A great manner to unveil some Beatlemania myths, and break unfair accusations about Beatles' real...

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	• Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now Barry Miles Holt Paperbacks, 1998 - 720 pages average customer review:based on 119 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

paul mccartney

I picked up 'Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now' on Amazon. I wasn't sure if I was interested enough in McCartney/Beatles lore to slog through 600+ pages. However, it proved to be a compelling read, especially with McCartney's thoughts and opinions scattered throughout. McCartney proves to be an intelligent, thoughtful, regular bloke whose input is essential to understanding the times and the little band he was a part of.

The Best Out There

For this book Miles was given an unheard of level of access to McCartney, who is the narrator of the story and because of this we wanted to include it under the "horse's mouth" section. McCartney's memories are wonderful, and Miles keeps things organized. Well written, entertaining, enlightening...all the things a book like this needs to be.

Wow, man, I really liked this book. It is the first time that Macca really has made an attempt to give an account of the Beatle years. Sure, he has been asked a million questions in interviews, but those are like little flakes of gold amongst the usual dozen or so questions interviewers seem to ask Paul. Miles, on the other hand, was given first-hand access to McCarntey over a span of time...therefore he had the opportunity to actually develop a dialogue with the ex-Beatle. I can only imagine the conversations those two must have had while creating the book, and what stories were told that didn't end up in the book.

McCartney's recollections of his younger days are fairly clear and descriptive. They provide insight into the Beatle that many thought was an intellectual inferior to John Lennon; this book proves how untrue that is. In fact, it was Paul who first developed an interest in the art world and the whole "cultured" scene. Lennon picked it up later (though he took it in a direction that Macca was never interested in--or able to--take it himself.) Paul's stories in this book are mostly new to the Beatles' canon of knowledge and carry an aunthenticity that 3rd party accounts don't.

Of particular interest, I thought, were the later chapters where Paul leaves the Beatles and we learn just how much Allen Klien played into those decisions. And though Yoko is often turned into a villain as the person who "broke up the Beatles," it is clear from Paul's recollection that the introduction of Allen Klien and changes in John's personality were really what caused the friction. Yoko was just icing on that putrid cake, not the cake itself.

All in all, this is a must-read for the Beatles fan. It is a whopping 700 pages or so, which tells you that it is not just a trifling little thing that will tease and never deliver. This book has the space and stories to really flesh out the Beatles story.

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The Real Story About the Songs

There has been so much written about what Mr. McCartney did versus what Mr. Lennon did that we risk losing sight of the tremendous creativity that each spurred in the other. Mr. McCartney discusses the backstory behind a lot of the songs and what was going on in his life at the time, and what each song meant to the group as a whole. It is surprisingly candid and, as long as you remember that many of these memories were over a third of a century old when the book was compiled, I think it is as close to reality as anyone will ever get when it comes to who wrote what. In the end, though, the team was "Lennon/McCartney" and those two names guarantee a quality product. Does it really matter who penned what line, and when? This is a good book with Mr. McCartney's actual, and very extensive, recollections in it. It also functions as a nice reference if you want to look into the background of a particular song.

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How the Music Evolved

Barry Miles' biography of Paul McCartney (Many Years from Now) is distinctive from other Beatles's biographies for its detailed look at how all that iconic music came together. As one example, McCartney gives an insider's view of where he was and what he was doing when he composed "Here, There, and Everywhere," as well as the off hand remark that playing one particular chord led to "Fool on the Hill." Improvisation and luck appeared to have influenced so many wonderful Beatles' tunes. By the time you've finished Miles' book, you'll begin to wonder whether some higher power was also a Beatles' fan.

Donald Gallinger is the author of The Master Planets

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A great manner to unveil some Beatlemania myths, and break unfair accusations about Beatles' real circumstances of their end!

Back in the 1960s, I was a small kid. I heard Beatles' music so constantly, I ended hating them!
In 1970 I was 10. I started to listen music SERIOUSLY. Yeap, on the 70s I got severely caught by the Pop & Rock Music-mania fever. I got the "Rock Fever" and never wanted to become 'cured' of it!
When I was 16, I was "dominated" by music, as much as any other kid who dind't live in the U.S. or in Europe (so hardly had the chance to live 'Beatlemania' times as Americans or Europeans kids & girls could have lived). I was so concerned in those years in trying to finish High School in an acceptable level to go to the University. But simultaneously, I spent almost all my free time listening to Rock music.
Thanks to a friend, I broke my musical taste barriers and got back to the 'Basics'. So it was 1976 when I got Beatles' records for the first time in my album collection.

When I was 35, I started to listening and reading about Rock music in a more intellectual way. I wanted to get my own answers to the multiple "WHYs", "HOWs", "WHENs" and many other questions I had about Rock Music, the perfomers, the bands, the singers, the composers, the Record companies, the different Rock & Pop "styles", etcetera.

I was lucky to receive this book as a gift from a cousin who lives in California, who always understood my sincere devotion to Rock music. As soon as I received it, I read it avidly.

Believe or not, it not only made me understand in a better way I became so fanatic with Pop & Rock music, it also helped me to understand what a kind of real geniuses, John Lennon and Paul McCartney became either as composers, and as music performers. It also helped me to understand how good Pop & Rock music can be, if you not only enjoy it either listening to it or dancing with it, but fully analyzing how it fitted in the process of the History of Mankind during the 2nd middle of the 20th. Century.

And it made me understand also, that the Fab Four were very lucky to be so deeply involved in all that process. And also, as a new Beatle fan, to discover that most of the popular recovery of the Beatles' history is full of fake facts, myths and cheat-based statements, that in the end have no link with the real facts.

Really, reading this book made me enjoy my passion for Pop & Rock music more than ever, as much as understanding that John, Paul, George and Ringo were full of wishes, dreams, bad manners, fears as any other person in the world... Because they are just HUMAN BEINGS as any of us!

If you a real Rock & Pop music lover, read this book as a young guy would do. So let aside all your prejudices.
Sure you will enjoy it!!!!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

During the past year Paul McCartney has been in the public's eye more than at any time since the peak of Beatlemania over thirty years ago. His fans have been treated to the best-selling Flaming Pie and Standing Stone albums, a full hour of Paul on "Oprah," and this thoughtful and comprehensive biography that brings us closer to the man than ever before. Based on hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews over a period of five years, and with complete access to Paul's own archives, Barry Miles has succeeded in letting Paul tell the story of his life as a Beatle in his own words. It includes Paul's recollection of the genesis of every song that he wrote with John Lennon and the fascinating details about their remarkable collaboration.

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