McCartney: "I Have Tried Heroin" (Doubtless Explains the Writing of "Silly Love Songs")

The Mirror ^ | 6/2/04 | Jon Wilde and David Edwards

[anonymous_user]

Oh, I am the walrus GOO GOO G’JOOB.

[lizma]

why he should never have released some of his solo albums

I liked Wings at the time but this guy seems to be lamenting he wasn't a neurosurgeon. Grow up Paul. You didn't change the world, but you certainly entertained it.

It may have not been the most noble cause but that's not a bad thing.

[Joe Hadenuf]

I liked Wings at the time but this guy seems to be lamenting he wasn't a neurosurgeon.

Or maybe a high end accountant eh? Get real. Oh, and I agree with Paul, Wings sucked.

[Dan from Michigan]

No mention of "I am the Walrus" on a Beatles and drug interview?

[gooseanders]

"I liked Wings at the time but this guy seems to be lamenting he wasn't a neurosurgeon.
Or maybe a high end accountant eh? Get real. Oh, and I agree with Paul, Wings sucked."

paul said that wings sucked?

(i think the ref to "neurosurgeon" may have been a ref to "temporary secretary" from mccartney II)

my friends frown at me when i say that i like wings better than the beatles.

paul was definitely the most talented, he taught his wife to sing. if only john could've done that...

if i was stranded on a desert island, and had a choice of ten records to have, two of them would be wings over america, and mccartney II.

[Joe Hadenuf]

paul said that wings sucked?

"Early Wings were pretty rough, not terribly good," admits Paul.

Seems pretty clear to me. And I agree with him, they weren't terribly good, or in other words, they sucked.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Conclusive evidence that Paul McCartney used heroin at least once in his life:

[Lijahsbubbe]

Thanks for the article. He fascinates me, because I just cannot imagine the life that they have had. Totally incomparable. Unimaginable.

The comment about being flattered to be asked to smoke weed with kids was kinda dumb though. I suppose he may be saying he was flattered that they thought an older guy like him was still cool.

[gooseanders]

"Early Wings were pretty rough, not terribly good," admits Paul.

"Seems pretty clear to me. And I agree with him, they weren't terribly good, or in other words, they sucked."

he also said the same thing about early beatles. do you think that the beatles sucked?

[Choose Ye This Day]

They were better than 95% of the guano that's on the radio today.

[L.N. Smithee]

"It was only on Pepper that we started to use stuff in the studio. On the earlier albums we'd have been using those drugs socially, so in that sense the drugs informed what we did.

"A song like Got To Get You Into My Life, that's directly about pot, although everyone missed it at the time. Day Tripper, that's one about acid. Lucy In The Sky, that's pretty obvious.

"Got To Get You Into My Life" is about marijuana? It doesn't make a bit of sense at all.

---

Got to Get You Into My Life

I was alone, I took a ride,
I didn’t know what I would find there.
Another road where maybe I
Could see another kind of mind there.
Ooh then I suddenly see you,
Ooh did I tell you I need you
Ev’ry single day of life?
You didn’t run, you didn’t lie,
You knew I wanted just to hold you,
And had you gone, you knew in time
We’d meet again for I had to hold you.
Ooh you were meant to be near me,
Ooh and I want to hear me,
Say we’ll be together ev’ry day.
Got to get you into my life.
What can I do, what can I be?
When I’m with you I want to stay there.
If I’m true I’ll never leave,
And if I do I know the way there.
Ooh then I suddenly see you,
Ooh did I tell you I need you
Ev’ry single day of my life?
Got to get you into my life.
Got to get you into my life.
I was alone, I took a ride,
I didn’t know what I would find there.
Another road where maybe I
Could see another kind of mind there.
Ooh then I suddenly see you,
Ooh did I tell you I need you
Ev’ry single day of life?
What are you doing to my life?

---

Jeez Louise, was he stoned when he gave this interview?

