As I have mentioned many times before I have always been a big Beatles fan and that translates to the individual members of the band too. (paid link) Paul McCartney: The Life by Philip Norman was an incredible, informative read.
I remember when (paid link) Shout: The True Story of the Beatles by Philip Norman came out in 1981 and I had to strong arm the local library to get a copy of it – I was only eleven years old at the time with little expendable cash. There began my enjoyment of Philip Norman’s biographies, first of the Beatles and then of almost the entire band individually.
The author delves deep into the history of Paul McCartney and provides a very human account of the genesis of one of the world’s greatest songwriters and musicians.
At nearly 900 pages this book crams in an unimaginable amount of information about McCartney’s early years, Beatles years, Wings years, solo years and up to more recent times.
I have always enjoyed reading about the early years of the Beatles and their apprenticeship in Hamburg and Liverpool before finally breaking out into the big time, and no one could have been bigger, their music still loved , covered, and used all over the place fifty years on.
It was fascinating to learn more about his relationship with John Lennon and what came to be the most successful songwriting partnership ever, although whether it was a true partnership remains up for debate.
The madness of the Beatles years was described in stark clarity and the pressures of being a Beatle both personally and in public must have been unimaginable.
I may have gone off on a bit of a tangent there, in my enthusiasm, but nevertheless, this is a great book and well worth a read.
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