June 23, 2018

He likes to keep his fire engine clean. It's a clean machine...

32 comments:

Danno said...

Paul is showing his age more and more. Aging is better than the alternative.

Tank said...

God, the Beatles were great.

Ann Althouse said...

Paul is 76. He doesn't look a day younger than his age, yet he seems energetic and not worn down by age. He's a good model of how to age well: He keeps slim, he makes his face look good by smiling and looking alive, not by fighting the sags with surgery. I think I'd like it better if he'd just allow his hair to be white, but whatever.

Ron said...

and Ringo is now 78.... the only Beatle born during the Blitz

Chuck said...

The PRI program "The World," commissioned an Arabic version of this song this week, after producers of the program saw this video clip as Althouse posted it. They commissioned the song in honor of Saudi women getting the right to apply for driver's licenses tomorrow.

https://www.pri.org/programs/the-world

Curious George said...

Sure he's old, and his voice is gone, but that was fantastic.

traditionalguy said...

McCartney has the Dragon Energy.

Phil 314 said...

“he makes his face look good by smiling and looking alive, not by fighting the sags with surgery. “

I think he’s had a bit of work done.


His genius is what drive the Beatles forward (in spite of Johns drugs and George’s spiritual pursuits.)

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Too bad the spot where he goes back to 20 Forthlin Rd wasn't done with someone who has a little more intellectual heft as an interviewer. It would have been interesting to get Paul's impression of what it's like to go back and find one's childhood home has become a museum. Or to see if he can really even remember what it was like when he was just a local Allerton lad.

Darrell said...

Chuck mentions another Trump accomplishment. Only he is too stupid/full of bile to realize it. There is a new Saudi Arabia post-Trump. And the BBC was showing North Korean propaganda and they were gobsmacked that the US is no longer being shown as the Great Satan. You could tell that they (the Beeb) were angry.

Loren W Laurent said...
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Loren W Laurent said...

A few thoughts upon watching the video.

I like and appreciate the age in his voice: it sounds earned, true, and in the moment. When you listen you can hear the harmony in your head of him now, along with his younger voice that is deep in your synapses, and you can feel a life well-lived.

I smiled at the wetness under his arms at the pub: still working up a sweat, the body aged but still engaged.

And:

The realization that, of the Beatles, McCartney's songs were the ones for the ages.

A man in his Seventies singing 'Hey Jude' only gets deeper: who would not want a loved grandfather to tell you "don't be afraid: You were made to go out and get her"?

The experience of his life imparts "there will be an answer / Let it be" with a depth of patience that resonates to any age.

And even "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da": a snapshot of the joy of life, not just a snapshot of the Sixties.

I imagine (yes, intentional) John Lennon nearing eighty and singing "I am the Walrus" and see only nostalgia, with no appreciable traction outside of that context other than clever wordplay and hipster nods.

I would say that George Harrison, with the few Beatles songs he had, wrote more time-friendly songs than Lennon -- "Something," "Here Comes The Sun". Of course, hearing a man in his seventies now drone along to the sitar of "Within You, Without You" might not be a heart-swelling moment.

But as the years go by, the cool ones who cringed at McCartney back in the day will slowly be replaced by those who cringe at the lysergic pretensions of Lennon.

-LWL

John E. said...

That was well done.

Darrell said...

That clip washed away many of his sins, incurred over the last several decades--usually political opinions--for me. The joy in the peoples' eyes who got an expected chance to witness his spontaneous presence said it all. A teary moment for all.

Etienne said...

Paul has no red meat in his colon.

That's the secret of a good liver and a good pancreas. I have so much red meat in my colon, that I moo when I poo.

I thought the juke-box scene was great. The look on those peoples faces was funny as hell.

dustbunny said...

The pub scene is the most enjoyable thing I’ve watched in ages. It might be nostalgia as I was 13 when the Beatles first appeared and ripe for their allure but I think the songs and the happiness they generate have leaped the generations and live on.

rehajm said...

Sweet. He used to practice on the bog. Heh.

He looks and sounds great. He smokes a lot of weed you know. It must be a wonder drug.

rehajm said...
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rehajm said...

I thought when James had Stevie Wonder and Sia on, Carpool Karaoke would crash into Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee.

Ken B said...

He looks like Anthony Zerbe.

Wince said...

What always surfaces is McCartney's internal musicality. He seems to have a tune, new or old, always running through his head just below the surface. Humming, scatting, whistling, snapping his fingers. Maybe that's one thing that keeps McCartney energetic?

McCartney likes to play with his image and freak people out by surprise. At his level of celebrity it can require some planning and stealth, but it can be great fun to help when he does. One of the original "surprised" pub patrons, the Scotsman in the blue checked shirt who high-fives the guy next to him, is not only a fan but part of his long-time entourage. Somebody needed to be there and you can see him eventually take a position by the stage when the crowd is let in. McCarney has a great group of people around him and they have tremendous fun doing what they do. Why else would he do it? Money? It'll be a sad day when that long and winding road has to end.

Bay Area Guy said...

Love it. Big slice of musical history.,Nice to see Sir Paul aging gracefully with a good sense of self-deprecating humor. It's good for titans to show humility.

Amexpat said...

Very well done. PM has often seemed a bit daft to me in recent years, but he comes across as a very decent, warm human being here.

Writing "human being" makes realize that there was always something simian about the Beatles, in a good way. Their playfulness. I think the group/TV Show, The Monkees, were trying to tap into that.

Etienne said...

I laughed when the girl looked at the juke-box selections .

"Christ - there's nothing here but ancient 60's songs !"

She picks one, and walks away glum...

Rabel said...

That was great. A nice break from all the hate.

RBE said...

The scene of the car pulling away from his childhood home with him sweetly waving to the folks on the sidewalk while singing Blackbird brought tears to my eyes.

L Day said...

A friend shared that piece on Facebook this morning. Really nice. It did bring tears to my eyes.

eddie willers said...

I agree with Loren (Laslo?) that it was Paul who just had music in his bones. The man was close to a Mozart.

But Lennon did add the flats to Paul's sharps. Paul would make it as a musician all through his life, while Lennon would have (if he already hadn't) burn out and gone on to something else.

But, oh boy, together they created something beyond.

Pugsley the Pug said...

I am a big Beatles fan & McCartney fan. As I write this, I am wearing a T-shirt with Althouse’s favorite album artwork of the album Revolver. I saw Paul in concert in 2002 and he put on a great show of around 3 hours without much of a break. However, Sir Paul’s voice is shot, most likely from the years of tobacco & marijuana smoking. James Corden’s predecessor as host of the Late, Late Show, Craig Ferguson, used to say Paul and Angela Lansbury (17 years older) were sperated at birth because his baby face had aged badly (and that was 5 years ago). Heck, Ringo looks and sounds better nowadays.

That said, this carpool karaoke bit was fun and enjoyable to watch. Singing the song “Penny Lane” while driving on the street that inspired the song was pretty cool. The looks on the pub patrons were priceless. I would have loved to have been there to enjoy that up close & personal cocert.

Scott said...

What a lovely guy.

cf said...

Delight-Full, ahhh.
my thanks to the late night young man i don't know, and however that was produced.

bagoh20 said...

I can remember being 4 and 5 years old walking around the neighborhood singing Beatles songs, and I've loved them ever since. I was always primarily a McCartney fan and loved his music my whole life.