Pension? What Pension? Paul McCartney In The 2010s
McCartney does in fact exactly what every retired person would want to do: enjoy your greatest passions. And in his case, to great delight of the fans, it’s being on stage with a band and make music. And he does that, year after year, in very different venues; from large shows in crowded stadiums in South America, to intimate performances in bars such as Pappy & Harriet's in the small, West-American, Pioneertown in 2016 or, last year, in The Cavern, birthplace of The Beatles. And despite his age, those concerts go off seemingly easily.
The funny thing is, the energy you get off an audience, you actually get more energized rather than getting more tired. As you go on, you feel more energy, which surprises me. (…) I’ve always said we don’t work music, we play music. It’s not like a real job.”
Paul McCartney
So at first glance, McCartney, as a senior citizen, is still going full steam ahead. But if you look further, you will notice that he also is slowing down, a bit. He does go on stage every year, but the tours are getting shorter, and, undeniably, his voice doesn't get any better over the years. Paul also has his limits.
The output of new music has fallen significantly in the 2010s as well. Between 2000 and 2009, a dozen albums were released, of which four were "regular" studio albums; but in the past period there were only five, two of which were pop albums with new music.
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Top 10 McCartney singles of the 2010s
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McCartney started the 10s with a new classical work, his fifth; Ocean’s Kingdom is the first ballet he has written, with choreography provided by Peter Martins for the New York City Ballet. For the performances of Ocean’s Kingdom in New York, Paul collaborated with daughter Stella, who had designed the costumes.
Only half a year after the premiere of the ballet in September 2011, the next McCartney release sees the light of day. Another "side project": Paul fulfills an old, personal wish by recording and releasing Kisses On The Bottom, an album with covers of traditional jazz standards from the American Songbook. He collaborates with Canadian jazz singer / pianist Diane Krall, whose band accompanies McCartney on the album. He himself plays acoustic guitar on only two songs, for the rest he only does the vocals. Kisses On The Bottom is mostly standards, with two originals written in the same style, My Valentine and Only Our Hearts. A jazz album was perhaps not what many fans were waiting for, since the style of music was quite different from the usual. But that was more than compensated by one of those two new songs: My Valentine is a true McCartney classic, on the same level as others of his world-famous piano ballads such as Let It Be or The Long And Winding Road. Another highlight is a song written by McCartney during the Kisses On The Bottom sessions, but eventually given to Diana Krall, who recorded and released If I Take You Home Tonight. Another beautiful piano ballad.
Video: Diana Krall - If I Take You Home Tonight
In 2013 the first album of this decade with new music is released: NEW. The album is received with raving reviews and is even named the fourth best by Rolling Stone Magazine in the top 50 best albums of 2013. NEW is above all a diverse album, with a large number of highlights, such as the Beatles-like title track New, the futuristic Appreciate, the typical McCartney earworm Queeny Eye, and Early Days: Paul solo on guitar, a tiny bit percussion, his somewhat hoarse, aging voice and his retrospective with John Lennon. Early Days is one of McCartney’s most personal songs.
After NEW it becomes quieter when it comes to releasing new music. Paul is working on the soundtrack for the video game Destiny in 2013/2014, resulting in the single Hope For The Future. And in 2016 In The Blink Of An Eye is released, a song written for the British animation film Ethel & Ernest, which only appears on the film's soundtrack album.
Video: In The Blink Of An Eye
It will eventually take until 2018 when Paul releases his second studio album of the decade: Egypt Station. And it may be said, the quantity has decreased, the quality absolutely hasn’t. Since the end of the 1990s, McCartney has delivered studio albums that all have been praised, and with Egypt Station he continues that line. In the United States the new cd is his first number 1 album since Tug Of War (1982) and it’s for the first time that McCartney enters the American album charts on the highest spot. Since Flaming Pie in 1997, Egypt Station is his eighth album in a row that has been received positively, with good reviews. Eight consecutive albums, all celebrated by colleagues and the music press. Something he didn’t manage with Wings in the 1970s, and certainly not in the 1980s and 1990s. There won’t be many artists who have achieved that and Sir Paul does it in the autumn of his career.
At the end of this decade you may ask, how relevant is Paul McCartney? Did he still matter, in the 2010s? You might think so, if you look at the positive responses to the albums or at the immense success of the Carpool Karaoke with James Cordon, which went viral on YouTube in 2018. If there's a celebration, think of the Queen's Jubilee or the Olympic Games, or if there's some benefit concert, there's only one obvious closing act: Paul McCartney, preferably with a massive Hey Jude-singing crowd. Then there are also those prestigious awards this decade: The Kennedy Center Honors, the Gershwin Price, the French Legion of Honour and many more. And within the music scene he still is a welcome guest. If it are the surviving members of Nirvana, or Kanye West, Ryan Tedder, Lady Gaga, they all are eager to work with him. There’s a reason for Rihanna's excitement about a joint performance with Macca, which seemed similar to that of a teenage girl, screaming during a Beatles concert in the mid-sixties:
What a night! Still can’t believe we shared a stage with a f****** BEATLE tonight!
Rihanna on Twitter
These collaborations brought new successes. FourFive Seconds with Rihanna and Kanye West got him back to the top ten of the charts in many countries for the first time in more than twenty years; The raunchy rocking track Cut Me Some Slack with David Grohl and the other former members of Nirvana gave him a Grammy for the best rock song of 2014.
In that same year, a tribute to Paul was released, the album The Art of McCartney, on which other artists cover songs from the former Beatle. Contributions include Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Brian Wilson, Alice Cooper and Roger Daltrey; and you can also hear Paul’s son James, along with The Cure:
Video: The Cure, ft. James McCartney - Hello Goodbye
So yes, within the music scene and among colleagues, McCartney still matters today. And that while he’s just having a good time and simply does what he wants: to perform with a band, occasionally to record in the studio and sometimes to try out something new. And he seems to continue to do so for the time being. Because for the next decade the first tour dates have already been planned and a new project has been announced: his first musical. It may be clear by now, as long as his health permits, we are far from getting rid of Sir Paul McCartney.
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An extended version of this blog will appear in
The Paul McCartney 2019 Fan Book
Release date: January 16, 2020
Pre-order here!
Top 10 McCartney singles of the 2010s
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