Breaking: Paul McCartney is still making records. Really. Egypt Station is the former Beatles’ latest, and he’s promoting the heck out of it, with stops at Grand Central Station (where he played a promotion concert), The Jimmy Fallon Show (where he surprised lucky visitors to the 30 Rock building upon elevator doors opening), and scads of magazine interviews.
Not that the septuagenarian has that much interesting to say beyond joining the chorus of lefty Trump critics. The 14th track off Egypt Station, Despite Repeated Warnings, is a jeremiad about climate change, and contains McCartney lyrically chiding an unnamed “mad captain” of a ship for his poor leadership: “Those who shout the loudest/May not always be the smartest.” (Look out, Eleanor Rigby!)
McCartney, though hardly needing to fill in that blank, unabashedly told BBC News that the target of his criticism was “obviously … Trump, but there's plenty of them about. He's not the only one.” As with anything involving a knock of the 45th president, the American media showered the song with publicity, with Newsweek, Huffington Post, and People all highlighting the track.
The Englishman could have easily used his excess of media attention to encourage the UK Parliament or the leadership of the European Union to prioritize climate change, but instead hopped on the bandwagon and shot across the pond.
The media all nod along seriously as Sir Paul holds forth on climate science and American politics. Meanwhile, GQ Magazine caused a hullabaloo last week with its revelation that McCartney and bandmate John Lennon used to masturbate together, and the Sunday Times put a magnifying glass to the rocker’s past drug use. Beyond the creepy “ewww” factor of GQ’s scoop, neither of those stories much matter. Just like Paul’s assessment of Trump.
