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.
