With the Got Back US tour leg well underway, some may be wondering what Paul McCartney does to pass time on the road.
The Beatles and Wings member once shared exactly what he got up to while touring the globe, and it seems he’s quite the cinephile. McCartney confirmed he would watch up to three films on long-haul flights and finds new releases to watch while he travels. The veteran songwriter would also confirm he was, at the time of an interview given on his website, working his way through Better Call Saul and when it came to films, it was a matter of finding something he hadn’t seen. McCartney, who is currently on tour in the United States, also said he finds it easier to doze off when reading a “dry” biography rather than watching an exciting film.
In his You Gave Me the Answer Q&A post on his website, McCartney confirmed it was film and television which helped him pass the time best of all while travelling. He said: “I don’t knit, I imagine that would be quite cool, actually. Tom Daley knits and so does Michelle Obama, and I get why they do it; it must be a great release of tension.
“But I watch movies. So when I travel from London to New York, its normally a seven-hour journey so I end up watching about three movies, and in the middle of it all I try and have a meal. I just go to ‘New Releeases’ and unfortunately they’re not new – I’ve seen most of them!
“They don’t update them quick enough for me. I scan through and think ‘ah, I’ve been meaning to see that’.” When it came to being on a car journey, it was an iPad filled with films and television which kept McCartney occupied.
He continued: “On car journeys, I watch stuff on my iPad which can be films or series. I’m currently on Better Call Saul and it’s a good one. I don’t read on journeys so much, I read at home instead before going to bed.
“I get ready for bed and the last thing I do is read. Nancy will often look at a series at that time, but I think it’s not conducive to sleep because some of the things she’ll watch are a little too exciting, and the plot will keep you up all night! So I try to read biographies, which can be a little bit dry. After a few pages you start you yawn, the page goes fuzzy, so it’s light off and straight to sleep. I like that!”
The veteran songwriter would go on to say he had finished a book on Philip Glass, and that reading music biographies found him relating to musicians without really meaning to. He said: “I sometimes will make a note if they’re talking about something I don’t know about. I read a Phillip Glass book and some of his pieces I didn’t know about, so looked them up on Spotify.
“Some others I’ve recently read are about Bernstein and Mozart. One of the things I find interesting is relating to them as musicians, because without meaning to, I’ve ended up as one of them! So if the biography is talking about Mozart struggling to write a piece, I can relate to that.”
