Should Paul have broken the lockdown rules to record McCartney lll?
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This is the important message from our Prime Minister last March, to help our NHS, which Paul chose to ignore.
Is the recording of a pop album really 'absolutely necessary'?
If you don't want to watch all six minutes, 2:00 - 2:45 covers the basics.
And here's what Paul had to say in the new Rolling Stone interview:
So I had four of my grandkids, I had Mary, who’s a great cook, so I would just drive myself to the studio. And there were two other guys that could come in and we’d be very careful and distanced and everything: my engineer Steve, and then my equipment guy Keith. So the three of us made the record, and I just started off.
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Kestrel wrote:
This is the important message from our Prime Minister last March, to help our NHS, which Paul chose to ignore.
Is the recording of a pop album really 'absolutely necessary'?
If you don't want to watch all six minutes, 2:00 - 2:45 covers the basics.
And here's what Paul had to say in the new Rolling Stone interview:
So I had four of my grandkids, I had Mary, who’s a great cook, so I would just drive myself to the studio. And there were two other guys that could come in and we’d be very careful and distanced and everything: my engineer Steve, and then my equipment guy Keith. So the three of us made the record, and I just started off.
My answer to that is not one of them got the virus so what is the problem. In the last 17 days, I voted in person, ate indoors in several restaurants, flew on a plane twice and spent three days in Disneyworld. I have passed the 14 day period and I am fine. In other words, take necessary precautions (wear mask, social distance) and live your life. If you are elderly or have physical condition, then stay isolated. I will note my wife is a clinical nurse supervisor in pretty large hospital in US so I understand the day to day risk some workers take.
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
Kestrel wrote:
This is the important message from our Prime Minister last March, to help our NHS, which Paul chose to ignore.
Is the recording of a pop album really 'absolutely necessary'?
If you don't want to watch all six minutes, 2:00 - 2:45 covers the basics.
And here's what Paul had to say in the new Rolling Stone interview:
So I had four of my grandkids, I had Mary, who’s a great cook, so I would just drive myself to the studio. And there were two other guys that could come in and we’d be very careful and distanced and everything: my engineer Steve, and then my equipment guy Keith. So the three of us made the record, and I just started off.
My answer to that is not one of them got the virus so what is the problem.
Okay,can I assume then that you would condone motorists driving 60mph in a 30mph limit so long as they didn't have an accident? The message was clear ....'stay at home'. Apart from a food shopping trip once a week and a daily 30 minute brisk walk, that's what I did. I stayed home to protect myself and to potentially protect others. I don't follow US news but I assume you didn't have a 'lockdown' yourself at any point?
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Kestrel wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:
Kestrel wrote:
This is the important message from our Prime Minister last March, to help our NHS, which Paul chose to ignore.
Is the recording of a pop album really 'absolutely necessary'?
If you don't want to watch all six minutes, 2:00 - 2:45 covers the basics.
And here's what Paul had to say in the new Rolling Stone interview:
So I had four of my grandkids, I had Mary, who’s a great cook, so I would just drive myself to the studio. And there were two other guys that could come in and we’d be very careful and distanced and everything: my engineer Steve, and then my equipment guy Keith. So the three of us made the record, and I just started off.
My answer to that is not one of them got the virus so what is the problem.
Okay,can I assume then that you would condone motorists driving 60mph in a 30mph limit so long as they didn't have an accident? The message was clear ....'stay at home'. Apart from a food shopping trip once a week and a daily 30 minute brisk walk, that's what I did. I stayed home to protect myself and to potentially protect others. I don't follow US news but I assume you didn't have a 'lockdown' yourself at any point?
Yes, we were lock down for months. The state I lived in we began lockdown in early March and to some degrees still in lock down mode. In the beginning, we could not vist our daughters who lived 10 miles away for a month. We did the "Facetime" thing every week -lol. So he drives himself to the studio with nobody else in the car. He has two other guys in the studio who he says are socially distant from him. Were the two othe guys wearing masks? Was the equipment they touched cleaned after they used it? There are things we don't know so I will not be as judgemental unless I know the whole story. I find it hard to believe that McCartney at 78 years old would not be very careful to protect himself and others especially when he had grandchildren and his daughter living with him. As for the "rich" not playing by the rules that ordinary people do, that is nothing new in any country.
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
Yes, we were lock down for months. The state I lived in we began lockdown in early March and to some degrees still in lock down mode. In the beginning, we could not vist our daughters who lived 10 miles away for a month. We did the "Facetime" thing every week -lol.
