McCartney Revisits 'Paul Is Dead' in Memoir

An excerpt from Paul McCartney's new memoir published in The Guardian revisits the “Paul is dead” conspiracy, with McCartney writing that “in so many ways, I was dead” as the Beatles collapsed. He says the rumor was fanned in the autumn of 1969 by an American DJ and earlier student articles, convincing millions he had died. At 27 he describes being overwhelmed by legal and personal disputes—including the 1970 lawsuit to dissolve the Beatles' partnership over manager Allen Klein—and facing doubts that nearly drove him from music. McCartney and his wife Linda retreated to a remote sheep farm in Scotland, where isolation and hands-on work helped him rebuild creatively. He says he will expand on that transition from Beatle to solo artist, the formation of Wings, and later successes such as Band on the Run in a forthcoming book.