Macca's Birthday

Paul McCartney is 77 years old today. So first, let us all give thanks for his very existence. All our lives would have been very, very different, and not nearly as much fun, had he never been born. Let us next contemplate the weird fact that the last two decades have easily been the most interesting and rewarding patch of his musical life since... well, since the days of that old band that made him famous all those years ago. The man's been on fire since about 1998. It's by far the longest winning streak of a life that is not exactly without accomplishment. How did this happen?

Well... Linda died. It's my theory that for almost 30 years, from around 1970 til the end of the century, Macca's life was sufficiently rich, sufficiently fulfilling, that his work didn't quite have his full attention. He made some great music along the way, from time to time - he was still Paul McCartney, folks - he just had other priorities. But Linda died, and the kids have grown up and left the nest. He's been giving his day job more of his energy ever since.

McCartney's spent the last couple of decades cultivating his legend and tending to his legacy. His days of resisting it are long past. He wears it onstage now like a comfortable garment, effortlessly. (It's not really effortless, by no means, but Paul's always made everything look easy). He's taken care to make sure we all know that, contrary to the shallow take, he was always the Beatle with the real taste for the avant-garde. Which is more or less true, I suppose. But that doesn't matter nearly as much as the other thing that always made him special in his old band. Which would be his enormous curiosity about all music in general, and his undying interest in modern pop music in particular. Lennon and Harrison both lost almost all interest in contemporary pop music once they'd thoroughly routed the competition, right around 1963, and neither ever had much interest in anything that came afterwards. McCartney has remained eternally curious, and eternally competitive.

So even though today McCartney himself is as irrelevant as any other 70 year old to what's happening at the top of what passes for today's top of the pops, that curiosity and interest in what's happening right now is undiminished. Why wouldn't it be? No one has ever grasped more completely the profound truth at the heart of all silly love songs. Which is that they aren't silly at all. Who cares what the idiots say? The man is a miracle, and he always has been. Live forever, Paul. Thanks for everything. Happy birthday.