Conversations with McCartney

by Paul Du Noyer

Overview

In Conversations with McCartney, renowned music journalist Paul Du Noyer compiles a series of intimate and revealing interviews that span 35 years, offering readers an unprecedented look into the life and mind of the legendary Beatle.

This book captures Paul McCartney’s candid reflections on his extraordinary career, from the early days of The Beatles to his solo ventures and beyond. Du Noyer’s insightful commentary and analysis provide context and depth, making this the most comprehensive firsthand account of McCartney ever published.

Whether discussing his creative process, personal anecdotes, or his thoughts on fame and legacy, McCartney’s voice shines through with honesty and humor.

For over three decades, renowned music journalist Paul Du Noyer has had unparalleled access to one of the most iconic figures in music history. Coupling McCartney’s candid thoughts with Du Noyer’s observations and analysis, Conversations with McCartney is beautifully written—the sensitive, shrewd depiction of one of the most accomplished artists of our time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781468315684
Publisher:	Abrams Press
Publication date:	11/21/2017
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Paul Du Noyer














is a top music journalist with more than 30 years’ experience writing about the subject. His interviewees range from Madonna to Pavarotti, David Bowie to Mick
Jagger and nearly everyone with a strong connection to The Beatles, not least
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. He began his career on the staff of Britain’s legendary music weekly paper NME, and later joined Q magazine and became its editor. Du Noyer also launched MOJO as its founding editor, for which the British Society of Magazine Editors awarded him the title “Editor of the
Year.”

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Part 1

1 Things He Said Today 3

2 Rocker with a Lolly Ice 13

3 How to Become a Beatle 26

4 The Toppermost 43

5 It Started to Be Art 57

6 My Dark Hour 73

7 Rage Against the Machine 82

8 The Astronaut and the Moon 91

9 Starting From Scratch 100

10 Soaring 108

11 Wings Folded 117

12 Of Frogs and Firemen 127

13 That's a Great Idea, Eddie! 138

14 British Light Music 148

15 John 158

Part 2

16 Unfinished Business 171

17 Apollo C. Vermouth 185

18 A Pot of Gold 196

19 This Magic Experiment 206

20 Beyond the Smile 217

21 Living is Easy with Nice Clothes 230

22 Heaven and Earth 237

23 Punks and Rivals 249

24 If I Were Not Upon the Stage 255

25 Another Wide Prairie 266

26 More Cowbell 275

27 Do It Now 286

28 Fallibility 292

29 Linda 305

30 Love 319

Finale: Fifty Favourites 326

Acknowledgements 337

Index 339

List of Illustrations 351

Editorial Reviews

10/10/2016
Du Noyer, founding editor of Mojo magazine, has interviewed Sir Paul McCartney many times since 1989, and in this sometimes cloying collection, readers get to hear the seemingly ageless former Beatle discuss a variety of topics: songwriting, religion and spirituality, his enduring relationship with Linda Eastman, his reflections on the breakup of the Beatles and life after the group. The interviews alternate between insightful and bland regardless of subject. On the making of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, for example, McCartney recalls that they were “fed up being ‘The Beatles’ ” and asked, “Why don’t we pretend that we’re another band? Make up a name for it, make up alter egos, so we can make a whole album from the point of view of this other band?” On touring: “It’s never the last tour as far as I’m concerned... I’ve always said I’ll be wheeled on when I’m ninety.” McCartney also points to the moment when the Beatles’ music significantly changed, with the 1966 release of Revolver: “It started to be art... it changed from showbiz to art.” Du Noyer’s book offers a glimpse of one wide-eyed fan’s conversations with his hero, and it will mostly appeal to McCartney fans who wish they were in Du Noyer’s shoes. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

10/01/2016
John Lennon never wrote a memoir, and so far Paul McCartney has resisted the idea of an autobiography, but in two new books the musicians through their own words speak with candor and reflection, bringing an intimate and revealing look into their already well-examined lives. As one of rock's most self-searching and questing artists, Lennon's conversations were mixtures of wit, naked openness, and political and social commentary. Editor Burger (Springsteen on Springsteen) has selected 19 interviews from print, radio, and television, most either never published in print or not easily accessible today. The transcripts are presented chronologically, providing a background introduction that contextualizes each. From an early radio interview in 1964 to the famous Dick Cavett TV appearances of 1971 and concluding with an interview done only hours before his tragic murder in 1980, Lennon's sardonic humor, intelligence, and honesty are displayed in these revealing discussions. Music, activism, songwriting, and, of course, the Beatles are all topics woven together throughout the pieces.Journalist Du Noyer (In the City: A Celebration of London Music) first interviewed McCartney in 1989 and spoke to the musician dozens of times over the next 25 years. He gives readers a portrait of the former Beatle extensively using McCartney's own words. The author mixes different conversations from throughout the period to create a continuous flow to the narrative, which encompasses the arc of McCartney's career. After a roughly chronological examination from pre-Beatles to the 21st century, Du Noyer turns to thematic chapters on songwriting, touring, classical music, art, fashion, love, and celebrity. McCartney's conversational style is direct and casual, illustrating the author's belief that McCartney's music has been a continuing balance between art and show business, and that the totality of his career makes him one of the foremost musicians of our time. Reading each musician's own words one sees the differences in temperament, introspection, philosophy and style, and also the many reasons why they together and alone remain towering figures in rock music VERDICT Both titles are essential new additions to the voluminous Beatles literature and the group's principal songwriters and will be of interest to those already familiar with their life stories.—James Collins, Morristown-Morris Twp. P.L., NJ

Library Journal

2016-07-31
“The world’s most famous living Liverpudlian” speaks.McCartney has never been shy of speaking his mind. Here, he opens up, repeatedly and over several decades, to longtime NME correspondent and founding Mojo editor Du Noyer (Deaf School: The Non-Stop Pop Art Punk Rock Party, 2013, etc.) on all manner of topics, not least of them “the world’s most famous dead Liverpudlian,” he being, of course, fellow Beatle John Lennon. Sir Paul’s not just a Beatle, though he will go to his grave with that designation first and foremost. To judge by Du Noyer’s portrait, he is the cheeky and cheerful fellow of popular depiction, though he is also deeply thoughtful and capable of self-criticism, if not always very trenchant. Since Lennon’s murder 36 years ago, McCartney has labored to rebuild his image as the lite-pop Beatle against Lennon’s rocker, and here his conversations sometimes turn to such things as his Little Richard shout and penchant for blistering rockers like “Helter Skelter.” There are surprises aplenty for Beatles casualists; who knew that Linda sang the highest of the high notes on “Let It Be”? Du Noyer’s book has a slightly slapped-together feel, as if raw material for a more cohesive biography in times to come, but for all that, it contains bits and pieces that are suggestive and illuminating. At one point, McCartney recounts, for instance, being stuck in writing the song that would become “Drive My Car,” which well illustrates his thesis that the whole business of songwriting involves “some kind of mystery as to whether you’re going to pull it off.” Happily, Du Noyer concentrates on the substantive in these conversations, which are both thematically and chronologically arranged, avoiding celebrity fluff to get into the meat—beg pardon, Sir Paul being a vocal vegetarian and all—of his work. A welcome contribution to a growing body of serious but not solemn work about The Fabs before and after, the cute bassist in particular.

Kirkus Review