Paul McCartney

One Liner: The Beatle.

Wikipedia Genre: Rock, pop, classical, electronic
Home: Liverpool

Poster Position: 1
Day: Friday at 7:45
Both Weekends.

Thoughts: I've heard some people hating on McCartney being the #1 artist on the poster, but screw that.  The opportunity to see one of the Beatles, live, before he passes or can't sing anymore?  I'm taking it.  After guys like Bowie, Petty, and Prince have all recently died before I could see them play live, I'm in on seeing this.

I could do a full-on, massive writeup about The Beatles albums, and his albums with Wings, or his eight million solo albums available on Spotify, but I honestly don't think that would be all that useful.  You already know who this is, right?  Wikipedia lists him as having 37 albums without the Beatles.  So I could listen to his music for days (and probably go insane), or we could talk about other interesting things.

Quick edit to this post - and I know this is long, but you have got to go read this interview with McCartney that GQ just released.  Everyone is getting all excited about the part where he talks about jacking off with Lennon and some friends in a room, all together, but the entirety of the article is a very cool insight into this man.

First, he's been knighted.  He is Sir Paul.  Second, he has an Academy Award, eighteen Grammys, and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice (solo and with the Beatles).  A freaking planet was named after him.  Pretty rad life right there.

Second, if you have not seen this James Corden thing, where McCartney and Corden go tour around Liverpool and check out Beatles things together, then you have missed out.  Truly a cool thing.

Fantastic.  The singing is fun, but more cool is the way that the people around there are reacting.  Just like, beside themselves with amazement.  I mean, the crowds are that one scene were wild.  And of course, those people in the pub at the end?  Super amazing experience for them.  I've got goosebumps watching it again right now.  I just wish the dorks in there watching knew better than to record it with their phones.  Just enjoy it and know that Corden is going to release a high definition video later!  Wouldn't you rather be recorded for posterity as the person singing and clapping and enjoying, rather than the dork watching the show through your phone screen?

Now, is his voice as strong at 76 as it was at 20?  Hell no.  Does it sound horrible?  Hell no.  He sounds pretty good, and as you can see from that video, he's gonna have some backup singers adding a little extra sound to the vocals.  It'll be good, man.

Third, which songs from the Beatles were his?  I think that is interesting.  I don't think I really have a good mental picture of what were his versus the other guys.  I know "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is a Harrison tune, and I know Lennon did "Revolution," but I can't think of McCartney's tunes.  And his tunes are FREAKING AMAZING: "Blackbird," "I Will," "Golden Slumbers," "Two Of Us," "Can't Buy Me Love," "Eight Days a Week," "Let It Be," "Hey Jude," "Paperback Writer," "Sgt. Pepper," "Getting Better," "With a Little Help From My Friends," "Eleanor Rigby," "Yellow Submarine," "Yesterday," "Love Me Do," and loads more.  I mean, "Blackbird" is a personal favorite and one I've used as a lullaby for my kids for years.  But the rest of these are all massive, classic hit songs.  Pretty sure you could walk up to someone on the street and they could hum a few bars of any of those songs.  And this doesn't even touch all the other hits from the rest of his catalog.  Pretty amazing, to add up how bad ass his writing is overall.

All of that being said, his biggest song on Spotify is terrible.  I don't know how they decide how to list things on a Spotify page, but the Beatles albums aren't on here, while Wings and solo albums are, but either way, his top streaming tune is "FourFiveSeconds," the crappy tune he made in 2015 with Rihanna and Kanye West.  489.0 million streams.

Yuck.  But wait, did he do anything other than just strum his guitar in that thing?  WTF?  He literally just stands in the background making Blue Steel face and holding his guitar.  Why in the world was this a thing?  And here's a sad fact, the highest streaming counts for any Beatles song?  209 million for "Here Comes the Sun."  So not even half of that trash.  Huh.

Next, let's talk about his new album.  Yes, he literally just released a new album, September 7, 2018.  I am listening to "Happy With You" right now, and it only has 4,006 streams so far on the morning of its release.  And I actually like that song very much.  A cute love song for an old man, talking about how he liked to get stoned and he used to love to get wasted, but now he's just happy with you.  Nice little tune.  I also think that his song titles are a bit randy, if you read them with a dirty mind: "Do It Now," "Come On To Me," "Fuh You," and "Hunt You Down/Naked/C-Link."  I think the last one is about finding good porn online.  Just kidding, but those three song title pieces sure seem odd together.

Two lead singles that preceded the release of the album. "Fuh You," is a winking way for Sir Paul to talk about boning.  The actual chorus line is apparently "I just want it fuh you," but it surely does sound like he is saying "I just wanna fuck you."

C'mon, man.  Do you think the crowd at ACL is going to be yelling "I just want it for you!!!" ?  Negative, ghost rider.  The crowd is going to be gleefully yelling F bombs and grinding on their neighbors.  The other lead single is a little more of a straight-forward rocker, "Come On To Me."  4.2 million streams so far.

I mean, again!  "If you come on to me, then I'll come on to you!"  Homie is randy!  Did he dump another wife?

Those two songs are kinda fun, pretty pleasant.  The majority of the album passes on by without much excitement.  There is a weird seven minute song that goes through a bunch of style changes so that it piques my interest ("Despite Repeat Warnings"), but its nothing all that special.  I think "Happy With You" is my favorite tune.

Final thing to discuss, what is he playing at his shows?  If this setlist is any indication, then it'll be a handful of those new tunes from Egypt Station, and then 15 Beatles songs like "Love Me Do," "Sgt. Pepper's," "Magical Mystery Tour," "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," and "Helter Skelter," and then like 6 songs from Wings, like "Band on the Run" and something called "Hi, Hi, Hi," which sounds super annoying.  HE HAD BETTER PLAY BLACKBIRD IF HE KNOWS WHATS GOOD FOR HIM!!!

So there you have it.  A freaking Beatle.  Lets do this thing.