Paul McCartney Wrote a Scathing Letter About Himself to a Magazine

In 1970, Paul McCartney wrote to a magazine about himself. The Beatles had recently broken up, and while John Lennon had privately announced his departure from the group in 1969, McCartney was the first to go public with the news. Not only did he shoulder much of the blame for breaking up the group, but his former bandmates were not happy with him. He has said that the period of time was a challenge for him. Despite this, he wrote a critical letter about himself to a magazine.

Paul McCartney wrote a letter about himself to a magazine

On April 17, 1970, McCartney released his debut solo album, McCartney. He went against the wishes of the rest of The Beatles by releasing it before Let It Be. He also released it in the middle of a media storm, having recently announced he was leaving The Beatles. Just before its release, McCartney’s friend told the press they should stop bothering him as they were making his life miserable.

“He’s not giving any interviews at the moment,” the friend said, per The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Breakup. “In fact, fans and other people have been making his life a bit of a misery lately by picketing his pad. I wish they’d leave him alone to live his life now.” 

Soon after this, though, McCartney issued a teasingly critical letter about himself in Melody Maker magazine titled “Who Does Paul McCartney Think He Is?”

“Who does Paul McCartney think he is?” he wrote. “We don’t see anything of him for a year, and then out he pops from his mysterious hermit like existence, advertising his new record in a crazed manner. Does he really think we’ll believe that he played all the instruments? Let’s face it, Mailbag, we’re not suckers. It’s obvious George Martin had a lot to do with it. In fact if you listen carefully to the end of the third track played backwards, you can almost hear him whistling.”

He signed his own name at the end.

This was not the only time Paul McCartney wrote a letter to the magazine

Several months later, McCartney wrote another letter to Melody Maker magazine, though this one didn’t wink at readers nearly as much. The magazine had recently published a Q&A with Apple spokesperson Peter Brown about whether or not the band would reunite. Evidently, this rubbed McCartney the wrong way.

“Dear Mailbag, In order to put out of its misery the limping dog of a news story which has been dragging itself across your pages for the past year, my answer to the question, ‘Will The Beatles get together again?’ … is no.”

Was this an attempt to poke fun at his public image?

The first letter McCartney wrote appeared to poke fun at the criticism he was receiving at the time. He got ahead of it by making light of it and acting as though he was in on the joke while still promoting his album. Despite his efforts, though, McCartney likely found the wave of criticism hurtful. 

For a long time, he had been a part of a band that primarily received praise. Suddenly, he was subject to criticism, especially from those closest to him. During this time, McCartney also jokingly brushed off harsh criticism from John Lennon. When looking back, though, he has admitted his feelings were hurt. 

McCartney was likely employing a similar tactic here. Though he felt abandoned and alone, he jokingly added to the pile-on to make it seem like the criticism was rolling off his back.