Hi everyone,
I’m behind — way behind — on answering questions, apologies. This week, I had planned to, with no small reluctance, answer the questions about... sigh... my voice (preview: yes, that’s really me). But then Paul’s tour schedule for the remainder of 2025 landed in my inbox.
Now, as we’ve talked about before, for my own sanity, I deliberately don’t pay much attention — unless absolutely necessary — to what the wider world says about anything Beatles-related (or more or less anything else, at this point, really). But I expect there are quite a few people on various forums, etc. suggesting with varying degrees of politeness that maybe it’d be prudent for Paul to take it a bit easier, maybe ease up on the live touring, or at least schedule a bit less ambitiously. Maybe (I’m guessing some are suggesting) do some smaller acoustic shows like Bruce Springsteen. Or maybe spend more time in the studio, focus on burnishing the legacy with the remixes, or maybe (and this is me now) consider finishing up some of those maybe-probably-gotta-be-some-in-the-vault unrecorded Lennon/McCartney songs that are still awaiting the Macca touch.
If you’re thinking that or know anyone who is, now might be a good time to offer the following in response, relative to what we talked about in Beautiful Possibility, and especially in “Ecce Cor Meum,” the final episode of Part One—
It’s possible that every time Paul steps onstage at one of those massive arena concerts (that were invented because of the Fabs, remember), every time he’s reminded so directly and viscerally of the enduring power of his music, every time he feels the rush of being Paul McCartney on the world stage, the wound inflicted by distorted “John/more vs Paul/less” narrative is healed just a little bit more. Maybe every time he steps off that stage, he feels the pain just a little bit less.
And even more than that — to quote that final episode — it’s also likely that part of why Paul seems so reluctant to wrap up the tour is that every show is one more time he gets to sing onstage with John. Because for that minute, as he put it when I saw him at Fenway in 2022, they’re together again.
The outpouring of lifeforce love that Paul experiences (and channels) every time he stands onstage, re-baptized in the adulation of tens of thousands, is as essential to health and life as is “taking it easy.” Probably more so, if you’re Paul McCartney.
So — to quote another world-class wordsmith — if music be the food of love, play on, Macca, play on.
Until next week, when I promise we’ll get back to answering questions.
Peace, love and strawberry fields,
Faith ❤️
