"The Beatles learned how to be Beatles together. From 1963 to 1970, the group's four members experienced an entirely new kind of fame, while leaning on each other to get through it. After splitting up, they faced another unprecedented challenge: how to be an ex-Beatle? This one had to be confronted alone. The heaviest burdens of expectation fell on the group's main songwriters, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who were also suffering from the emotional shock of an acrimonious personal split."
"Both of them leaned on their wives. As John and Yoko Ono pursued political campaigns and avant-garde art projects, Paul and Linda McCartney retreated with their children to their ramshackle Scottish farm, where Paul licked his wounds, sheared sheep and tinkered with new songs. Paul insisted that Linda become his new musical partner, despite her inexperience. As she said later: The whole thing started because Paul had nobody to play with. More than anything he wanted a friend near him."
"The album he made with her, Ram, sold well but received savage reviews, deepening his crisis of confidence. McCartney yearned to play before audiences again, which he hadn't since the Beatles stopped touring in 1966. But he couldn't face doing it solo, the spotlight trained on him alone. So he asked Linda to help him put together a new group. This authorised, illustrated oral history, edited by cultural historian Ted Widmer, tells the story of one of the most successful bands of the 1970s"
From 1963 to 1970 the Beatles shared intense fame and mutual support. After the split, John Lennon and Paul McCartney faced solitary struggles as former Beatles, carrying heavy expectations. Both leaned on their wives: Lennon on Yoko Ono for political and avant-garde work, McCartney on Linda for domestic refuge and musical partnership. McCartney retreated to a Scottish farm, recovered by sheep-shearing and songwriting, and insisted Linda join him musically despite inexperience. The Ram album sold well but drew savage reviews, worsening McCartney's confidence. McCartney sought live performance but avoided the solo spotlight, so he enlisted Linda to form a new group and navigate celebrity and creativity in the 1970s.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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