Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now

interesting read... lots of info... Paul story

Wer eine gute Biografie über Paul McCartney sucht, kann sich hier getrost gut aufgehoben wissen. Das Buch ist vernunftig gegliedert, dh. chronologisch geschrieben, was das Lesen sehr angenehm macht!Das Beste an dem Schinken: Paul McCartney erzählt mindestens die Hälfte seiner Erlebnisse SELBST, eigentlich war Barry Miles eher "begleitend" tätig.Das Buch ist absolut lesenswert - man möchte es gar nicht mehr aus der Hand legen!!!Eine Fortsetzung von Barry Miles wäre absolut wünschensŽwert, denn "Many years from now" geht nur bis zu Linda McCartney`s Tod. LESEN!!!!

I’ve been on a bit of a fresh McCartney kick over the last few years, and a recent internet search for which I expected to turn up nothing, “authorized McCartney biography,” led me to this 1997 release from Barry Miles, which is just that. Ah! Miles, an accomplished writer close enough to his subject to have had extensive business and social dealings with him—he introduced Paul to hash brownies in the mid-60’s—gives us a 654-page “Paul’s eye view” of his life and world, with much coming directly from the mouth of The Man himself.Quite a discovery, and quite an education. Atypical, a bit quirky and at times a bit in the weeds, though I didn’t mind that as much as some might. We don’t get rehash of Beatles stuff that’s already been covered ad nauseam in “Many Years From Now,” (things like Ed Sullivan and Shea Stadium are referenced once or twice and just in passing, for example). No, it is very much a fly-on-the-wall view of simply being Paul McCartney, from the early days and rise through the breakup of the Beatles primarily, heavy on songwriting and recording processes and recollections. Toward the end of the book, Miles touches quickly on early Wings, John’s murder and other things which, combined with a quarter century-plus now of Macca things that hadn’t yet happened when he put down his pen, could probably make for a second volume of similar length, if he were up for it (eh, Barry?).Four top takeaways (bearing in mind this is all from the McCartney perspective, but it’s pretty convincing): 1) Paul was the primary “go-to” guy for Beatles business, particularly as time went on. Of the band members, he did much of the driving; 2) The level of Paul’s intellect and sophistication. Not that I doubted it, I suppose I just didn’t have a full appreciation of it. The "aw, shucks" thing of his must have had me thrown somewhat; 3) The otherworldly ease with which these extraordinary pieces of music, many of which have become permanently ensconsed global cultural icons would just kind of fall out his and John’s pockets; And, 4) The sheer amount of drug use and how much harm it ended up doing to the band. I guess I always kind of sensed they were about smoking a little weed and taking the occasional trip, as was done, but it seems to have gone much deeper and darker. In fact, I put this book down convinced that more than any other factor—Yoko’s arrival or whatever / whomever—it was probably drugs that destroyed the brotherhood and doomed The Beatles.I could go on, but those are the things that I’m thinking about most having just finished it, so...Oh, and my favorite part? The page-long quote from Paul about how “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road” came to be is put-the-book-down hilarious. I kind of wanted to rip the page out and frame it, and may still. I should actually add a 5th main takeaway, and that would be Paul’s stories—the way he tells them and the words he chooses with which to do so—are very amusing throughout. Such a nice find. Glad I thought to look for it.

Big book with many contributions directly from Paul. Lots of info about the songs he has written with context fill ins by Barry Miles. Very readable.

Ein sehr informativ und auch unterhaltsames Buch für alle Beatles-Fans.Aber nichts für McCartney-Hasser, denn natürlich dreht sich das Buch zu 90% um ihn.Aber man lernt eine Menge dazu. Für mich als großer Sir-Paul-Fan hat vor allem die Erkenntnis überrascht, dass zu Begin der Karriere es eher Paul war, der um die Häuser zog, währen John an Frau und Kind im Vorort gefesselt war.Einen Stern Abzug, weil das Buch doch ein wenig langatmig und redundant ist. Aber es ist wirklich sehr informativ.