What a lovely man. Ever see that pretty documentary in which he's interviewed by his daughter Mary about early life with Linda? After The Beatles melted down he had to scrape by on beans until his accountants could sort out the wreckage. He and Linda went and lived in what looked like a barn from the charming super 16mm footage they shot. Seriously....a grubby hole without windows in the highlands.
Now for the bit where I tell you about when I met him: I actually met Paul once in Soho. It was ten years ago. He was wandering down Greek Street in his tonsure of the day, remember that Mullett? Now he has what looks like a wig. Ditch the wig Paul. Anyway he was trucking down Greek Street with his hands in his trouser pockets, blazer breezing behind him (Lennon liked that same pose in his white suit, head buried somewhere in a thatch of locks and specs). I wasnt going to miss my opportunity, went up and said hi Paul. We chatted: "So what do you do?", he said "I'm a runner for Ridley Scott" I replied (because even at an early age I knew how to drop names). Paul told me that was the way to go, start at the bottom and work your way up. The Cavern, Hamburg Strip Joints and beyond.
This spiel has been prompted by seeing a truly wonderful ad featuring Paul for Radio 2 on the telly. Now there's a Radio Station, never been the same since Jimmy Young left, Radio Caroline thats my kind of Pirate. Paul does a stunning rendition of Band on the Run accompanying himself with bottles, sitars and radio feedback, and what a brilliant song that is too. Bloody magnificent. Johnny Tosspot who writes for The Wire, and who only reviews cds by "firstname"/"secondname" artists like Gunther Bernard and Arne Sondheim and Peter Wishart thinks it all very amateurish but he knows fuck all about anything (life and love included). This is lovely, do a whole cd of this stuff Paul.
Actually I've known about him doing this things for ages. He mentioned to some rock dork in Q (or was it Select) that he did "Brian Eno style experiments with elastic bands" - genius! And if you want to get all historical about it, Lennon wasnt the only one flirting with the avant-garde, McCartney was hanging with AMM.
Sign the petition!
Posted by Woebot at March 24, 2003 09:44 PM