Legendary musician and ex-Beatle Paul McCartney is one of the most highly publicized figures of the 20th century. Despite the fact that numerous biographies have been written about him, some information has still managed to slip through the cracks. Here we present a list of 15 things you didn’t know about Paul McCartney. Check out part one below, and stay tuned for part two, coming soon!
Number Fifteen: He Was Inspired to Play Lefty by Slim Whitman. Paul McCartney was always a lefty, but he didn’t always know that he could play guitar that way. However, once he went to go see Slim Whitman in concert, he realized that people could play guitar the left-handed way, and everything changed.
Number Fourteen: He Liked the Idea of Dressing Up to Perform. McCartney was the one who first suggested all members of The Beatles wear ties while they perform. He was 15 at the time.
Number Thirteen: He Rescued John Lennon From a Snafu With Elvis. In 1965, The Beatles met up with Elvis Presley to meet and socialize. However, Elvis became incensed when John Lennon began making comments about the Vietnam War. Lennon also flirted with Elvis’ wife, Priscilla. To make up for his behavior, McCartney suggested an impromptu jam session, which made the situation much less tense.
Number Twelve: He Wanted to Sign Chicago to Apple Records. Before Columbia was able to sign Chicago, McCartney saw them perform in Los Angeles and wanted to sign them to his newly launched Apple Corps. However, they were already moving forward with Columbia Records at the time.
Number Eleven: His Favorite Band Was Once The Who. In 1965, McCartney was so moved by The Who’s “I Can’t Explain” that he declared that The Who was his favorite band. He did this long before The Who reached a level of massive stardom.
Number Ten: His Post-Beatles Band Was Almost Named Turpentine. McCartney was trying to get his post-Beatles band off the ground and launched into popularity, but he couldn’t come up with a name that he liked. “Turpentine” was one of the candidates before he settled on “Wings.”
Number Nine: He Is an Honorary NYPD Detective. In 2002, officers at a show at Madison Square Garden awarded McCartney with an honorary NYPD detective badge. He apparently joked about busting crowd members for smoking marijuana later.