Paul McCartney credits wife Linda for making him realise he was “surrounded by conmen and leeches”
In a new book, The McCartney Legacy: Volume I 1969-1973, Adrian Sinclair and Allan Kozinn deep dive into Paul McCartney‘s life post-Beatles. According to the authors, the bassist credits his wife, Linda, with recovering from the band’s tumultuous split.
As the end of the 1960s approached, each Beatles member became increasingly dissatisfied with the work the band was producing. Disputes between songwriting credits, touring, and the direction of their new compositions took place, with John Lennon “increasingly impatient with the Beatles’ pop music format.”
Finally, Lennon said: “Look, I might as well tell you, I’m leaving the group… I’ve had enough. I want a divorce, like my divorce from Cynthia.” A few years later, McCartney shared: “Everything’s fun off and on, you know. So, I suppose it could’ve gone on being fun off and on, or it could’ve got worse — I don’t know. We don’t want to be the Crazy Gang, being dragged on stage playing She Loves You when we’ve got asthma and tuberculosis when we’re 50.”
Following the split, McCartney found himself “exhibit[ing] all the classic symptoms of the unemployed, the redundant man” whilst living in Scotland. “Anger, deep, deep, anger sets in, with everything, with yourself number one, and with everything in the world number two. And justifiably so because I was being screwed by my mates. So I didn’t shave for quite a while. I didn’t get up. Mornings weren’t for getting up. Then, if I did get up, I’d have a drink. Straight out of bed. I’ve never been like that.”
For Linda, it was naturally hard to see her husband fall into a depressive state. She said: “I remember Paul saying, ‘Help me take some of this weight off my back,’ and I said, ‘Weight? What weight? You guys are the princes of the world. You’re the Beatles.’ But in truth Paul was not in great shape; he was drinking a lot, playing a lot and, while surrounded by women and fans, not very happy. We all thought, ‘Oh, the Beatles and flower power’, — but those guys had every parasite and vulture on their backs.”
Paul believes Linda saved him. “It wasn’t until she came along, that I realised what was happening to me. She made me see I was surrounded by conmen and leeches. I didn’t need to be mollycoddled. Don’t get me wrong. The Beatles gave me enough to do, what I want to do… play my own music and not worry about the rent.” His wife encouraged him to pick up his guitar and keep writing since “it’s worked for you before, you know.”
He added: “I hung on wondering if the Beatles would ever come back together again, and hoping that John might come around and say, ‘All right lads, I’m ready to go back to work.’ And natural enough, in the meantime, I began to look for something to do… Sit me down with a guitar and let me go. That’s my job.”
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