Table of Contents
Prologue: All Our Yesterdays 1
Part 1 Stairway to Paradise
1 'Hey, mister, gimme a quid and I'll show you Paul McCartney's house' 17
2 'Apple sandwiches with sugar' 25
3 'I learned to put a shell around me' 41
4 Puttin' On the Style 49
5 'Chalkandcheese!' 64
6 'Paul seemed to make John come alive when they were together 81
7 'Just who do you want to be, Paul? Tommy Steele?' 95
8 'Everything's mad here, People never sleep' 111
9 'Sing "Searchin'", Paul!' 124
10 'Oo, Vi, give me legs a comb' 140
11 'Just think - Little Richard's got on my shirt! I can't believe it!' 152
Part 2 The Barnum & Bailey Beatle
12 'Did you know he sleeps with his eyes open?' 169
13 'Changing my life with a wave of her hand' 187
14 'Long life and happiness and lots of marzipan butties' 201
15 'This is what a Beatle does in the evenings' 216
16 'It's a big one, 'cos I like big houses' 231
17 'You might almost have said an alien had landed on the Mull' 249
18 Return of the Jim Mac Jazz Band 260
19 'An irresponsible idiot' 274
20 'Everything was off the top of Paul's head' 285
21 'A beautiful place where beautiful people can buy beautiful things' 299
22 'It was the coup de foudre the French speak of in hushed tones' 308
23 'You have found her, now go and get her' 325
Part 3 Home, Family, Love
24 'You've been playing on the roof again and your Mommy doesn't like it' 345
25 'Fuck you, money!' 363
26 'Go on, cry! You'll be in the paper' 378
27 'Paul is still with us' 391
28 'It was a barrelling, empty feeling that just rolled across my soul' 408
29 'It was almost as if I was committing an unholy act' 426
30 'Hell, we've really blown it here' 444
31 'Screw you, I'll make an album you'll wish you'd been on' 462
32 An old estranged fiancé of mine called Paul' 478
33 'Man, if I was Paul McCartney, I'd buy the road' 494
34 'They'd saved themselves for him' 507
35 'Oi, Paul, you know that Mull of Kintyre? It's fakking great!' 519
36 'McCartneyesque whimsy on punk steroids' 534
37 Japanese Jailbird 547
38 'It put everyone in a daze for the rest of their life' 560
Part 4 Carrying That Weight
39 'Give me back my babies, Lew' 573
40 'About as close as you can get to a non-movie' 584
41 'I bought your songs, Paul' 599
42 'You're such a lovely audience' 614
43 'I work my arse off, I do. I work my bloody arse off' 630
44 'Everyone wanted to be the icing on the cake. No one wanted to be the cake' 643
45 'This letter comes with love from your friend Paul' 656
46 'She radiated hope' 671
47 'Let me love you always' 684
Part 5 Back in the World
48 Lonesome Town 697
49 'I've just got a leg missing. I've still got my heart' 711
50 'Hey, that's pretty good. Is it one of yours?' 726
51 'You don't say a lot, do you, Paul?' 741
52 'She could not afford to sue all the newspapers she would like to' 755
53 'Even by British tabloid standards, the nastiness has been extraordinary' 773
54 'His wife, mother, lover, confidante, business partner and psychologist' 786
55 'There's always that moment of "Can I do it?"' 799
Epilogue: 'See ya, Phil' 808
Acknowledgements 817
Picture Credits 819
Index 821