So he drives himself to the studio with nobody else in the car. He has two other guys in the studio who he says are socially distant from him. Were the two othe guys wearing masks? Was the equipment they touched cleaned after they used it? There are things we don't know so I will not be as judgemental unless I know the whole story.
As for the "rich" not playing by the rules that ordinary people do, that is nothing new in any country.
'Facetime' is brilliant....I'm due make a video call to a friend shortly. It makes you wonder how things would have been thirty years ago? People would certainly be feeling so much more isolated than they do now.I take your point about Paul minimising the risk as much as possible, but that's not the point. He was effectively told by the Government (as we all were) to stay at home,protect the NHS and to save lives..... and he didn't. The same arrogance he displayed when he flew into Japan forty years ago carrying drugs and thinking that he was above the law and above suspician has been displayed again. Paul doesn't appear to care about the NHS because he goes private for his medical treatment and he doesn't really care about any potential fines as he has the money to pay them.
You are right about there being one rule for the rich and one rule for......everyone else who isn't rich
and it is a worldwide issue, but in the end I've lost a lot of respect for Paul having read that Rolling Stone interview. At least he was honest about the fact but like the McCartney lp, I feel strongly that he should have recorded the album at home, and stayed at home. -
Kestrel wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:
Yes, we were lock down for months. The state I lived in we began lockdown in early March and to some degrees still in lock down mode. In the beginning, we could not vist our daughters who lived 10 miles away for a month. We did the "Facetime" thing every week -lol.
So he drives himself to the studio with nobody else in the car. He has two other guys in the studio who he says are socially distant from him. Were the two othe guys wearing masks? Was the equipment they touched cleaned after they used it? There are things we don't know so I will not be as judgemental unless I know the whole story.
As for the "rich" not playing by the rules that ordinary people do, that is nothing new in any country.
'Facetime' is brilliant....I'm due make a video call to a friend shortly. It makes you wonder how things would have been thirty years ago? People would certainly be feeling so much more isolated than they do now.I take your point about Paul minimising the risk as much as possible, but that's not the point. He was effectively told by the Government (as we all were) to stay at home,protect the NHS and to save lives..... and he didn't. The same arrogance he displayed when he flew into Japan forty years ago carrying drugs and thinking that he was above the law and above suspician has been displayed again. Paul doesn't appear to care about the NHS because he goes private for his medical treatment and he doesn't really care about any potential fines as he has the money to pay them.
You are right about there being one rule for the rich and one rule for......everyone else who isn't rich
and it is a worldwide issue, but in the end I've lost a lot of respect for Paul having read that Rolling Stone interview. At least he was honest about the fact but like the McCartney lp, I feel strongly that he should have recorded the album at home, and stayed at home.Kestrel, I understand what you're talking about regarding Paul being able to get the best medical treatment wherever he may be in the world. He has the money, so of course he's going to do that. But, he DID record the album on his property. Okay, he had to drive 20 minutes to get there and he had 2 guys engineer it who he said were socially distanced and hopefully wore masks. He probably had the means to have them all tested every so often for Covid. They probably jumped at the chance to work with him, regardless of the virus! I don't blame him for wanting to "work" during lockdown. Would the government actually fine him for making an album during lockdown in his own home studio?
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Nancy R wrote: But, he DID record the album on his property. Okay, he had to drive 20 minutes to get there and he had 2 guys engineer it who he said were socially distanced and hopefully wore masks. He probably had the means to have them all tested every so often for Covid. They probably jumped at the chance to work with him, regardless of the virus! I don't blame him for wanting to "work" during lockdown. Would the government actually fine him for making an album during lockdown in his own home studio?
Without 'spitting hares' I would argue very strongly that Hog Hill isn't his home studio. Its his privately owned studio but he doesn't live there, so its not 'home'. Lots of people have a business located a few miles from where they reside, but they were told to and they complied with the government instruction to stay at home, unless their work was essential. Recording music isn't essential, and studios such as Abbey Road for example closed their doors. Paul was clearly commuting to and from his place of work which he shouldn't have been doing.
The two engineers/staff who left their homes to work with Paul should not have done so either. Whether they 'jumped at the chance' to work with Paul is irrelevant, it wasn't their decision to make. They were told to stay at home unless their work was essential (which clearly it wasn't) and so,like Paul, decided to flout the rules for their own personal gain, while millions of others did comply with the rules at great personal cost. Covid-19 has been increasing again in the UK in recent months and its the irresponsible attitude of people like Paul & Co who are causing the increase. They obviously accepted the risk and presumably ,they got away with it,and no harm was done (and we have got a new album out of it). But someone like Paul McCartney I feel should lead by example, and not simply flout the rules because he thinks he's untouchable.
Paul has said that they did take precautions in the studio to maintain a distance from each other but how lax that beame after a few weeks is anyones guess. I somehow doubt Paul did have regular covid tests done even though that was the sensible thing to do. Although not as sensible as to not be at the studio in the first place of course.
I don't know about the government themselves fining him, but I think if the local police had pulled Paul over and asked him where he was going,they would have politely asked him to turn round and go home. And if he had persistantly ignored their advice then he would have been up for a fine.
I find it interesting that none of the interviews have so far raised the points that I've made above? Maybe they've been warned off in advance from asking such questions just as they are warned off from asking Paul about the state of his vocals?
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^ You made some good points. Yeah, I wonder what Paul would say if an interviewer told him he had committed a crime by not obeying the lockdown! Interview over!
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Nancy R wrote:
^ You made some good points. Yeah, I wonder what Paul would say if an interviewer told him he had committed a crime by not obeying the lockdown! Interview over!
Out of all this I'm quite surprised that Paul doesn't have a 'home studio' in the way that John had at Ascot or George had at Friar Park? Although Hog Hill is only about seven miles away as the crow flies (about a twenty minute drive), I would have though he would also have had a smaller more basic set-up at home. -
A minor point but the Rolling Stone Paul/Taylor Swift interview was said to be done in a socially distanced way. But the photographs I've seen certainly weren't which kind of defeats the purpose!
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I think there was testing done in at least some of the situations mentioned. Obviously Paul and Taylor felt they didn't have the virus, they must have gotten one of those quickie Covid tests before the interview.
You mean you aren't even supposed to take a drive in your car during lockdown? You can't even go for a drive?
I don't think Paul was haughty and arrogant--he just was eager and in a bit of a creative frenzy to finish and record new songs, realizing he had an album. He was excited.
A new album from Paul IS essential, I believe. News of one coming out so soon really cheered me up, lifted my spirits. I feel that the Arts are essential for one's mental state and emotional well being. Some would say they're a luxury, I suppose. Maybe I speak from the viewpoint of one who has always been somewhat culturally advantaged...had access to some form of the Arts.
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Jock Tamson wrote:
A minor point but the Rolling Stone Paul/Taylor Swift interview was said to be done in a socially distanced way. But the photographs I've seen certainly weren't which kind of defeats the purpose!
Yeah, just went back and found this under one of the photos:
Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift, photographed in London on October 6th, 2020.
Maybe they both got tested for Covid before the photoshoot. Who knows?
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Ok, he broke the rules and went to his private studio which is not his home. In the scheme of things that have happened with the virus, that is fairly minor infraction to me. Was McCartney wearing a mask all the time with exception of doing vocals (we don't know)? Did the two people who helped him not only stay socially distant but wear masks while recording with him? (we don't know) Was the equipment that was used in the studio cleaned before and after it was used? (we don't know). Do we know if they all had their temperature taken before working together? (we don't know) Per McCartney he drove to the studio alone in his car so it did not affect anybody but him. Like I said in another post, McCartney is 78 years old and he is at the age where you have better chance of dying if you catch the virus. Do we think he would be so careless not only to protect himself but his daughter and grandchildren from catching the virus?
So I will pose a hypothetical question. If McCartney was social distant from the other two that helped him and they all wore masks, would you still be upset?
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
Ok, he broke the rules and went to his private studio which is not his home. In the scheme of things that have happened with the virus, that is fairly minor infraction to me. Was McCartney wearing a mask all the time with exception of doing vocals (we don't know)? Did the two people who helped him not only stay socially distant but wear masks while recording with him? (we don't know) Was the equipment that was used in the studio cleaned before and after it was used? (we don't know). Do we know if they all had their temperature taken before working together? (we don't know) Per McCartney he drove to the studio alone in his car so it did not affect anybody but him. Like I said in another post, McCartney is 78 years old and he is at the age where you have better chance of dying if you catch the virus. Do we think he would be so careless not only to protect himself but his daughter and grandchildren from catching the virus?
So I will pose a hypothetical question. If McCartney was social distant from the other two that helped him and they all wore masks, would you still be upset?
Can you sing while wearing a mask? Be recorded singing with a mask on ?
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
Ok, he broke the rules and went to his private studio which is not his home. In the scheme of things that have happened with the virus, that is fairly minor infraction to me.
So I will pose a hypothetical question. If McCartney was social distant from the other two that helped him and they all wore masks, would you still be upset?
As you say, he broke the rules. When our Prime Minister addressed the nation last March, he wasn't issuing an invitation, or a suggestion,or a recomendation...it was an instruction. You must stay at home if your work is not essential and only go out for work related reasons if your work is essential and it can't be done from home.
Now ,my question is....what was it about that statement that Paul was unable to grasp? It might seem a minor infraction but it basically highlights one of the major citicisms that has been levelled at him over the years,....he doesn't like being told what to do.
I work in a charity shop, and we had to close with immediate effect, costing us thousand of pounds in lost revenue,which affected the lives of many vulnerable people. But we complied, because that was what we were instructed to do. I'm not upset, just annoyed that people like Paul think they are somehow above everyone else?
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
Can you sing while wearing a mask? Be recorded singing with a mask on ?
Not me, I can't even sing when not wearing a mask.
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Kestrel wrote:
SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
Can you sing while wearing a mask? Be recorded singing with a mask on ?
Not me, I can't even sing when not wearing a mask.
Susy, I'm quite sure Paul did not have a mask on when singing. He could easily be many feet away from the engineers, who are probably in a booth anyway.
Remember when he played Louie Armstrong's trumpet and sang When the Saints Go Marching In? His mask was down around his neck.
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Kestrel wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:
Ok, he broke the rules and went to his private studio which is not his home. In the scheme of things that have happened with the virus, that is fairly minor infraction to me.
So I will pose a hypothetical question. If McCartney was social distant from the other two that helped him and they all wore masks, would you still be upset?
As you say, he broke the rules. When our Prime Minister addressed the nation last March, he wasn't issuing an invitation, or a suggestion,or a recomendation...it was an instruction. You must stay at home if your work is not essential and only go out for work related reasons if your work is essential and it can't be done from home.
Now ,my question is....what was it about that statement that Paul was unable to grasp? It might seem a minor infraction but it basically highlights one of the major citicisms that has been levelled at him over the years,....he doesn't like being told what to do.
I work in a charity shop, and we had to close with immediate effect, costing us thousand of pounds in lost revenue,which affected the lives of many vulnerable people. But we complied, because that was what we were instructed to do. I'm not upset, just annoyed that people like Paul think they are somehow above everyone else?
I am not Paul McCartney but I will take a guess at what he was thinking. He did not stay at home but he was going to his private studio not some business with many people. He invited two people to help him and they had the freedom to say no. He said they stayed socially distant and I can't imagine they were not wearing masks. I bet Paul was wearing mask also (there are many pictures of him and Nancy wearing masks) unless dong a vocal. In his mind, while not following the "order" from the Prime Minister he really was not putting anybody in danger since they were doing the right thing with masks and social distancing. You said Paul does not liked to be told what to do, who does? I understand your annoyance because once again this is an example of rich or connected people playing by different rules than ordinary people. That being said, I find it hard to get worked up about him doing this since others in my country have done a lot worse. See below.
A famous American network reporter who has famous brother as high ranking official in the state of NY constantly preaches about wearing a mask on his show. He caught the virus and while he had the virus was discovered outside in his neighborhood and when confronted got belligerent to the people who said something. This same guy has also been told by his apartent management that he has been caught several times not following the mask policy of the apartment and if caught again will be fined. So while Paul may have been wrong, I will take his infraction of an order over the American guy I mentioned.
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
A famous American network reporter who has famous brother as high ranking official in the state of NY constantly preaches about wearing a mask on his show. He caught the virus and while he had the virus was discovered outside in his neighborhood and when confronted got belligerent to the people who said something. This same guy has also been told by his apartent management that he has been caught several times not following the mask policy of the apartment and if caught again will be fined. So while Paul may have been wrong, I will take his infraction of an order over the American guy I mentioned.
That is very frustrating when high profile people apply double standards,especially when it relates to something so serious as the pandemic. The irony of all this is that Paul could have actually recorded the album at home,just like he did with the McCartney album. Paul has already mentioned that he has been using the same recording equipment from 1970 on the new album so he could easily have set up a temporary studio and simply stayed at home like he was supposed to do. Originally that's what I thought he had done when early reports suggested he'd recorded in his home studio.
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If I made a list of all the things I care about, it would be weeks before I even wrote this one down.
