sir paul

Watching a rerun of the Ellen Degeners show, I espied Paul McCartney on the screen. I rushed to release the mute button. Paul was banging away at a piano, backed up by a very capable band (an estimated income of 40 mil a year will get you a good band). He was wearing a sweatshirt and sneakers. He looked jowly, a little haggard and sounded tired. The song was terrible. Much, much worse than his old sweet retro tune from Sergeant Pepper: "When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now..." He's not losing his hair but he will be 64 next year and, forgive me for saying this, he should quit. I was going to say "quit while he's ahead" but he's not ahead, he's behind. He's sounding like Linda. It just saddens me to no end to see and hear this guy who wrote some of the best ballads of the 20th century (Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby, Here, There and Everywhere, She's Leaving Home, The Long and Winding Road, For No One), hack away at some non-descript mid tempo rocker, with a raspy voice and an exhausted look in his eye.

Then there was the interview with Ellen. McCartney was, in a word, embarassing. He was flogging a kids' book - of all things. Ellen seemed totally over-awed to be speaking with him (who wouldn't be?) but he came across as dull. A boring old guy with very little to say and seemingly not too bright. Strangely enough, I remember hearing a radio interview with him in Britain, back in 1977 when he was in his mid 30's. His huge hit at the time was "Mull of Kintyre" - a pleasant enough ditty but shockingly hollow when compared to his best work. Anyway, even then, I recall being very disappointed in the inteview. No funny stories, no sparkling anecdotes, no depth, just a bunch of silly, evasive answers. Then, as now, McCartney seemed elusive and not very bright. Ringo is a far, far better interview subject: funny, self deprecating, an interesting fellow. The little I heard from George also had more depth. George was a serious guy who didn't need funny faces and out-of-place guffaws to get through an interview.

Yesterday, I watched another knight being inteviewed: Elton John was on Inside The Actors Studio with James Lipton. Elton played some of his old tunes - a massively talented man, now in his late 50's. He came across as confident, assertive and funny. When he played "Your Song" there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Still got it!

Sir Paul should consider retirement. Sorry, Paul, I love your tunes, man, but it's time to fade away.