Kristine McKenna from the LA Weekly was a refreshing change to Colbert`s wasted opportunity with Paul McCartney this week. She asked McCartney smart questions.
In the McKenna interview, we learned a bit about McCartney the person as opposed to Colbert’s complete crap-fest earlier this week.McCartney talked about the importance of music and social change “We Shall Overcome” and “Give Peace a Chance” are two examples, and there are thousands of less obvious examples. “We Shall Overcome” is inextricably bound up with the civil rights movement, and “Give Peace a Chance” equals Vietnam. Those are two huge events, and that music was hugely important to them”.
She asked him about the biggest problem money creates. “The biggest problem are the kinds of people who have license plates like one I saw in East Hampton: It read ‘rich 1.’ The kind of people who actually believe they’re cool because they’ve got money , I can‘t begin to describe the symptoms of that, but you know what I’m talking about,” he answered.
She asked if he felt nostalgic for the past. “There are parts of the past I hate, of course,” he said. “My mum died, Linda died, John died, and George died, so I can’t say I love everything about it, but I have a great affection for the past. And why shouldn’t I? I was just some kid from Liverpool, who walked around the streets with John Lennon, and wrote songs with him, and met this beautiful girl from New York, then married her and had kids with her , why shouldn’t I love the past? Mine has been good”.
She also asked when he first understood the importance of his work. “It’s difficult to discuss this without sounding immodest, but I think I started to feel it around the time of “Eleanor Rigby.” Prior to that, I thought the music was very good, and I realized we were in a different league when we wrote “From Me To You,” because it had a middle eight in it and went somewhere we hadn’t been before, but you used the word “important.” For me, “Eleanor Rigby” was the start of that,” he replied.
http://www.laweekly.com/2009-01-15/music/paul-mccartney-the-kristine-mckenna-interview/
