Posted on 12/16/2008 10:37:20 AM PST by weegee
He's already painted himself as the most avant garde Beatle, now in what seems like another attempt to rewrite history, Sir Paul McCartney claims he was responsible for radicalising their their political views
In a statement that forces us to read Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da as a commentary on American neo-colonialism, Sir Paul has said that it is he who turned the Beatles on to politics, introducing John, Paul and Ringo to the evils of the Vietnam war.
Whereas John Lennon is widely considered the "political one", penning songs like Revolution and Give Peace a Chance, sweet Sir Paul is now presenting an alternative history. In a forthcoming interview with Prospect magazine, McCartney claims to have been the catalyst for the group's anti-war position.
"...someone said to me: 'Bertrand Russell is living not far from here in Chelsea, why don't you go and see him?'" McCartney said. Russell, then in his 90s, was a prominent philosopher and activist. "So I just took a taxi down there and knocked on the door."
"He was fabulous. He told me about the Vietnam war – most of us didn't know about it, it wasn't yet in the papers – and also that it was a very bad war."
That, McCartney explained, was enough. Filled with idealism, conviction and, er, a smattering of current events, "I remember going back to the studio either that evening or the next day and telling the guys, particularly John, about this meeting and saying what a bad war this was...."
While it's John Lennon who has retained the reputation for rabble-rousing, "I politicised the Beatles," McCartney insisted. And now he has passed the "megaphone" to a new generation of political artists, he said. People like Bono...
Somewhere in England, Paul McCartney is squeaking: "Me too!"
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Sir Paul McCartney: I was the anti-war Beatle. (The Times (UK) December 14, 2008 Maurice Chittenden)
Rock and Roll Pingko.
Taking credit for John Lennon’s work again?
He’s senile.
Oh, I see. John Lennon the Commie had nothing to do with politcising the Beatles. Uh, huh. Right.
Typical liberals...always living in the past and in the world of ought to be, because the reality of now, which they helped to create, is unpalatable.
Well, if you can’t believe Bill Clinton’s favorite Beatle, who can you believe?
Paul is a pothead with no appreciation for those who fight evil. He lives above the problems of society. As a ki-nigget, he lives in the dark....a night instead of a knight.
Sorry sirpaul, evil needs to be fought, not surrendered to.
This is what a lifetime of vegetarianism does to the brain.
“One leg short of a trophy wife”.
Thats deep, man.
Who cares? The Beatles suck! I’m not a baby boom weenie so I don’t care.
You would have been a lot better off Paul, if someone would have told you about GOD!
Exactly - I share your admiration for Sir Paul’s incisive powers of inductive and deductive reasoning.
Is he still using pot?
Have to agree. Ringo was obviously the least political. But George was also from an alternative lifestyle.
I will add that "it must be nice to make silly statements, when the two other Beatles who would disagree are dead and buried."
Remember recently he was trying to rearrange the credits on the Beatles work to read “by McCartney and Lennon”.
One of the advantages of living a long time is that you eventually get your say.
“One of the advantages of living a long time is that you eventually get your say.”
Even if it is a lie and foolish.....
and here I always thought this song was just drug induced babble. But then again I grew up in the real world, not in the 60’s. so maybe I missed something groovy in the translation...man.
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