul hasn’t perhaps been also fudging a bit about his casually head-bobbing dismissal of the “gay rumors” about John too.
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12.02pm
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20 August 2013
Offline parlance said
I haven’t had a chance to watch that interview yet, but someone commented that Paul looked visibly uncomfortable answering it, so I wonder if there was some white washing on his part.parlance
I’ve only found a site where I can listen to the interview. Is there a site with video too? If so, would you post a link? Thanks.
Thanks for the robust answer, mja6758!
edit: If your original links include video, I will find them. Didn’t think about that at first. I guess that shower woke up my brain.
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2.37pm
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17 December 2012
Offline I just hope I haven’t offended too many Paul fans with my response…
“Not our Pauley…!”
"I only said we were bigger than Rod... and now there's all this!" Ron Nasty
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
2.47pm
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20 August 2013
Offline mja6758 said
I just hope I haven’t offended too many Paul fans with my response…“Not our Pauley…!”
Not me.
I’m far from perfect. I don’t expect or want him to be perfect. I want him to be a human to interact with, not a robot, a real flesh and blood human and all the colors, nuances, and mysteries that being human brings.
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3.15pm
8 November 2012
Offline cbatcu said
parlance said
I haven’t had a chance to watch that interview yet, but someone commented that Paul looked visibly uncomfortable answering it, so I wonder if there was some white washing on his part.parlance
I’ve only found a site where I can listen to the interview. Is there a site with video too? If so, would you post a link? Thanks.
I should have clarified I meant “listen” to the YouTube upload. Video has popped up from Howard Stern before, so I imagine it will eventually.
parlance
3.38pm
1 August 2013
Offline I agree with Mja6758 that Paul is hedging here. He may not know about the quote where John specifically attributes those lines to his abusive tendencies, but there are too many examples of John getting violent with women (and men) for Paul not to have been aware of it. But that’s not something he’s ever going to want to discuss; he’s always emphasizing the nicer side of John in interviews. And yeah, I doubt he’d welcome any prying into how he himself may have been “cruel to his women” (especially now, after the huge mess with Mills). He’s admitted his ’60s attitude was “typical male chauvinism” regarding sex, not wanting Jane to work, etc., but I doubt he’d want to go into detail about it. Which is a shame.
4.19pm
17 January 2013
Offline mja6758 said
I think maybe Paul is now embarrassed by those flaws in his friend, and those of their generation and background. I am not suggesting Paul was ever a hitter, and give no weight to how the one-legged one portrayed their marriage as it broke up, yet I think – were Jane Asher to talk of their relationship in depth – there would be those who might see Paul was capable of being cruel to women. Certainly there have been suggestions over the years that Paul has often been a typical Northern male of his generation in his attitude to the fairer sex.
He was cruel to Jane in a sense, as he cheated on her countless times. 
And from what I read in his biography, he didn’t care too much. His attitude was “Oh well, we’re not married”. I agree, I don’t believe he ever hit women…
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4.52pm
9 July 2013
Offline If you believe Paul’s song with Michael Jackson, “he’s a lover, not a fighter.” I don’t believe he hit women. I think he had the typical Teddy Boy opinion of them at the time which changed when he started meeting women like Linda. I would stake my life on it that he never hit her…and if he were an abusive personality as that Mills woman claims, that behavior would have surfaced at some point in their long marriage. I do agree he cheated on Jane, but she didn’t make it easy for him either. She was away a lot with her theater. John was a violent person all his life…but that came from the inner rage (primal rage) he lived with every day. I don’t think he was as violent with women later on in his life as he was as a Liverpool youth. He acted out like a disgruntled teen might do rather than get physical with Yoko. Just my opinion.
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5.33pm
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1 May 2011
Offline Cant help thinking that if this had been Yoko people would have shouting from the rooftops about it all and her attempts to Sanctify John a bit more but since its Paul it gets barely a mention.
And I fail to see what was ever macho about even saying that woman hitting went on. I know its a different time and wife-beating was more common back then but still, is that something you’d just write for a song and shove it in. But I can see why Paul denied it because if he had of said John was violent towards women it would have been in the papers with a blazing headline as if it was a major revelation.
