McCartney Times

The co-lead vocalist and bassist of The Beatles, Paul McCartney has talked about the tough times when The Beatles split and he sank into a depression on the latest issue of the men’s magazine GQ.

The iconic musician has given an interview to GQ and looked back upon an extended period of time including the founding of The Beatles, the band’s impact on the 20th and 21st centuries’ culture, and the aftermath of their split which highly affected him mentally.

McCartney has admitted that the pressures of the music industry upon him at that time impacted his mental health, however, he didn’t spare much of the time to give in to his depression.

He said that he tried to motivate himself and be his own psychiatrist all the time. Paul revealed the fact that Linda McCartney, who is the deceased wife of Paul McCartney, helped him along the path with her positive attitude and the way she fought against depression a lot.

Here is what Paul McCartney said whether he was affected from The Beatles split:

“I think so, yes. But, in truth, I just took to booze. There wasn’t much time to have mental health issues, it was just, fuck it, it’s boozing or sleeping. But I’m sure it did, as they were very depressing times.

It’s funny, I remember when I first met Linda, she was divorced with a child and living in New York and having to fend for herself. She got depression and I remember her saying she made a decision.

She said, ‘You know what? I’m not going to have this depression, because if I do I’m going to be in the hands of other people. And I’m not going to allow that to happen.’ So she sort of picked herself up by her bootstraps and said, ‘I’ve got to get out of this myself.’”

He continued:

“And I think that was what I was able to do, to get out of the depression by saying, ‘OK, this is really bad and I’ve got to do something about it.’ So I did. And I think that’s my way, almost by being my own psychiatrist. You say, ‘This is not cool. You’re not as bad as you think you are’ and all of the things. So you start to think, ‘OK.’

For instance, John saying, ‘All you ever wrote was ‘Yesterday’.’ No. Wait a minute. ‘Let It Be,’ ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ ‘Lady Madonna’, for fuck’s sake. And I was happy to tell myself all of this.

There’s more! ‘Hey Jude,’ ‘The Fool on the Hill,’ whatever. I think that’s how I got out of it, by persuading myself that it wasn’t a good idea to give in to my depression and my doubts. I had to look for ways…”

You can check out the rest of the interview here.

Source: The Beatles’ Paul McCartney Reveals How He Has Become His Own Psychiatrist For Mental Issues – Metalhead Zone