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Blackbird: The Life and Times of Paul McCartney
Examines the distinct public and private spheres of a man who is about to enter his fourth decade as a superstar musician, yet maintains his status as a devoted husband and father to his family
- GenresBiographyMusicNonfiction
384 pages, Hardcover
First published October 28, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 3, 2015
Let's summarize this book in a sentence: "Paul McCartney is a brilliant musician with the personality of a scumbag." That's about right.
August 31, 2021
Paul McCartney’s music has made an indelible mark on my life.
It all started when I was just a toddler, hearing the sounds of “Rubber Soul” emanating throughout the house. It was the album that to my childhood mind, resembled what people might look like in a dream.
In my mind’s eye, I can see the image of another album cover, featuring a bowl of red juice, surrounded by loose cherries, and even more memorable was the back cover photo, taken by Linda McCartney, of her husband with baby Mary tucked safely inside her father’s jacket.
That album’s title was simple…” McCartney.”
As a youngster, I could relate to the security that Mary must have felt being so close to her dad, and that is because I almost always listened to it while sitting on my dad’s lap. He and I sat on the floor, in front of our record player. “Maybe I’m Amazed” was the big hit of this album, but even as a child, I was always enchanted by the song, “Junk.”
I was six years old when McCartney released, “Red Rose Speedway.” At that time, I’d heard the song, “Little Lamb Dragonfly,” was affected by its quietly haunting tone and imagination kindling lyrics. “Little Lamb Dragonfly” stayed with me, even decades later when I employed it as a kind of lullaby to soothe our two small boys to sleep. Today, our sons are both adults, but even so, they remember their dad singing this song to them…” Dragonfly…fly by my window…you and I still have a way to go…”
My elementary school years passed with me singing along to, “Listen to What the Man Said,” “Let ‘Em In,” and “With a Little Luck,’ as they were played over the radio.
As a young teen, I bought, “Back to the Egg,” on cassette, (then again years later on CD). My favorite track was, “Arrow Through Me,” it had fantastic groove, especially the keyboard bass line featured throughout. I played this cassette tape on my AM/FM stereo cassette recorder so many times I wore it out.
My “McCartney II” album met the same fate…played, as it was, over and over again, especially the unforgettable, “Temporary Secretary.”
As I entered my middle teens, a time when recording artists such as the “Thompson Twins” and “Howard Jones” were much favored by me, McCartney’s hold on my music taste was showing no signs of loosening. Songs like “Take it Away,” and the Stevie Wonder duet, “Ebony and Ivory,” were regularly featured in my solo “air band” lead singer performances.
I was 19 when “Press to Play” came out, “Press” being my favorite song on the album. The music video, featuring McCartney singing the song while riding the subway packed with commuters is certainly one of the most fun music videos I’ve even seen…I never tire of watching it.
I discovered, “Goodnight, Tonight,” the song that featured spirited flamenco guitar breaks, when I purchased my first McCartney CD, his 1987 release, “All the Best!” It also stood as the first “greatest hits” album I purchased with my own hard-earned, after-tax dollars.
In 1989, I was working at Jack Fraser Menswear in West Edmonton Mall. I remember buying “Flowers in the Dirt” on my lunchbreak one day. The whole album was excellent, but I especially liked, “Figure of Eight.”
And in 2013, McCartney released the album, “New,” which went on to become a favorite of the Cummings Family Road trip playlist. “Early Days,” is a powerful ode to McCartney’s early experiences in music and “Queenie Eye” was written about a childhood game he played when he was a boy. That song features another great music video.
So, to put it all in perspective, I was recalling all of these lifetime music experiences when I read my first, (and only) Paul McCartney biography, “Blackbird” by Geoffrey Giuliano.
And as I read Giuliano’s telling of the McCartney Family moving to a farm, the early creation of the super band “Wings” and the stories behind McCartney’s albums and songs, I felt the nostalgia of each of these stories very personally as a kind of “connection” between the happenings in the book and my own experiences at the time.
Some other reviewers have commented that the book lacks the charm of the man himself and that it is unoriginal, comments which might have merit. But for me, I journeyed through the pages of the book while reliving my favorite McCartney experiences, and for good or bad, that magical reliving experience situates the book in a special place for me. This “first blush experience,” like a first kiss, cannot be undone, or forgotten, no matter how great the follow-up might be.
Four solid stars.
It all started when I was just a toddler, hearing the sounds of “Rubber Soul” emanating throughout the house. It was the album that to my childhood mind, resembled what people might look like in a dream.
In my mind’s eye, I can see the image of another album cover, featuring a bowl of red juice, surrounded by loose cherries, and even more memorable was the back cover photo, taken by Linda McCartney, of her husband with baby Mary tucked safely inside her father’s jacket.
That album’s title was simple…” McCartney.”
As a youngster, I could relate to the security that Mary must have felt being so close to her dad, and that is because I almost always listened to it while sitting on my dad’s lap. He and I sat on the floor, in front of our record player. “Maybe I’m Amazed” was the big hit of this album, but even as a child, I was always enchanted by the song, “Junk.”
I was six years old when McCartney released, “Red Rose Speedway.” At that time, I’d heard the song, “Little Lamb Dragonfly,” was affected by its quietly haunting tone and imagination kindling lyrics. “Little Lamb Dragonfly” stayed with me, even decades later when I employed it as a kind of lullaby to soothe our two small boys to sleep. Today, our sons are both adults, but even so, they remember their dad singing this song to them…” Dragonfly…fly by my window…you and I still have a way to go…”
My elementary school years passed with me singing along to, “Listen to What the Man Said,” “Let ‘Em In,” and “With a Little Luck,’ as they were played over the radio.