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6.18pm
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17 December 2012
Offline mccartneyalarm said
I do agree he cheated on Jane, but she didn’t make it easy for him either. She was away a lot with her theater.
She was away far less than he during the Beatles touring years, and much of his cheating occurred during those tours, while Jane was sitting at home waiting for him to get home. I do not think you can blame his cheating on her wanting a career.
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
7.44pm
14 January 2013
Offline cbatcu said
mja6758 said
I just hope I haven’t offended too many Paul fans with my response…“Not our Pauley…!”
Not me.
I’m far from perfect. I don’t expect or want him to be perfect. I want him to be a human to interact with, not a robot, a real flesh and blood human and all the colors, nuances, and mysteries that being human brings.
Mja6758, no you did not offend me and you said it perfectly cbatcu. 
I agree that it maybe something he doesn’t want to discuss about John’s past. Sometimes I think he forgets about stuff such as what a song was written about. A few weeks ago Jimmy Kimmel asked what was the first song John and Paul wrote together. Paul said,”I Saw Her Standing There “. Howard Stern asked the same question and Paul said the first song they wrote together was never released.
mja6758 said
mccartneyalarm said
I do agree he cheated on Jane, but she didn’t make it easy for him either. She was away a lot with her theater.She was away far less than he during the Beatles touring years, and much of his cheating occurred during those tours, while Jane was sitting at home waiting for him to get home. I do not think you can blame his cheating on her wanting a career.
I agree
7.57pm
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1 May 2011
Offline I cant see “well, you were away at the time” being an accepted reason for cheating, more likely is getting a flowerpot thrown at you and some very colourful language hurling towards your ears before getting thrown out of the house.
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7.50pm
1 August 2013
Offline mja6758 said
She was away far less than he during the Beatles touring years, and much of his cheating occurred during those tours, while Jane was sitting at home waiting for him to get home. I do not think you can blame his cheating on her wanting a career.
Definitely not. And good for her for pursuing her career in spite of Paul’s displeasure; she didn’t seem shy about telling him what’s what — she even called him out publicly a couple times!
I do wonder if they had some sort of “arrangement,” though; in Roger Corman’s autobiography he mentions that around ’64/’65 he and Jane dated whenever Paul was away on tour, and there have been rumors for years about flings with other actors. Even if that’s true, though, I doubt there was any real parity; I can’t imagine HUNDREDS of anonymous groupies were part of their agreed “terms” — let alone having a live-in lover after they were engaged! Geez.
Speaking of Francie Schwartz, she does say in her book that Paul confessed to slapping Jane a couple of times. It’s hard to know how seriously to take Schwartz; just going by her book, I’d find her description of events/conversations reasonably credible (if not particularly insightful about others’ feelings/motivations). But then there’s the matter of her meltdown some years ago on the RMB board and other online venues, where she came off extremely combative, paranoid, inconsistent, grandiose, and obsessed with tearing Paul down. From what I’ve read she sounds like she was experiencing a severe decompensation of whatever mental illness she has; she did say her last therapist had diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder. :/ Paul sure can pick ’em, sometimes.
Back to the “kept her apart from the things that she loved” bit… Paul definitely was jealous about Jane’s acting. He was able to admit that he was “just being silly” about this as early as the Hunter Davies biography, but I suspect it remained a point of tension. He may have been able to accept, intellectually, that it was unfair of him to expect Jane to give up acting, but I don’t think he ever stopped wanting her to.
Suffice to say, no, I don’t really buy this “we were just being characters, we weren’t really like that” line about “Getting Better .” It might not have been a direct impetus for the writing of the song, from Paul’s perspective, but in real life he still could be a bit “like that” — and John definitely was.
12.32am
8 November 2012
Offline Not to lend any credence to anything Francie Schwartz had to say, but my recollection of that conversation is that Francie claimed Paul suggested Jane liked being hit in the context of BDSM. Take it with a truckload of salt, but consensual play isn’t the same as abuse. I’m not even sure Paul said he’d followed through on that or was too freaked out by the idea.
parlance
1.28am
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20 August 2013
Offline I’m glad Jane got to make her own decision. Has she spoken about that decision to leave Paul? Was it the hardest thing she ever had to do or was it rather simple?
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