Friday, March 29, 2024

Beatlemania 50 Years Later: Paul McCartney Scores 2 Grammy Noms, Sells 50K Copies of $100 Memoir in 2 Weeks

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The Beatles are having a moment. A big one.

Fifty one years after the group broke up, the Fab Four are everywhere. Tomorrow on Disney Plus begins the three part Peter Jackson documentary, “Get Back.” (I’ve reviewed Part 1, the Parts 2 and 3 are coming today and tomorrow.)

For Paul McCartney, 79, the moment is particularly sweet. Yesterday he was nominated for Best Rock Album and Best Rock Song, respectively, with “McCartney III” and “Find Your Way.” And it was much deserved.

I checked with NPD Book Scan this week. So far, McCartney’s two volume “The Lyrics” sold 50,000 copies in its first two weeks. The third week isn’t in yet, but it’s likely “The Lyrics” has sold 70,000 sets so far through today. That’s actually 140,000 books.

And none of this takes in the new “Let it Be” super deluxe box set or the “Get Back” book that is a must-have companion to the Jackson series.

Watching the Jackson series, you see the future McCartney already there. He’s already had much of the Beatles success and is struggling to figure out their future. Both John Lennon and George Harrison are struggling, too, with Paul’s vision, his mission, his laser focus on what he sees for “Let it Be” and for what will become “Abbey Road.”

And listen as he constructs “The Long and Winding Road” simultaneous to what will be his first solo hit, “Another Day.” The songs are just pouring out of him. It’s overwhelming as an outsider watching it now, 51 years later. Imagine being there in real time.

And here we are in 2021. In two months, on January 31, 2022, it’s possible McCartney will perform on the Grammys. And maybe even win one. I think if you’d asked Paul during the filming of “Let it Be” what he expected a half century later, this is exactly what he’d have predicted.

 

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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