Happy Birthday Macca: A Look Back At Sir Paul McCartney's Career As He Turns 78

Jun 18, 2020 by apost team

Sir Paul McCartney is a true modern icon. Not only has his music reached millions of people around the world—from his early days as a Beatle to his decades-spanning solo career—he's still out there entertaining in various other ways including as a film producer.

Now on June 18, McCartney is celebrating his 78th birthday. With such a storied career behind him, we thought we'd honor the man himself with a trip down memory lane, looking at various classic songs from his career.

Famously from Liverpool, England, Paul McCartney was born on June 18, 1942. After forming The Beatles in 1960 in their hometown, the band went on to incredible success, both commercially and critically—you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn't heard of The Beatles!

The songwriting partnership between McCartney and John Lennon was iconic and is still considered to be one of the most fruitful musical pairings in history. The Beatles as a band are the best-selling music act of all time, having sold 183 million units in the US and an estimated 600 million units globally.

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Sir Paul McCartney's influence has even been noticed by the Queen, who knighted the musician in 1997. However, in 2017 she elevated his rank to Companion of Honour for his services to music. This puts him among other well-known people who've received the Companion of Honour including scientist Stephen Hawking, actors Ian McKellen and Judi Dench, and author J.K. Rowling.

Still touring and showing no signs of slowing down, Sir Paul McCartney is a true performer. He's known to play three-hour shows that move around his long and diverse back catalog, including everything from The Beatles and Wings, to his solo output. Here are a few classics by Paul McCartney from over the years.

One of The Beatles' classic earlier tunes, All My Loving is from their second album, With the Beatles, and is a classic relic of '60s British pop. This performance shows the fabulous four playing live for a studio audience. They're still in their mod phase of wearing matching suits and sporting bowl cuts. What a trip down memory lane!

Recorded as the official theme song to the 1973 James Bond movie Live and Let Die, this song by Paul McCartney and Wings also included Paul's first wife Linda on keyboards. It also happened to be the first Bond theme song to garner an Academy Award nomination, however, it lost that year to The Way We Were.

One of his newer solo releases, My Valentine was written for McCartney's third wife Nancy Shevell, on Valentine's Day while in Morocco. He describes the moment:

"I'd said 'oh pity about the rain' and all of that, and she'd said to me 'it doesn't matter, well have a good time'—and I really liked that because I know there's nothing you can do about the weather."

What an incredible career with so many iconic moments! What is your favorite Paul McCartney song or memory? Let us know in the comments and be sure to pass this on to any Beatles fans you know!