As a young teen, I bought, “Back to the Egg,” on cassette, (then again years later on CD). My favorite track was, “Arrow Through Me,” it had fantastic groove, especially the keyboard bass line featured throughout. I played this cassette tape on my AM/FM stereo cassette recorder so many times I wore it out.
My “McCartney II” album met the same fate…played, as it was, over and over again, especially the unforgettable, “Temporary Secretary.”
As I entered my middle teens, a time when recording artists such as the “Thompson Twins” and “Howard Jones” were much favored by me, McCartney’s hold on my music taste was showing no signs of loosening. Songs like “Take it Away,” and the Stevie Wonder duet, “Ebony and Ivory,” were regularly featured in my solo “air band” lead singer performances.
I was 19 when “Press to Play” came out, “Press” being my favorite song on the album. The music video, featuring McCartney singing the song while riding the subway packed with commuters is certainly one of the most fun music videos I’ve even seen…I never tire of watching it.
I discovered, “Goodnight, Tonight,” the song that featured spirited flamenco guitar breaks, when I purchased my first McCartney CD, his 1987 release, “All the Best!” It also stood as the first “greatest hits” album I purchased with my own hard-earned, after-tax dollars.
In 1989, I was working at Jack Fraser Menswear in West Edmonton Mall. I remember buying “Flowers in the Dirt” on my lunchbreak one day. The whole album was excellent, but I especially liked, “Figure of Eight.”
And in 2013, McCartney released the album, “New,” which went on to become a favorite of the Cummings Family Road trip playlist. “Early Days,” is a powerful ode to McCartney’s early experiences in music and “Queenie Eye” was written about a childhood game he played when he was a boy. That song features another great music video.
So, to put it all in perspective, I was recalling all of these lifetime music experiences when I read my first, (and only) Paul McCartney biography, “Blackbird” by Geoffrey Giuliano.
And as I read Giuliano’s telling of the McCartney Family moving to a farm, the early creation of the super band “Wings” and the stories behind McCartney’s albums and songs, I felt the nostalgia of each of these stories very personally as a kind of “connection” between the happenings in the book and my own experiences at the time.
Some other reviewers have commented that the book lacks the charm of the man himself and that it is unoriginal, comments which might have merit. But for me, I journeyed through the pages of the book while reliving my favorite McCartney experiences, and for good or bad, that magical reliving experience situates the book in a special place for me. This “first blush experience,” like a first kiss, cannot be undone, or forgotten, no matter how great the follow-up might be.
Four solid stars.
October 5, 2025
Wow apparently EVERYONE related to the Beatles is in the wrong and a huge asshole ✋😔👊
September 30, 2019
Most everyone has heard of the Beatles, the very few who haven't have heard of Wings. This book is a review of the person who was the driving force in both bands. It seems to be unbalanced in it's information though, leaning more towards the bad than the good. Maybe that is what people want to read about.
It touches on what a manipulative person Yoko Ono is, how Linda McCartney is insanely jealous and how Paul is a micromanaging cheapskate. The things is, non of this is new information, it's not really even elaborated on more than it has been in the past. It's not a book I would suggest starting with if you want to read on The Beatles or Paul McCartney however it does the job of verifying information well. For a read on McCartney over the same time period as this book I would certainly suggest "You Never Give Me Your Money" first.
Bottom line, not the worst but, nothing new here.
It touches on what a manipulative person Yoko Ono is, how Linda McCartney is insanely jealous and how Paul is a micromanaging cheapskate. The things is, non of this is new information, it's not really even elaborated on more than it has been in the past. It's not a book I would suggest starting with if you want to read on The Beatles or Paul McCartney however it does the job of verifying information well. For a read on McCartney over the same time period as this book I would certainly suggest "You Never Give Me Your Money" first.
Bottom line, not the worst but, nothing new here.
October 25, 2015
Paul McCartney has always seemed to me to be enigmatic, secretive and concerned with his own image, but perhaps that’s understandable given his background. I don’t think Giuliano has done much to explain the enigma. Much was already known of McCartneys’ back to nature, Scottish lifestyle and his intent to show his children a simple life away from stardom. Guiliano attributes this to McCartney’s miserly notions rather than any noble rural feelings and cites many other examples of McCartney’s penny-inching ways, particularly with other musicians. Considering the way the Beatles were fleeced and other incidents (such as his step-mother selling his birth certificate as memorabilia) perhaps it can be explained. Stereotypically Linda McCartney is reduced to a one dimensional manipulation. The only fair criticism of McCartney is of his work, where one reviewer said ‘he needed someone to tell him when he hasn’t prodded and probed his own work to its full potential’. Mostly this book lacks the charm of the man.
January 5, 2025
The McCartney's according to Denny Laine.
February 14, 2010
It's been 18 yrs since I've read this. I'm past the point in my life where I'd be interested in reading now if I hadn't already.
January 3, 2016
Love Paul, but this was not great. Barry miles book is the better choice.
September 1, 2025
The book "The Life and Times of Paul McCartney" is a biography about Paul McCartney, covering his early life before fame, through his fame, and up to the present day. It goes over all the struggles that led him to be one of the greatest artists of all time, with his career with the Beatles and his amazing solo career. I loved reading about all of his personal stories and small insights into how his brain worked and his view of his own life. I really enjoy The Beatles' music and Paul McCartney's solo career, and this made the book more interesting to me. One part was particularly notable for the details about John and Paul's first meeting and their collaboration on music and writing their first work together. It also shows how he used music to help him get through all the hard times in his life, like the passing of his wife, Linda, and the death of his mother when he was young, and later when John died. The book is very educational, and I enjoyed reading it; I learned a lot. I would recommend this book to any fan of Paul McCartney's music. I give the book 5/5 stars.
February 12, 2017
Balanced.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews