A Day in the Life ; No Pop Star has Made the Transition From Teen Idol to Grand Statesman Quite Like Paul Mccartney. To Coincide with Today's Free Cd, We Went Backstage On His Tour to Give This Unique Insight Into the Man and His Work. [Eire Region]

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Charles Schulz's Peanuts cartoon strip is something that tends not to resonate very much with me. I doubt if it resonates with many men. After all, its trite homilies are the sort of thing appreciated by a select bunch: largely overly sentimental senior citizens, lovesick teenagers or pre-pubescent girls looking for scrapbook alternatives to their torn-out photographs of Zac Efron.

But there is one strip that has always stayed with me, even though I haven't seen it for over 30 years. The muchbeleaguered Linus says the following to his pal Charlie Brown: 'Charlie, you know that one day of your life will always be better than any other?' 'Sure,' says Charlie Brown. 'Everybody knows that. Why do you ask?' 'Well,' says Linus, 'what if you've already had it?' If you were a cynical person, you might think that this is a question Paul McCartney asks himself on a regular basis. Come on, seriously. What could possibly top having five records in the American Top 10? What could top playing Shea Stadium to the loudest crowd in history? Or making Sgt Pepper? Or Hey Jude? Or Let It Be? What on earth could possibly top being revered by an entire generation? Or two. What could top being -- along with David Bailey, the Rolling Stones and Michael Caine -- pretty much responsible for the Sixties? What could top being a Beatle? Here is a man who gave his name to the Ramones (Paul Ramon having been McCartney's old stage name), who effortlessly recorded duets with Michael Jackson, whose much-lauded song Yesterday is the most popular of all time (3,500 mangled cover versions and counting), who conjured up the bass part for John Lennon's Come Together in a jot, whose performance at the 2005 Super Bowl was watched by a live TV audience of 145 million, and whose first concert in Moscow took on all the trappings of a state visit, including a more-than-warm welcome from Vladimir Putin.

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A Day in the Life ; No Pop Star has Made the Transition From Teen Idol to Grand Statesman Quite Like Paul Mccartney. To Coincide with Today's Free Cd, We Went Backstage On His Tour to Give This Unique Insight Into the Man and His Work. [Eire Region]

However, the thing about McCartney is that just when he thinks he's had the best day of his life -- his 'Elvis' day -- along comes another to put it in the shade. As if conquering the world with the Beatles wasn't enough, he then conquered the world again with Wings, then again as a solo artist, every now and then setting new records, new standards for popular entertainers. He's had more No. 1 hits than anyone else in the world, made more money t...

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