McCartney lands gig for ballet music

Paul McCartney, seen in Washington earlier in June, says he’s set to pen the music for a ballet. (Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press)Paul McCartney says he’s about to stretch his creative legs after being commissioned to write music for a ballet.

The former Beatle shared a few details about the fledgling project in an interview with the BBC.

“I’m interested in doing things I haven’t done before,” McCartney told the U.K. public broadcaster.

“That offer came up and I love writing music. The two went together and I said, ‘Yeah.’ So I just accept things before I even know what I’m doing.”

McCartney did not reveal what dance company had hired him or when the ballet would be performed.

He noted that the project was still in its earliest stages and he didn’t have a lot of details. However, he was enthusiastic about the job.

“I don’t really know that much about it yet,” he admitted. “I’m just writing music for it, but it’s a switch.”

Though best known for the pop and rock music he created with the Beatles, Wings and as a solo artist, McCartney has also made the occasional foray into classical music albums.

The most recent was Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart), which he released in fall 2006 and which was inspired by his first wife, Linda, who died of breast cancer in 1998.

Composed for choir and orchestra, the classical oratorio in four movements had its premiere at Royal Albert Hall.

He also released 1999′s Working Classical, which featured a classical reworking of some of his original songs, 1997′s Standing Stone, which was based on a poem McCartney wrote, and 1991′s The Liverpool Oratorio, created to commemorate the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s 150th anniversary.

Earlier this month, McCartney was honoured at the White House with the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

It’s All Tutu Much: McCartney Writing Ballet Music

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Sorry, Sting, but it sounds like Paul McCartney has just lapped you in the race to be the pop musician with the most classical bona fides. Mr. McCartney, the former Beatle and Wings man whose orchestral works include “Standing Stone” and “Ecce Cor Meum,” told BBC News that he has agreed to write the music for a ballet and has already started on the project. “I’m interested in doing things I haven’t done before,” Mr. McCartney said to the BBC. “That offer came up and I love writing music, the two went together and I said, ‘Yeah,’ so I just accept things before I even know what I’m doing.” Mr. McCartney did not say who the music was being written for or when it might be performed, but he acknowledged that it was an unusual excursion, even for someone who has ridden shotgun in a yellow submarine, designed his own postage stamps and been recorded eating vegetables by both the Beach Boys and Super Furry Animals. “I don’t really know that much about it yet,” Mr. McCartney said. “I’m just writing music for it, but it’s a switch.”

Paul McCartney: ‘What a Father Says to His Son’
By John W. Whitehead
6/15/2010

“I was very influenced by him.”—Paul McCartney, on his father

Despite their harmless faade, The Beatles symbolized the generational revolt—even an estrangement from parents—that marked the 1960s. “My mother hates them, my father hates them, my teacher hates them,” said one young fan. “Can you think of three better reasons why I love them?”

However, this was not the intent of John, Paul, George and Ringo. With the exception of John Lennon, The Beatles grew up in loving, stable homes. And they generally respected and revered their parents, which came through in their music—especially Paul McCartney’s.

“My parents aspired for us. That is one of the great things you can find in ordinary people. My mum wanted me to be a doctor,” McCartney said. “And my dad, who left school at fourteen, would have loved me to be a great scientist, a great university graduate. I always feel grateful for that.”

The happiness and security of Paul’s life were brutally shattered when his mother, Mary, died in 1956, leaving his father James with the task of guiding his two teenage sons through the difficult period of adolescence. Paul later preserved his mother’s memory in the beautiful ballad “Let It Be,” based on a dream he had about her a decade after her death. Paul’s younger brother Michael commented on how their father was there for them after their mother died. “We both owe him a lot. He stayed home and looked after us.” But it would be the musical influence of Paul’s father that would last.

James McCartney, born in 1902, had his own band in the late 1920s. Jim Mac’s Jazz Band, which included his brother and cousin, played the dance halls around Liverpool during the time of vaudeville.

Music had always been a focus of McCartney family life. They had an old upright piano at home, and one of Paul’s early memories is lying on the floor, listening to his father play. “My dad was an original,” Paul remembers. “To us kids he was a pretty good player, he could play a lot of tunes on the piano. I was very influenced by him.” Paul still, in fact, has his father’s old upright piano.

James arranged for 11-year-old Paul to be auditioned for junior choir at Liverpool Cathedral, but he was not accepted. This did not stop him from encouraging Paul’s clear interest in music. “My Dad was the big influence because he was playing the piano all the time by ear,” Paul recalls. “I tried to get him to teach me, but he said no, you’ve got to get lessons.”

