I recently sent an email to a friend. “See you at Paul’s birthday bash, if not in person, then in spirit.”
We feel solidarity with the thousands of people out there extending happy birthday wishes to Paul McCartney. Or as he’s known by the queen, Sir Paul.
Our email exchange was in reference to RSVP’s we made on Facebook to attend a party celebrating McCartney’s 69th birthday. Naturally, the more than 5,000 people who signed up – and the thousands more marking the event across the world – won’t be gathered in one place. That’s impossible, but when people from across the globe are joined together out of a love for arts, culture and human connection, one has to surmise that maybe lofty things are possible.
Sarah Mourad, a Muslim from Cairo, Egypt, created the “event.” McCartney was a working class English kid, the son of a devout Catholic mother and an agnostic Protestant father. However, through art and music, McCartney, like the other three lads from his old Liverpool band, has brought people together from across national, religious and geographic boundaries.
It says something about humanity that these four un-saintly young men could transcend personal flaws and find bridges across psychological divides. Too bad they couldn’t always overcome bitterness among themselves and those closest to them the way they could inspire harmony with others.
But time is a healer. (The man praised Pete Best’s book about his mother, the Beatles’ early days and the Casbah.) With age, we make peace with internal demons and realize that life is short. This celebration encapsulates everything Paul is about.
His is a voice for peace as he fights for things like getting rid of landmines, seal hunting, animal rights, reversing global warming and nullifying third world debt. He witnessed the 911 terrorist attacks while sitting in a plane on the tarmac at JFK airport and helped organize the Madison Square Garden concert for New York City. He has advocated for Burmese political prisoner and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and has asked people to give up meat for just one day out of the week so to reduce CO2 emmissions.
Paul isn’t slowing down. He’s a prime example of how to grow old gracefully.
I’m ambivalent about Facebook. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share my blogs and connect with people, but I value my privacy. It’s the same resistance to change that leaves me – a die-hard vinyl man -- conflicted about Beatles songs being available on Apple iTunes.
While I’m happy that Beatles music is more accessible to a new generation via their mode of listening to music, I have trouble imagining their songs for a .99 cent digital download right along with Kid Rock, Katy Perry, Beethoven, the White Strips…To me, the songs represent a body of work and I view "I’ve Just Seen a Face" as being inseparable from Rubber Soul. Same with "Here, There and Everywhere" and Revolver, "Rocky Raccoon" and the White Album. From a pragmatic perspective, I know it’s a good thing, though. It keeps their music out there.
An avant garde artist like McCartney, I think would embrace change more easily. In that respect, I guess I identify more with John Lennon, my favorite Beatle. I would gear more toward the traditional rock numbers on side one of Abbey Road than the fluid medley on side two. Still I love it all, all the diversity.
McCartney has committed sins. One of the most baffling questions circling my mind is how someone can create such opuses as “Hey Jude,” “Get Back,” “Let it Be,” and “Band on the Run,” then turn around and write “Silly Love Songs.” But no artist is going to rock the casbah every time.
I respect Paul for his overall artistry, which I see as an extension of his inclusive worldview. It was around five, maybe six years ago. I was reading a Reader’s Digest article about McCartney. He talked about how he had spoken with Colin Powell in his campaign to stop landmines, saying “I have a lot of respect for him.” I thought, “How cool is that?” -- this man who helped define ‘60s rock having something of a friendship with this military general who served in both Bush administrations.
Paul has a lot of friends out there and I’m happy that we can get together and celebrate the birthday of a cool guy.
If only in spirit.
