The Beatles Songs Make Paul McCartney ‘Very Proud’ for 1 Selfless Reason
Paul McCartney had plenty of success with The Beatles. The group’s songs and albums were always commercially successful, and McCartney was able to use that popularity and extend it into his solo career. However, the former Beatle finds pride in their songs, not because of their success, but for another selfless reason.
Paul Mccartney is proud of how optimistic the songs by The Beatles are
In an interview with GQ, Paul McCartney discussed the origins behind the music of his career, whether with The Beatles or as a solo artist. While discussing “Blackbird,” the singer-songwriter said he was always proud of The Beatles’ music’s positive impact on others. It gave people hope and allowed them to relate to the lyrics.
“One of the nice things about music is you know a lot of the people listening to you are going to take seriously what you’re saying in the song. So, I’m very proud that The Beatles’ output is always really pretty positive,” McCartney explained. “There’s hardly anything in there that says ‘Screw your parents.’ It’s always pretty. ‘Hey Jude,’ ‘Let it Be,’ ‘Blackbird.’ It’s hopefully a good message. I particularly like that.
“Sometimes, when I’m writing songs, I will think, ‘There’s people out there who are going through some problems,’” McCartney added. “Hopefully, people out there will listen to it and think, ‘Oh yeah. It’s not just me alone going through this. This is something I can also fix.’”
Paul McCartney wanted to spread hope with ‘Blackbird’
Paul McCartney wrote “Blackbird” for the 1968 album The Beatles (also known as The White Album. The song was meant to address racial injustice in the United States. He wanted to spread hope with the song and even used British slang to make the message more subtle.
“I was sitting around with my acoustic guitar, and I’d heard about the civil rights troubles that were happening in the 60s in Alabama, Mississippi, Little Rock, in particular,” McCartney said. “So, that was in my mind, and I just thought, ‘It’s be really good if I could write something that if it ever reached any of the people going through those problems, it might kinda give them a bit of hope.’ So, I wrote ‘Blackbird.’”
“In England, a bird is a girl, so I was thinking of a black girl going through this,” McCartney continued. “You know, it’s time to arise. Set yourself free and take these broken wings.”
‘Let it Be’ and ‘Hey Jude’ stem from McCartney trying to share comfort
McCartney mentioned “Let it Be” and “Hey Jude,” two songs that McCartney wrote in hopes of sharing words of comfort. “Let it Be” came from a dream where his mother visited him and told him everything would be alright. He tried to put that message in the song, with “Let it Be” serving as a reminder that things will eventually work out.
Meanwhile, McCartney wrote “Hey Jude” to comfort John Lennon’s son, Julian, while John and his then-wife Cynthia were separating. The track was initially titled “Hey Jules,” but McCartney later changed it because he believed “Jude” sounded better.
