Listening to his music, he always seems to be in his twenties. And yet, sir Paul McCartney, next June 18, will break through the barrier of the eighty, among other things very well worn. The volume "The great story of Paul McCartney" (Hoepli Editore, 2022, pp. 224, also e-book), written jointly by Carmine Aymone, Michelangelo Iossa and Riccardo Russino, then tries to tell us about the eight decades of life of the great English musician. He does so naturally dwelling on the Beatles years, but without forgetting that McCartney's Beatlesian adventure ended when Sir Paul was not even thirty years old. "The Great Story of Paul McCartney" is, in fact, an extensive research work, which starts from 1940 - the year in which Paul's parents met for the first time in Liverpool, under the German bombings - and reaches 2022, crossing eight decades of history and six decades of Sir Paul's career.
McCartney is observed under his profile one and three: life with the Beatles , the path with the Wings, his group in the seventies of the twentieth century, and the solo career. After the end of the Fab Four , in fact, McCartney continued to release albums full of great songs and masterpieces to be rediscovered, keeping alive the desire to explore musical terrains unpublished for him, just as it happened in the days of the Beatles: from electronic and ambient music. to classical, from jazz standards to children's songs, from ballet music to the soundtrack of a video game.
An out of the ordinary musician, as Michelangelo Iossa, one of the authors of the volume, confirms:
"Sir Paul is probably the most influential musician of the entire twentieth century: it is no coincidence that the French historian Jacques Le Goff has included the complete work of the Beatles among the thirteen documents / monuments of the twentieth century, the only musical example in this context" .
What makes McCartney so special?
"To this day, McCartney does not know how to read or write music academically at all and would not know how to 'recognize the score of Yesterday if he had it in front of it', as he likes to remember: his voracious musical curiosity made him one of the most artistic spirits. versatile, unpredictable and talented in recent decades, capable of creating bridges of dialogue between pop-rock and Luciano Berio, trance music and symphonies, popular poetry and music for ballet or video game, just to name a few fields of exploration started by McCartney. A 'mass' of sound, I would say a 'soundscape' - a 'soundscape' - one of a kind ”.
And in the Beatles what function did it perform?
“As we wrote in our preface to the book, the alchemy between Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr was so extraordinary that it still fascinates and amazes listeners around the world. McCartney played a decisive role in this formula, much more than one is usually led to believe: his profile as an 'ordinary man' and his life free of scandals have taken him away from the stereotype of the cursed genius or similar platitudes. And so, for decades, his contribution to the Beatles was considered important, but, we believe, less than what he deserved. In our book, we state without hesitation that McCartney's contribution to the Beatles' music is simply incredible, no matter who wrote their songs. It was the engine that never stopped: it would be enough to remember that some records were recorded only because Paul called John, George and Ringo nonstop to bring them back to the recording room: Abbey Road, for example, was born like this.
How was the post-Beatles McCartney ... why should it be rediscovered?
"In the aftermath of the dissolution of the Fab Four, Paul does not lose his talent, but he loses his human and artistic partnership with John, George and Ringo: it is true that certain spells do not repeat themselves anymore, but it is equally true that when we talk about by McCartney there is always room for so much great, great music, to the point that it is hard to make a list in a small space. And then, all kinds of music: from pop to rock, from disco music to piano sonatas, from soundtracks to 1930s jazz standards. And, above all, there are songs that look the Beatles classics straight in the eye, holding their heads: Live And Let Die, Maybe I'm Amazed, Band On The Run, Here To day, Somedays, just to name a few ".
But was he "just" a great musician?
"I would say no: he is one of the most lively cultural operators of the twentieth century, capable of modifying - from within - the very idea of contemporary musician and composer and strongly contributing to broadening the expressive possibilities of international pop-rock, starting from Liverpool, at the time a suburb of the British Empire!
In our volume, we also wanted to give space to McCartney, a skilled 'player' in the world of music publishing, an aspect often forgotten: at present, Paul is one of the largest independent publishers in the world and controls a catalog of over 25,000 titles, including songs and musicals, entire repertoires of jazz standards and enviable rock'n'roll songbooks. A few examples? Grease, Goodbye Rome, Splendid Copenhagen, Story Weather, in addition to the great songbooks of Buddy Holly or Carl Perkins and the musical treasures of the Beatles, the Wings and his personal solo career ".
Finally ... the McCartney song you feel most attached to?
“The song I choose is, without a doubt, Blackbird: when I got my first Beatles album as a gift it was September 1980, I was six years old and I was immediately struck by this song, a pure McCartney signature. Since then, this song has taken many forms - listen after listen - and today 'my' Blackbird of 2022 is different, deeper, than that of my childhood. I find in the verse 'take these broken wings and learn to fly' an invitation to give space to rights, civil life, talent and one's own identity ".