Paul McCartney: A Life

by Peter Ames Carlin

Book Overview

A biography of musician Paul McCartney, this in-depth work spans McCartney's early years with The Beatles to his solo career today.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416562095
• ISBN13: 9781416562092
• Release Date: November 2009
• Publisher: Touchstone Books
• Length: 374 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Key to any popular music collection

Paul McCartney: A Life examines Beatles musician Paul McCartney's life and times, from how he picked up an acoustic guitar after losing a parent to how his talents evolved. This is built on years of research and interviews with friends, bandmates and collaborators and provides insights not to be found elsewhere in more general Beatles titles - and thus key to any popular music collection.

Best overall portrait of McCartney ever

Just finished Carlin's "Paul McCartney: A Life." As a huge McCartney/Beatles fan who has read - dare I say - every major book on The Beatles and McCartney starting with Hunter Davies on up to McCartney's official "Many Years From Now" bio - I believe Carlin has done the best job of anyone in capturing the real Sir Paul. Carlin gives some great insights into McCartney's character - and a remarkably complex one it is. Make no mistake: I view Paul as the most talented writer, singer, musician and performer of our time. But although he is the ultimate living legend, he is also as human as any of us and Carlin captures the man better than anyone else has. If I had to choose one book that let's you get to know Paul McCartney this would be it.

Great insight into a complex, talented man

Hey Beatles fans, Macca fans, and yes, you diehard Lennon fans, this is an important, well-written book worth picking up. Concise, perceptive, thought-provoking and at times quite funny, Peter Carlin gives us an excellent read as well as intimate insight into one of our most beloved cultural icons. Some things that impressed me most: - I didn't expect to learn anything new from the Beatles era (especially after reading Bob Spitz's book as well as Tim Riley's), but by recasting so many events through Paul's eyes, a significant dimension has been added. I think that's a remarkable feat, especially considering how much has already been written about that time. - Without trying to draw conclusions where none really could be drawn, this book illuminates Paul's contradictions without simplifying or over-analyzing them. He is a complex man, and probably still is a mystery to himself at times. His life 'arc' is more complicated than John's, and not just because he's still alive and making music. Paul was raised to work hard, keep his chin up, and put the bad stuff behind him (admittedly, this not always the best long-term approach). Peter Carlin does a great job of threading Paul's father's lessons throughout the book to remind us what propels him forward, as well as what impulses sometimes hold him back. - As always, this book keeps it focused on the music. Where other Beatles-related bios can get bogged down in endless pages about the bickering, fighting, and petty B.S., this tale primarily focused on how these relate (when/if at all) to the songs we know and love. I think Paul would approve of that.

The soul of wit

This little masterwork is a great introduction to and portrait of "the cute Beatle". In the book, the image of McCartney veers between hardworking genius driven by a desire for fame and fortune and slacking bon vivant given to superficial efforts and some fairly predictable human weaknesses. The ample notes section at the back reveals that Carlin has done his homework. As someone who has read a fair share of Beatles' history, I found the book tells old tales well, mines some new territory (particularly in the area of Paul's business sense), and does real justice to the Paul vs. John debate. While clearly somewhat enamored of his subject, Carlin isn't afraid to call McCartney for slip ups on or off the stage. Best of all, Carlin has built off his previous success with the Brian Wilson biography by writing with great style about music. The specific chords, lyrics and riffs you've heard your whole life are put instantly into context under Carlin's hand. The descriptions of various concerts and studio sessions give you a real sense of being there.

God loves a trier

I ate this book like a Boston cream pie. We've been staring in the rear view mirror so long at the Beatles we've almost completely lost the past, replaced now by a boundless present, the soft blur of time knocking the edges off the Beatles and the Rolling Stones alike. Close your eyes (and I'll kiss you), if you're at least 55 years old, and remember what it felt like to hear the Beatles for the first time! Carlin comes as close as any writer to setting the scene in sparing but often powerful and poignant prose the wonder and thrill of hearing I want to Hold Your Hand for the first time, and reconstructing the Humpty-Dumpty roly-poly grail of rock and roll history - what actually happened with the Four - that can never be put back together again, at least from Paul's perspective, and he does it without Paul's input, apparently. Two books in two years, Norman's John Lennon: THE Life in 2008, and Carlin's Paul McCartney: A Life this year, couldn't be more different and yet they oddly achieve the same goal, one kicking over rock after rock like a spell-binding CSI episode, and the other in a song of its own, as told around a campfire. Both are very well written and very worth reading for those who want to remember or for those who never knew. As Peter Ames Carlin makes perfectly clear in his book, Paul McCartney: A life, I was responsible for the Beatle's breakup long ago in the hell-war-wonder years of 1970. Really. Yes, ME and a billion others just like me who couldn't dig up the manners to just say, "Hey, Boys, thanks for the ride. Thanks for everything on the long and winding road," and then just got on with life. It was just so beyond possible that these four-in-one ended badly in the very messy 1970. Together they would rock my universe from Meet the Beatles in 1964 ever after (right down to singing every song from every album to my young wife as we lay on our bed in our rented former gas station shortly after we married in Santa Fe). It was a long night, saying goodbye to England (where I traveled often after Tolkien's magic and Lennon-McCartney's mojo) and to the Beatles and hello to my new life. Plus I can't sing. But I can sing Beatles' lyrics, maybe better than Paul or Ringo who can't seem to remember all the words anymore. A few years ago I took Audrey to one of those Plastic Beatles shows where that magic happens when you suddenly realize it doesn't matter that the band not only isn't the Beatles but weren't even born when the Beatles cut their last record, and the songs and music just carry you back and it's 1964 all over again and everyone is singing so loud and even the little kids know the songs. I had just finished Norman's monumental work , and I was excited to see Carlin's book come out right on Norman's heels, and even hoping someone would do the same for George and Ringo before the decade is out. But I was also suspicious because I was never at ease about who was who in the band, and how it all worked, an