Paul McCartney Admits The Beatles Initially Wrote Songs for Money — ‘We Wanted to Get Paid’
The Beatles wrote hundreds of iconic songs that remain relevant almost 60 years later. While many of these have meaning and emotional themes at their core, many became No. 1 hits, earning each member of the band millions of dollars. Singer Paul McCartney said they eventually made music for altruistic purposes, but the initial appeal of making music for The Beatles was for money.
Paul McCartney said he wrote Beatles songs initially for money
In an interview with Barnes & Noble’s James Daunt, McCartney answers the difference between creating songs for a love of music or money. The former Beatle admits that they played to get paid when the band first came out of Liverpool. They were looking for jobs, and being in The Beatles was a successful, well-paid job.
“It was only later that we discovered that what we were doing was art, and there were things like muses,” McCartney said. “And when we first got out of Liverpool…it was money. We were kids without jobs. Suddenly, here was a job, and so we wanted to get paid, and the more money, the better.
Paul McCartney and John Lennon believed each hit would buy them something nice
Once The Beatles became international superstars, the band was churning hit after hit. Songs like “Hey Jude,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” and “She Loves You” would reach No. 1 on the charts and remain there for weeks. Paul McCartney said he and John Lennon would joke about what these Beatles songs could buy.
“Me and John did used to laugh,” McCartney explained. “It was kind of a joke, a half-joke. Once we started to get a hit and knew what kind of money a hit could bring in, we said, ‘Well, let’s write a swimming pool, or you need a new extension. Let’s write it, come on, sit down.’ And so yeah, it came out of that.”
McCartney said they eventually were able to write for more noble reasons because their ambitions towards what they wanted to buy weren’t too extravagant.
“I think you then start to think, ‘Oh, is it more noble if we don’t write for money, if we just write for art or love?’ But that comes in any way,” he continued. “It’s not like it’s excluded because you’re accepting money, and what we wanted was a guitar, a car, and a house. That was it. That was the height of our ambitions.”
McCartney believes writing for money and a love of music can coexist
While McCartney is one of the most successful musicians ever, he still believes that writing for art and writing for money can coexist. Everyone needs to make a living, and some people make their passions their full-time profession. The “Yesterday” singer said he sees nothing wrong with doing both.
“I’ve never been one to think that there’s something dirty about accepting money,” McCartney stated. “Most people in the world do it. So there’s gotta be something okay about it and love and marriage and friendship, most people in the world do that too. So I think the two can coexist. I’m happy to enjoy both.”
McCartney shared that he also likes to use his money toward donating to worthy causes, so there can be ways to benefit the world through one’s art and through the profits they make off that art.