[Havisham]

Recently, Paul McCartney has been citing drug culture and social struggle as having directly inspired his music. As you would expect from an authentic artist, he previously scoffed at such pop culture theorizing. Unfortunately all those years of pot consumption have addled the brain of a marvelous song writer and troubador. It's funny that he doesn't see the connection with the band members' drug addictions and their 'implosion'. Now he's rambling on about how great it is that the Hollywood street vermin are inviting him for a smoke. I repeat, shut up, Paul.

[CaliGirlGodHelpMe]

Now it can be told. John the eclectic, George the acetic, and Paul the copacetic. I had always admired him for that, but after reading that interview, I've come full circle.

You would think that an almost-62-year-old man would have learned to keep his mouth shut about his drug use, having seen the damage it's done in the world since the 60s. Now he graciously informs us that songs we adored in our youth, and taught our children to love, were inspired by drugs after all. Ta, Paulie.

[Lijahsbubbe]

I can see it. (no, I'm not high....or burned out) :)

Strawberry Fields forever man! Peace!

[tallhappy]

You didn't change the world,

Unfortunately they did change the world, but not in a particularly positive way.

[weegee]

"I tried heroin just the once. Even then, I didn't realise I'd taken it. I was just handed something, smoked it, then found out what it was.

"It didn't do anything for me, which was lucky because I wouldn't have fancied heading down that road.

"I did cocaine for about a year around the time of Sergeant Pepper. Coke and maybe some grass to balance it out. I was never completely crazy with cocaine.

"I'd been introduced to it and at first it seemed OK, like anything that's new and stimulating.

And yet pot's not a gateway drug...

He kept looking for a new kind of kick. Article doesn't go into how his depression after the breakup of the Beatles lead to alcoholism.

[weegee]

>>> "Got To Get You Into My Life" is about marijuana? It doesn't make a bit of sense at all.

---

"I was alone, I took a ride, I didn’t know what I would find there. Another road where maybe I Could see another kind of mind there."



"Girl" sounds to me a whole lot like it's about pot (the constant sounds of inhaling add to that perception) or at least addiction:

---

Is there anybody going to listen to my story
All about the girl who came to stay?
She's the kind of girl you want so much
It makes you sorry
Still you don't regret a single day.
Ah girl! Girl!

When I think of all the times I've tried SO HARD to leave her
She will turn to me and start to cry;
And she promises the earth to me
And I believe her
After all this time I don't know why.
Ah, girl! Girl!

She's the kind of girl who puts you down
When friends are there, you feel a fool.
When you say she's looking good
She acts as if it's understood.
She's cool, cool, cool, cool,
Girl! Girl! [Was she]

Was she told when she was young that pain
Would lead to pleasure?
Did she understand it when they said
That a man must break his back to earn
His day of leisure?
Will she still believe it when he's dead?
Ah girl! Girl! Girl!



"Rain" is another of their admitted drug songs:

---

If the rain comes they run and hide their heads.
They might as well be dead.
If the rain comes, if the rain comes.
When the sun shines they slip into the shade
(When the sun shines down.)
And sip their lemonade.
(When the sun shines down.)
When the sun shines, when the sun shines.
Rain, I don't mind.
Shine, the weather's fine.
I can show you that when it starts to rain,
(When the Rain comes down.)
Everything's the same.
(When the Rain comes down.)
I can show you, I can show you.
Rain, I don't mind.
Shine, the weather's fine.
Can you hear me, that when it rains and shines,
(When it Rains and shines.)
It's just a state of mind?
(When it rains and shines.)
Can you hear me, can you hear me?
If the rain comes they run and hide their heads.
sdaeh rieht edih dna nur yeht semoc niar eht fI.
(Rain)
naiR.
(Rain)
enihsnuS

Dear Prudence was about an acid trip with Mia Farrow's sister.

[weegee]

Actually Paul and George talked about this in the Beatles Anthology documentary. I don't know if those elements aired in the ABC broadcasts (the videos were longer than the tv shows).

[weegee]