Martin Shough

If there's one thing that admirers and critics can agree on it's that Paul McCartney is a complex contradiction and hard to know. His huge output ranges from breezy singles to complex classical compositions. Sometimes in interviews he has come across as defensive, self-conscious, vague, a bit awkward; at other times he is sharp, articulate, modest and generous. One mirror shows him as an ambitious control freak, whilst another reflects him as ingenuous, childlike. The detractor knows not which McCartney to hate more, or the admirer which to love. Can someone so hard to see, so bafflingly multifaceted, possibly be authentic? Where is the 'real Paul'? What is authenticity in a work of art, in an oratorio or in a popular song? Why do we care about it? And can the answers help us to gain a better perspective on McCartney's cultural legacy after The Beatles?

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