Paul McCartney Revealed He Sometimes Bites off More Than He Can Chew on Certain Projects
Paul McCartney revealed he sometimes bites off more than he can chew on certain projects. That’s not surprising because he’s always working on something.
Paul McCartney agreed to take on a special project for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
In the early 1990s, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic invited Paul to write something for them for their 150th anniversary. He immediately agreed without giving it much thought. In his book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul wrote that he often makes decisions like that.
Paul worked on the arrangement with Carl Davis, who’d written film scores for The French Lieutanant’s Woman and Scandal. The former Beatle would drive to Davis’ home, and they’d spend three hours at the piano. They did it for “weeks and weeks and weeks” while writing.
“For a project as long as this, I like the idea of going to what seems to me a neutral space,” Paul wrote. Paul would sit in a pub if he arrived at Davis’ too early. One time, he spoke with an Irish man at the bar. The man asked Paul what he was up to. Paul responded that he was writing a classical piece for the Liverpool Philharmonic. The man replied, “God, don’t you find that daunting?”
“I’ll tell you the truth, it had not occurred to me that it was daunting,” Paul wrote.
Paul admitted that he tends to bite off more than he can chew on certain projects
The “Yesterday” singer told the man in the pub that he didn’t think writing a classical piece for the Liverpool Philharmonic was daunting. He explained he was having fun with it.
Still, Paul admitted, “But that often happens with me. I’ll bite off something and I’ll be halfway through chewing it and enjoying it, when someone will say, ‘Do you know how to do this?’ I think, ‘Oh no, I’d forgotten about that aspect. You have to know how to do things in order to do them?'”
Paul’s classical piece with Davis turned out alright.
Paul made sure he wasn’t biting off more than he could chew when he joined The Quarry Men
At least Paul ensured he wasn’t biting off more than he could chew when he joined The Quarry Men (later The Beatles). He wanted to weigh up his options and didn’t want to jump into anything hastily.
During an interview on The Howard Stern Show, Paul said, “I didn’t immediately go, ‘Yeah!’ I’m like that; I don’t rush into things. I think I’m allowed to have a minute to think about it because, wait a minute, ‘Do I want to be in a band? I’ve never been in a band. Do I want to be in this band?'”
In The Lyrics, Paul wrote, “I wasn’t exactly playing hard to get. But I was a careful young fellow. I wondered whether I really wanted to be in a band. Was this a good thing, or should I be trying to study for school?”
Paul decided to join The Quarry Men after thinking about it thoroughly for about a week. “I decided, yeah, we could do something with this band,” Paul said.
Whether or not Paul weighs up his options to take on certain projects or not, he’s made some pretty great career choices.
