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Paul McCartney: McCartney: Taylor Swift is as big as the Beatles
The Telegraph UK ^ | 25 May 2026 | Robert White

Posted on 05/29/2026 6:20:13 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege

Sir Paul McCartney has finally named an artist he would rank alongside his former band – pop queen Taylor Swift.

In an interview with BBC Radio 2’s Tracks Of My Years, the 83-year-old music veteran expressed his admiration for the American pop singer, describing her as “clever” and a “very good” performer...

He said: “You do see the parallel of the amount of fame and the worldwide fame that Taylor Swift has and that we had [as the Beatles]…

But Swift questioned comparisons with the Beatles during an interview in December.

Stephen Colbert, the host of The Late Show, suggested that the reception to her must have been similar to the rock band, to which she responded: “I don’t know, I think they had a whole thing going.”

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: beatles; music; paulmccartney; taylorswift
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

But is she bigger than Jesus?


41 posted on 05/29/2026 7:02:14 AM PDT by Tanniker Smith (Rome didn't fall in a day, either)
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To: T.B. Yoits


42 posted on 05/29/2026 7:02:56 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: KevinB

What the hell has happened to this forum?


43 posted on 05/29/2026 7:04:09 AM PDT by subterfuge (What happened to my tagline?)
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To: jerod

Again with the inanity. What has happened to Free Republic? Stupid, classless posts are embarrassing. Very disappointing.


44 posted on 05/29/2026 7:05:41 AM PDT by subterfuge (What happened to my tagline?)
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To: dfwgator
Phil Collins has played drums on many McCartney songs.

My favorite is the song “Angry” from the “Press to Play” album. Great song. Pete Townshend on guitar.

45 posted on 05/29/2026 7:12:37 AM PDT by Flycatcher (God speaks to us, through the supernal lightness of birds, in a special type of poetry.)
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To: V_TWIN

Paul McCartney Tells Howard About the Time “Jesus” Came to His House
https://youtu.be/X1icuoH44AU?si=gAg25_wS-NFv95PV

“Then Lennon noticed that guy was relatively short, so he realized The Beatles were bigger than Jesus.”

LOL!!


46 posted on 05/29/2026 7:22:28 AM PDT by MotorCityBuck (Keep the Change You Filthy Animal !)
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To: Flycatcher

Phil was an extra in “A Hard Days Night”.


47 posted on 05/29/2026 7:23:08 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: T.B. Yoits

I’ve been saying that now Rock Music has hit the “maturity” part of the lifecycle, along with Classical Music.

People just want to hear the classics, and aren’t interested in new stuff, which is all derivative.


48 posted on 05/29/2026 7:24:30 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: Psalm 73

Sir Paul is slowing down. I saw him last October and he was not on his game. We all get older. No worries.

However as you say, we can go back even to the 1960s and see his interviews are never very deep, we’ve always assumed he was just being politely coy and career-wise can afford to be brief and agreeable to every idea. Perhaps.

I wondered years ago why there were no interviews where he is critically taking apart some idea or substantial concept. Completely the opposite for John, he was someone often firing on all cylinders in interviews with acerbic ideas and immediate wit and often even kicking many Beatles songs he didn’t like that week to the curb.

Paul was and still is all-in on the Beatles, neither John nor George were believers. People don’t like it when you pull the curtain back and speak the truth about something they already have vested preconceived ideas about. Ringo is just along for the ride.

And yeah, I cannot name a single Taylor Swift song.


49 posted on 05/29/2026 7:27:45 AM PDT by captmar-vell
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To: Psalm 73
Paul McCartney is senile.
Always thought he was the most talented of the four, but the least cerebral.


He is certainly not as sharp as he once was mentally. He does have musical genius, but without the influence of his former bandmates on his music, his solo career is not generally of the same quality as his work with the Beatles. I can think only of Live And Let Die" as being on a par with his Beatles work. The rest are mainly silly love songs and ditties.
50 posted on 05/29/2026 7:27:49 AM PDT by Dr. Franklin ("A republic, if you can keep it." )
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To: captmar-vell

If it wasn’t for Paul, The Beatles would have ended when Brian Epstein died.

What’s sad about John’s murder, is that at that point of his life, he had finally cleaned up, and pretty much stopped the drugs and booze. Some say he even liked Reagan, who he had met during halftime of a Monday Night Football game.


51 posted on 05/29/2026 7:29:47 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: Dr. Franklin

The rest are mainly silly love songs and ditties.


And what’s wrong with that?


52 posted on 05/29/2026 7:31:50 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: Dr. Franklin

I liked his first solo album (Cherries) and I still love Ram.

And “Band On The Run” is the closest thing he did to The Beatles.

He wrote “Drink To Me (Picasso’s Last Words)”, based on a bet that Dustin Hoffman made, that Paul couldn’t write a song about Picasso, who had just passed away.

And “Mrs. Vanderbilt” is a great song, should have been a big hit for him IMHO.


53 posted on 05/29/2026 7:36:19 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: Sir_Humphrey
When he said that, some people here were still miffed because the Beatles refused to play to segregated audiences

Were those calling for segregated audiences “Christians” ?

In that sense, the Beatles were closer to Christ then. No wonder Christianity took a deep dive and so many boomers rebelled.

54 posted on 05/29/2026 7:37:13 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege (🩰🎶)
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To: dfwgator

Yes, Paul was the workaholic who was their daily driver. And he was also smart enough not to hire Allen Klein, but offering up Lee Eastman instead wasn’t any help. Lennon likely would’ve sodded off after Rubber Soul IMO.

Lennon was the spark of out-of-the-box edgy creativity that always kept their songs from becoming rat pack styled cabaret ballads and lounge tunes for Frank Sinatra. George was more influential that many supposed at the time.


55 posted on 05/29/2026 7:45:32 AM PDT by captmar-vell
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To: captmar-vell

The moments when Paul and John clicked were special....

This is one of my favorite Beatles songs.

Hey Bulldog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4vbJQ-MrKo


56 posted on 05/29/2026 7:46:49 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: dfwgator
And “Mrs. Vanderbilt” is a great song, should have been a big hit for him IMHO.

One of his all time best songs. Back when he was touring after the release of that album, they were getting ready to perform for the night and the crowd kept chanting for “Mrs. Vandebilt!” Kind of surprised him. At the time he didn’t realize how popular that song was. This occurred at a foreign country during the tour (not the UK or USA). Wish I could remember the country. Possibly a Scandinavian one…

57 posted on 05/29/2026 7:48:11 AM PDT by Flycatcher (God speaks to us, through the supernal lightness of birds, in a special type of poetry.)
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To: Flycatcher

I heard it was very popular in the Soviet-bloc.


58 posted on 05/29/2026 7:48:59 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

My God, Paul. Its time for you to stop talking. Go play with your grandkids. You are famous and rich. You don’t need to do these interviews. They put you at risk of saying stupid, silly things like this.


59 posted on 05/29/2026 7:50:44 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard (When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

He’s daft. Taylor Swift is in a crowd. She may be in front or not as one sees it but it is nothing like 1964-1970 when there were basically the Beatles and the Stones.


60 posted on 05/29/2026 7:52:08 AM PDT by anton
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