Dave Gilmour takes swipe at Paul McCartney [for not giving more of his fortune to charity]

Daily Mail ^ | February 10, 2004 | MARK REYNOLDS

[ejdrapes]

Macca 'too tight' with money

His own daughter once famously described him as 'a tight bastard'.

Now Sir Paul McCartney's generosity has been questioned again, by fellow veteran rocker Dave Gilmour.

Gilmour recently donated £3.6million to the 'urban village' project of the homelessness charity Crisis

The 58-year-old Pink Floyd star said he had more money than he knew what to do with and that giving huge amounts to charity therefore made sense.

He went on to chastise the former Beatle for not giving more of his vast fortune to good causes.

' I am supposed to have £80million, according to the Rich List,' he said.

'£3million is just a fraction of what the project is going to cost and it needs people with serious money to help out.

'My friend Paul McCartney is meant to have more than £500million.

'The way he lives you can understand where £100million goes.

'But I have no idea what he does with the other £ 400million. That's a crazy amount of money and nobody needs it.'

In fact, 61-year-old Sir Paul's wealth is more accurately put at around £713million.

Gilmour, who with Roger Waters was the songwriting talent behind Pink Floyd for 35 years, is close enough to Sir Paul to have attended his wedding to Heather Mills last year.

His barbed comments might strike a chord with Sir Paul's fashion designer daughter Stella, who described her father as 'a tight bastard' for sending her to a comprehensive school.

Three years ago, Sir Paul threw a birthday party for Heather where guests had to pay for their own drinks at the bar.

On another occasion, he presented a workman with a gift of one bottle of beer brewed on his East Sussex estate. It did not go down very well.

The star did, however, pass on $1million last year to one good cause - the landmines charity run by his wife - after earning it in one night.

The Crisis project aims to build 400 homes for down-andouts and low-income workers in London.

Despite Gilmour's generosity, it is still £50million short of the fund-raising total required.

Sir Paul declined to comment on Gilmour's remarks.

[ejdrapes]

Sorry Dave. It's not for you or anyone else to say how much money someone should have. Paul earned his wealth fair and square and can do with it whatever he likes. I'll bet he probably gives a lot to charity but just chooses not to boast about it in the newspapers.

[Living Free in NH]

I'd be willing to bet that Mr. Gilmour gave the money to "the 'urban village' project of the homelessness" to make HIMSELF feel better. Otherwise he'd give almost EVERY last penny he had (minus enough to live a modest lifestyle, of course). Because, let's face it, no matter what he gave, there are still thousands of homeless bums out there, yet he still has MILLIONS.

I've always thought this about the liberal scumbags (the rich ones, that is). They donate a nice sum of cash and then let the whole world know they did so. All just to help THEMSELVES "feel" better (as they cruise from one Hollywood awards event to another).

[grellis]

Three years ago, Sir Paul threw a birthday party for Heather where guests had to pay for their own drinks at the bar.

Flog him!!!

[weegee]

Dave's kind of new to this generosity thing himself (even after touring and singing about Money, in the post Roger Waters' Pink Floyd). He only recently sold a house he wasn't using and got rid of some extra cars.

If people are going to only keep the money they "need" we will all be living the life of the Amish who try to abstain from worldly goods. It's not that they are inherently evil devices, but where does one stop?