Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

What do you make of this?

http://www.youtube.com/w/Beatles---Paul-McCartney---Reaction-to-John-Lennons-Death?v=JkZ_9v8NSYU&search=paul%20McCartney

How would you feel if your brother, sister, mother or father had been murdered? Shocked? Disoriented? Unable to think clearly? How about hearing that a lifelong friend who combined all those people into one were shot down in the street? Bad enough to hear that a loved one has been killed accidentally, or even died of natural causes. But shot? How would you handle it? Now ... how would you handle it after having a microphone stuck in your face on worldwide TV?

I've read comments from those who point to this clip as proof of Paul's being a callous idiot. Purest ****. What was he expected to do? Collapse sobbing on the sidewalk? Punch out the interviewer? Yeah .. either would've made better TV. But if I have learned anything over the years, it is that you can never predict with certainty how any person -- including yourself -- will react in a given situation until the situation presents itself. Paul did what any widow, widower, brother or sister does every day around the world. He went back to what he knew best in order to make the struggle to deal with the loss easier. He has that much in common with us. What he doesn't have that the rest of us have is reasonable certainty that his reaction will not be posted on the Internet for everyone to analyze 25 years after the fact. No one videotaped my reaction when my dad died when I was 23 years old. Or when my best friend hanged himself in his basement, to be found by his wife that morning. Yes, that's the price Paul pays for fame. But that's purest ****, too. No one has the "right to know" in a situation like this.

Viewing the clip, you can see the anger,shock and frustration on McCartney's face. I think had he been forced to continue we would've heard more, but since the reporter phrased the question in a tone similar to 'What did you have for breakfast?', Paul replied quickly and moved on. Anybody who criticizes his reaction is a doofus.

What could be said in this situation? Who's the critic?.. McCartney managed to find the words to say, and i give him respect.
Reporters make money. No offence meant.

This question has been asked since 1980. I think Dave is spot on. How did anyone expect Paul to react? His face is clearly distressed and instead of staying home he went to the studio. I remember Ringo doing an interview and breaking down. That was a tough one to watch.

Some people are very open about their grief, others internalize it, some get it out initially then deal with the grief as it comes in waves, it is a private matter. When my Mother or when a few of my good friends died tragically I did not grieve publically. It's not something I can easily deal with. I can be aloof or stoic, but it's never been questioned by my family and friends. Now a famous guy is being critized because, what, he seems callous and indifferant to his friends tragic death. rubbish! Those critics need to get a life

I can see the wheels turning in his head as he furiously chews gum and wonders if it could be a conspiracy. I'm surprised he would stop and give the reporter his ear.

I think there's something about his reaction in the book (his book) "Many Years From Now", where he says he's in shock and somewhat taken by surprise being asked and just came up with what he did, and has felt it wasn't the best he could come up with, but (not surprising) couldn't think too clear-headedly at the time.

I've heard people say bad things about him for years because of this. I know people react differently to things like this that happen in their lives, and to be such a public figure like Paul and to have to react in public must have been difficult.
I'm sure his reaction was different when he first heard the news.
Anyone who sees him as "callous" because of this is certainly an idiot.

That's a fairly broad generalization, Steve. I'd rather save it for public figures and those who betray the public trust.

I understand Jeffrey Skilling's defense will try to convince the jury that everything he did was legal...

I just remember who Macca reminded me on the video, chewing furiously on his wad of Wrigley's: My brother whenever he asks me for money.

And all this time I thought it was my brother who did that.

I get the impression that it is exactly the opposite, not a difficult thing but instead a meaningless little interview thrown out the way some old married couples answer each other in conversation when they're busy doing something else. He seems to me to be in full "auto pilot" mode. By that time he was so practised in media contact that his mouth would probably just have taken over and did the interview for him, regardless of what was happening in his head. I get the impression that his thoughts are a million miles away and he's just going through the motions...

more ramblings by me:
I suppose he may have been on autopilot when he was approached.

Skilling and Lay creep me out..arrogant bastidges
Andrew Fastow will creep them out...

Bob Spitz's book is very good...just finished it.. I really would'nt have wanted to be them..

i think its the line "its a drag isnt it?" that makes him seem callous but you definitely see the look on his face that hes having a bad day.

Personally I don't think he deals with grief the way some of us do. Remember the "what will we do without her money" when his mom died? He didn't even attend his father's funeral. He deals with loss in his own way. Right or wrong.