Marvellous McCartney and The Beatles

Got to get you into my life...

(Note: This is an updated post which originally appeared on my website in 2021)

Picture the scene: It’s the mid 1990s. I'm a young teenage fan of Irish boygroup, Boyzone, with their posters covering my bedroom walls, selected pieces of merch on display, and their dance moves learned. But I’m also a restless young teenager. One who is ready to embrace different music.

I have three sisters and at least one of them has decent taste in music, as she did back then. I remember going through her CD collection, choosing something that would satiate my hunger for a different beat (Boyzone fans, that one was for you). I remember looking at the cover of The Who Sell Out, and appreciating the humour. But my search didn’t end there. Instead and, perhaps predictably, I found The Beatles.

Even though I’m only in my early forties, my memory can be crap at times, so I’m not completely sure if the first Beatles album I gave a listen to was Live at the BBC or Abbey Road. I think it was the former.

Cover of The Beatles: Live at the BBC (released 1994)

And... I loved it! Loved the sound, loved the humour of the Beatles, and I was hungry for more! The albums my sister didn’t already own, I started collecting myself. I remember buying Let It Be on cassette, a copy of Please Please Me and A Hard Day’s Night on CD. I also remember having the Reggae Tribute To The Beatles! Yes, the first time I ever heard Isn't It A Pity and Don't Let Me Down was as reggae cover versions!

When Paul McCartney released his Flaming Pie album in 1997, I was very much a Beatles fan by then, and very excited that a new solo Beatles album was here. For the first time, I would be discovering it at the same time as all the other fans. I bought the album on cassette, and the singles, Young Boy, and The World Tonight, on CD. I seemed to gravitate towards McCartney's music, more than the other former Beatles’ work, maybe because I really loved Flaming Pie and the man’s damn profilic so there’s more of his work available to hear.

Cover of Paul McCartney’s 1997 album, Flaming Pie.

I used to go to charity shops and music shops with the money I got from my weekend job at a newsagents, to buy Paul McCartney/Wings albums on vinyl (‘Ram’, ‘McCartney II’, ‘Tug of War’, ‘London Town’, ‘Back To The Egg’) and cassette (‘Give My Regards to Broad Street’ - I’ve still not watched the movie, even now).

I wasn’t exclusively a McCartney fan, though. I dabbled with a bit of solo Lennon, getting myself a copy of his Greatest Hits album, and finding a couple of his solo singles at a car boot sale. I don’t currently own any Harrison or Starr solo albums though I have enjoyed Harrison’s albums online, and I’ll get round to listening to Ringo’s output at some point. Promise!

There are so many great McCartney tracks, but this is the one that I got obsessed with upon first listen, and was my ringtone for quite a while.

Are you a fan of The Beatles and/or Paul McCartney? Tell me how you first discovered them and what your favourite album/track is!

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