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Sir Paul McCartney surprises college students
by Bang Showbiz
27 October 2014

Sir Paul McCartney made a surprise appearance at Rollins College in Florida and treated students to a performance of Blackbird.

Sir Paul McCartney surprised students at a Florida college.
The event where the 72-year-old Beatles frontman appeared was kept secret from the students until the last minute.
Paul said: ''Doing this for the students was such a special buzz for me. I hope it was for them too.''
The 'Live and Let Die' hitmaker spoke to around 100 students at the Knowles Memorial Chapel at Rollins College in Winter Park about his songwriting skills and his fame as a member of legendary band The Beatles.
When asked whether lyrics or music come to him first, he explained, ''I tell students all the time, 'Look, I don't know how to do this.' Every time I approach a song, there's no rules.
''Sometimes the music comes first, sometimes the words - and if you're lucky, it all comes together.''
Speaking about his creative chemistry with John Lennon, he added: ''I'd say, 'It's getting better all the time,' and he'd say, 'It can't get much worse. I would have never thought of that.''
The students - who had to win tickets for the event through a lottery system - were treated to a performance of 'Blackbird'.
Rollins Acting President Craig M. McAllaster commended the event, saying: ''This was a wonderful event provided through the generosity of Sir Paul McCartney.
''He wanted it to be intimate and mostly for students. That's why they filled most of the seats. It's a wonderful thing to have someone of his stature and significance give us his time and talent to Rollins College.''

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www.rollingstone.com
Paul McCartney Shares Songwriting Secrets in College Lecture
"We were a boy band," McCartney tells the audience. "It's not a bad thing, but after a while you felt like you wanted to move on"
BY KORY GROW
October 27, 2014

One day before Paul McCartney played a career-spanning concert in Jacksonville, Florida, the former Beatle made an appearance at Winter Park, Florida's Rollins College for a career-spanning lecture. Two-time U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins led the discussion with the singer-songwriter, who shared songwriting stories from throughout his career and a performance of the Beatles' "Blackbird" with a few hundred students on October 23rd. His appearance was announced only that morning and demand was so high that the school implemented a lottery system for tickets.

Billy Collins and Sir Paul McCartney at Rollins College

Billy Collins and Sir Paul McCartney at Rollins College on October 23rd, 2014 in Winter Park, FL.
Photo : Scott Cook

"I'd say, 'It's getting better all the time,' and he'd say, 'It can't get much worse," McCartney told the students in regard to John Lennon. "I would have never thought of that."

When he was asked about how he writes songs, the singer-songwriter claimed that he doesn't have any set process. "I tell students all the time, 'Look, I don't know how to do this,'" he said, mentioning that "Yesterday" came to him in a dream. "Every time I approach a song, there's no rules. Sometimes the music comes first, sometimes the words – and if you're lucky, it all comes together."

Other topics of discussion included his youth in Liverpool, the way he discovered blues and country through records that English sailors brought back from the States and how excited he felt to learn jazz chords at a young age, according to the Rollins website. He also discussed the "nerve-racking" feeling McCartney got reading his own poems to a group of scholars in New York, how he was not bothered by all the different covers of his song and the Beatles' growth. "[It was through] a natural growing up we developed," he said. "And drugs."

"At the beginning of the Beatles – you've got to remember, we were a boy band – it was all really fan-oriented," he said. "It's not a bad thing, but after a while you felt like you wanted to move on."

Currently, McCartney is readying reissues of two Wings albums – Venus and Mars and Wings at the Speed of Sound – that will both feature a number of outtakes and B-sides when they come out in November. Among them are a version of "Beware My Love" that features Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham and a long-lost snooker-themed TV ad. The singer is also putting out a three-disc collector's version of his most recent record, New, due out October 28th. He's also the subject of a tribute album, The Art of McCartney, which features artists ranging from Alice Cooper to Bob Dylan singing his songs. That record will come out November 18th.

www.PaulMcCartney.com

OCT

2014

Paul Chats with US Poet Laureate Billy Collins at Rollins College

“Doing this for the students was such a special buzz for me. I hope it was for them too.”—Paul McCartney

At the behest of two-term US poet laureate and senior distinguished fellow at the Winter Park Institute Billy Collins, Paul spoke last Thursday night to a few hundred students at Knowles Memorial Chapel on the campus of Rollins College in Winter Park, FL.

Kept secret until the morning of the event, Paul’s visit prompted so much interest that students had to win tickets in a lottery system.

“I’d say, ‘It’s getting better all the time,’ and he’d say, ‘It can’t get much worse,” McCartney told the students of his creative chemistry with John Lennon. “I would have never thought of that.”

When asked whether lyrics or music come first, he replied, “I tell students all the time, ‘Look, I don’t know how to do this.’ Every time I approach a song, there’s no rules. Sometimes the music comes first, sometimes the words – and if you’re lucky, it all comes together.”

Paul described how his inspiration for 'Yesterday' came in a dream. Certain an old melody was stuck in his head, he went around humming the tune, asking if anyone knew it. “After two weeks,” he said, “I claimed it.”

Collins brought up how Paul’s songs have been covered by countless bands, prompting Paul's gratitude. “If someone on the street corner is reading one of your poems,” he asked Collins, “is it going to bother you?”

Asked about The Beatles’ musical evolution in the late 1960s, Paul drew applause and laughter recalling “a natural growing up we developed – and drugs.”

“At the beginning of The Beatles,” he said, “you’ve got to remember, we were a boy band. … It was all really fan-oriented. It’s not a bad thing, but after a while you felt like you wanted to move on.”

Paul and Collins found common ground at the intersection of lyrics and poetry. Sharing how he once read his own poems to a group of scholars in New York City, Paul admitted “It was pretty nerve-wracking” and quite different than playing to record-breaking concert crowds. “I had to respect the silence as a great thing,” he said.

Paul closed the night with a performance of 'Blackbird'.

“This was a wonderful event provided through the generosity of Sir Paul McCartney,” said Rollins Acting President Craig M. McAllaster. “He wanted it to be intimate and mostly for students. That’s why they filled most of the seats. It’s a wonderful thing to have someone of his stature and significance give us his time and talent to Rollins College.”

Photo by Scott Cook

www.facebook.com/Rollins.College