James was not only a musician but also an amateur composer. “He wrote some stuff,” Paul has said of his dad. “I actually did a song of his with Chet Atkins and Floyd Cramer called ‘Walking in the Park with Eloise.’ I said to my dad: ‘Do you know you wrote that song?’ He said: ‘I didn’t write it. I made it up.’ I said: ‘I know what you mean, but we call that writing these days, Dad!’”

It wasn’t surprising when Paul began writing songs. “Something was making me make it up, whether I knew how to do it or not,” Paul said. “I’d already written the tune of ‘When I’m Sixty-four’ when I was sixteen.” Not surprisingly, there is a strong vaudevillian flavor to this song.

The musical influence of his father also pervaded Paul’s work with The Beatles. “He had a lot of music in him, my dad. He taught me and my brother harmony. I learned very early how to sing harmony, which was one of my big roles in The Beatles. Whenever John sang, I automatically sang in harmony with him, and that’s due to my dad’s teaching.”

Paul even credits his father for his now-legendary status as The Beatles’ bass player. “My dad would point out the bass on the radio.”

As The Beatles were trying to break through, Paul’s father encouraged them. He allowed the Quarry Men—Paul and John’s pre-Beatles group—to rehearse in the McCartney home on Forthlin Road. And as the budding Beatles, Lennon and McCartney wrote some of their classics, such as “I’ll Follow the Sun,” there. “I remember writing that in our front living room at Forthlin Road,” says Paul.

When James turned 64 in 1966, Paul revived and rewrote “When I’m Sixty-four” as a tribute to his father. The Beatles recorded the song on December 6, 1966 at Abbey Road Studios in London between sessions for Lennon’s classic, surreal “Strawberry Fields Forever.” And it was the first cut completed for their masterpiece album, the legendary Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Paul’s father lived to see The Beatles become the most influential entertainment act in history, with Paul half of the greatest pop songwriting duo of all time. James must have been proud when he heard those great piano riffs on such Beatle songs as “Let It Be” and “Hey Jude”—both written and played by Paul.

James McCartney died in 1976. Just before he passed away, he said, “I’ll be with Mary soon.” But the bond between father and son has lasted over the years, even as Paul celebrates his 68th birthday this month.

This affectionate bond is reflected in a song Paul wrote about a phrase his father used to resolve family disputes. Here are some lyrics from “Put it There” on Paul’s 1989 album, Flowers in the Dirt: “Give me your hand, I’d like to shake it. Put it there, If it weighs a ton, That’s what a father says to his young son.”

Former Beatle Paul McCartney is coming to Denver!

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Beatles great McCartney receives top music award from US President Obama at …

Paul McCartney has been honoured with the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, the highest American award for popular song conferred by the US. He received the award from US President Obama in a glittering ceremony that saw several music legends in attendance.

McCartney is only the third person and first non-American to receive the award.

The phenomenal Beatles’ bassist regaled the distinguished audience with some of his biggest numbers including “Let it be” and “Eleanor Rigby”.

This is the first time the award ceremony was held at the White House and it was a low-key affair, with none of the usual Rock n’ Roll saturnalia. But McCartney kept up the good-natured banter quipping “After the last eight years, it’s great to have a president who knows what a library is,” the New York Times quotes.

Several other celebrated musicians also performed at the event and the lineup included Herbie Hancock, Elvis Costello, the Jonas Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Faith Hill, Corinne Bailey Rae, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, and Jack White of the White Stripes, backed by McCartney’s touring band.

The gala also saw an enthralling duet being performed by the prodigious Stevie Wonder and McCartney.

Wonder is one of the previous recipients of the award apart from Paul Simon.

While some musicians adhered to the original Beatles’ style in their covers, others infused it with their own signature flavour. Herbie Hancock and Bailey Rae transformed “Blackbird” into a classy jazz number.

President Obama and McCartney expressed mutual admiration for one another and Obama also raised the issue of the devastating Gulf Oil Spill that has thrown the life of the Gulf Coast dwellers completely out of gear. The region is well-known for its rich and vibrant musical tradition.

Obama spoke about “part of the country this is so rich in musical heritage” and said he was committed to “see to it that their lives and their communities are made whole again.”

Describing the process of song-writing, McCartney said: “You start with a black hole and if you’re lucky, a couple hours later there’ll be a song waiting there. That mystery, that magic is still the same for me.” (ANI)