Interview for Pop Profile

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On this day, May 2, 1966, the Beatles gave two sets of interviews for BBC radio programs.

The first was for the 400th edition of Saturday Club, hosted by Brian Matthew. The Beatles discussed their work on the then-untitled album “Revolver”, their upcoming US tour, and their lower public profile in 1966.

Afterwards, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr remained behind to be interviewed again by Matthew for Pop Profile, a show for the BBC Transcription Services to be syndicated overseas (BBC Transcription Services was a UK-based record label that produced discs for broadcast purposes only). John Lennon and George Harrison had made a similar appearance on November 30, 1965.

Paul and Ringo were interviewed separately. Ringo’s interview was recorded from 5pm, and Paul’s from 5.30pm, both lasting 15 minutes but later edited down to eight. The interviews were posted to participating stations worldwide later in May 1966 on 7-inch vinyl discs.

These BBC Transcription Services interviews were officially released on the 2013 album “On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2“.

From the liner notes of “On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2“, released in 2013:

Three days before the release of The Beatles’ album Rubber Soul, Brian Matthew recorded separate interviews with John and George for the series Pop Profile. The programmes were pressed on seven-inch discs running at LP speed and distributed to radio stations around the world by the BBC Transcription Service. […]

Having recorded highly personal interviews with John and George for Pop Profile, Brian Matthew talked to Paul and Ringo for the series five months later. The interviews took place on a day-off from sessions started in April 1966 to produce a new album – Revolver.

Brian Matthews: Do at any time, Paul, you cease to think of yourself as Beatle Paul McCartney?

Paul McCartney: Yes I try to do that quite a bit because the best thing, before all of this sort of happened for us, was that you could wander around and you never have to think “oh why is that person looking at me because I’m famous”. body ever looked at you and so it was great just as a walk around like that.

Brian Matthews: Looking ahead how do you feel about it?

Paul McCartney: Oh I don’t mind about it.

Brian Matthews: And when you’re not being a Beatle what sort of things interest you most?

Paul McCartney: Lots of things. I like music just anyway and I like writing music and I mean that’s sort of almost even a part of the Beatles. We record everything that we write so yeah but I just liked doing things like that, music. I don’t know, you know, lots of things I want to do but I haven’t got around to it yet but I will do.

You’ve attracted a fair amount of publicity of late by attending unusual sorts of concerts and plays and things, haven’t you?

Paul McCartney: Yeah, well, it’s funny that, you know, because it’s a drag that it does attract that funny kind of publicity, because the only reason I’m going is not the way that people seem to think of it in the newspapers and things. I mean, in one of the newspapers, they wrote up that I went to see this composer and I’d heard some of his music and a bit of it was electronic, quite interesting. It sounded all new and everything and I went along, and then the newspapers wrote it up, ‘No wonder he was there. It was about electronic music.’ It was a drag, you know, because that’s the trouble, you get put in a pigeonhole.

Brian Matthews: Now I don’t want to ask you the corny old question that you must get asked so often, the sort of: when are the Beatles gonna stop being Beatles or anything like that. But obviously they must come at time when the group ceases to be a group. Is there anything you want to do? Then obviously you wouldn’t have to do anything…

Paul McCartney: The thing is that I don’t like doing nothing. I think all of us enjoy doing something that’s enjoyable, you know, that’s all there is to, and it can be anything, you know, all kinds of music for instance the millions of kind of music I haven’t listened to yet. But I’ve had few kinds, only sort of extracts of them really, but I suddenly realized I like them, you know, and I always thought I didn’t. It’s funny, just suddenly realizing, yes, I think that’s quite good. But I wonder why I always turned that off when it came on the radio.

You know, Indian music, whenever you get on an Indian channel, you know, when you’re fiddling through the radio, I always just used to turn it off, and George got this big Indian kick and he’s dead keen on it, you know. We’ve been round to his house a couple of times and he plays it, and, er, it’s so boring. No, no, it’s good, you know, and you sort of hear millions of things in it that I’d never realised were in it …

Brian Matthews: You also do from time to time visit theatre for straight plays…

Paul McCartney: Yeah, well, that’s the same thing again because, when I was in Liverpool, I used to once or twice just go to Liverpool Playhouse, and I wasn’t very keen on it, you know, I mean I used to just go to see if I liked going to see these plays. I wasn’t very keen on it, I sort of just never went again but when I came out to London I went to something which wasn’t like those [classical] plays that they did. So I don’t know, you just come down and you see some great actors acting in a great play and you just think, well that is good, you know, I was wrong to say that it’s just rubbish.

Brian Matthews: But you’re interested, it is just sort of a personal experience and appreciation of watching other people do it…

Paul McCartney: I think so. I’m not for instance interested in producing stage because I don’t think I could do it for once, and I don’t think I’d get enough enjoyment out of it to merit me learning how to do it. But there are some things that I’d love to be able to do.

Brian Matthews: Such as?

Paul McCartney: Oh I don’t know. The whole idea of making films is good or a good one I like. But I don’t mean some very big expensive films, but films that you just make because you fancy making a film. But the only thing is that, having got the kind of image that we’ve got, if any of us wanted to do anything like that, we would tend to get beaten down because people say “oh look, he’s not trying that old trick of making a film” or “he’s not going classical”… But the only thing is that I thought exactly like that about people who did that too. I always used to think “there he goes in the same old path they all go, all round entertainers”. But it’s just that you find that there are some things which are just as interesting as what you’ve been doing for a certain amount of time.

Brian Matthews: Right, let’s get onto some kind of domestic level, Paul. The other three boys being married, they sort of chose to have sort of large-ish houses, what about you, what’s your ideal?

Paul McCartney: I love houses, I always have. I’ve always liked going to visit people and seeing their houses and things. It’s always the character of the house that gets me, you know. You go into a small house and it’s that kind of character, it’s still great, you know. You go into a big house and it’s completely different and, I don’t know, there are things on their own anyway.

Brian Matthews: What sort of house have you bought?

Paul McCartney: A big one because I like big houses and it’s an old one because I like old houses.

Brian Matthews: And it’s in town is it or near?

Paul McCartney: Well, it’s near.

Brian Matthews: Are you sick and tired of traveling or would you still like to do more?

Paul McCartney: I don’t like travelling, I never have liked travelling, you know, I never liked travelling as a kid in someone’s car or something, you know. I always got sick but I don’t get sick anymore, I just don’t like it, you know, I get sick of it. And I don’t care how many statistics they produce, I’m still a bit nervous about flying, you know.

Brian Matthews: So you wouldn’t want to take that up?

Paul McCartney: It’s funny you should say that, because I had a go of a plane. Some fella gave me a go of a plane and he was a sort of trained instructor and he said “you know you can “I’ll give you a lesson”. And I was flying it and it was different then. Because, when you’re a driver and you’re in the backseat of someone else’s car and they’re driving, I’m terrified. I don’t like it unless I’m driving because I’m not worried about whether we’re gonna crash. It was like that with the plane, it’s fantastic, so you know, that may be a great thing.

Brian Matthews: So really you’d say you’re a doer and not a watcher?

Paul McCartney: I think so probably… I think I’m a watcher up to a point. I like watching until I think it’d be good to do, you know. I might be able to do that and get something out of it, yeah, I mean enjoy it.

Brian Matthews: Well, I hope you go on doing things that you get pleasure out of. Thank you, Paul.

Paul McCartney: Thank you.

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