The Obligatory Paul McCartney Post

Paul McCartney turns 64 today. Just like in the song. Whoop-de-fuckin'-do.

Actually, I wish Macca (as they call him across the pond) the best as he celebrates his 64th birthday. He is, to quote the newsreel in "Citizen Kane," a potent figure of our century (or the last century, anyway). He's a great musician and composer and, from all accounts, a good man.

But what I'd like to write about in this post is one of the stories about McCartney's birthday written by a reporter from that right-wing rag, The Washington Times. The story makes the seemingly inevitable mention of the song "When I'm Sixty-Four" and portrays it as "a wry preview -- from the perspective of youth -- of the cozy domestic bliss of an imagined old age."

Actually, as no less an authority on The Beatles as George Martin has pointed out, the song is nothing of the kind, and is an example of how McCartney's writing could be just as dark and mordant as that of his writing partner, John Lennon.

The vilely written piece, attributed to Dan Campbell, is a farrago of cliches (some of which he repeats):

• "Meanwhile, the British tabloids -- which already were having a field day with the divorce -- "
• "Late-night comics and headline writers are sure to have a field day with the tragicomic irony in Paul's marital split [...] "

As well as amazing ignorance of American popular culture. "Paul remains, after all," Campbell opines, "the greatest songwriter of the past century -- along, that is, with his former partner in crime."

Actually, spunky, the title of "greatest songwriter of the past century" belongs to Irving Berlin, who wrote, among other songs:

• God Bless America
• Alexander's Ragtime Band
• A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody
• Blue Skies
• Cheek to Cheek
• Easter Parade
• I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
• Steppin' Out With My Baby
• Isn't This a Lovely Day (To Be Caught in the Rain)
• Shaking the Blues Away
• Always
• Let Yourself Go
• Change Partners
• You Can't Get a Man With a Gun
• There's No Business Like Show Business
• Top Hat, White Tie & Tails
• Puttin' on the Ritz
• What'll I Do
• You'd Be Surprised
• White Christmas

And wrote them without a co-writer.

Jeez, you'd think a writer for a right-wing rag would know that.

Oh, what the hell. You may not be the greatest songwriter of the past century, but happy birthday, Macca.

Tom Moran