Paul McCartney | Good Hang with Amy Poehler

Episode Overview

• Host Amy Poehler interviews fashion designer Stella McCartney and musician Sir Paul McCartney to explore how Paul has navigated unprecedented global fame, creative output, and personal loss while maintaining a grounded family life and a playful passion for music.
• The episode begins with Stella reflecting on the extremes of her childhood—growing up in a one-room farmhouse in Scotland versus touring the world in front of 200,000 screaming fans—before transitioning into a 1.5-hour conversation with Paul.
• Paul traces his history from quitting a Liverpool factory job for a gig at The Cavern, to the intense 8-year, 13-album run of The Beatles, his life with his late wife Linda, and his ongoing songwriting career.
• Production and business disclosures include executive producers Bill Simmons, Amy Poehler, and Jenna Weiss-Berman via The Ringer, Spotify, and Paper Kite Productions; Stella's "sustainable, cruelty-free fashion brand"; Paul's special edition re-release Boys of Dungeon Lane, documentary Man on the Run, and affiliation with the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA); and disclosed sponsors PayPal ("Pay in 4 subject to approval... PayPal Inc. NMLS 910457", mentioning retail partners Sephora, Target, and TikTok Shop), Allstate ("Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois"), and Hilton ("The official hotel partner of the Big Ten").

Key Concepts

• Balancing Extreme Fame with Grounded Domesticity: Stella McCartney—who notes she has a fashion show in Paris in about 3 days that she jokingly claims they only started last night—describes an upbringing of stark contrasts. Her family of 6 lived in one tiny room on a farm in Scotland where her mother cooked, her father sheared sheep and wrote songs, and Stella entertained herself by banging rocks on other rocks, horse riding, collecting eggs from hens, and becoming "bilingual" in conversing with chickens (even performing a chicken impersonation). This quiet life contrasted sharply with world tours featuring 200,000 screaming fans, which made Stella angry at age 18 because it pulled her away from building friendships. Paul also embraces this domestic warmth, recalling the iconic photo of him carrying his baby daughter Mary (now a mother of 4 boys) inside his jacket while horse riding, and feeling embarrassed when watching Morgan Neville's documentary Man on the Run to see what a rundown "tip" their beloved Scottish farm actually was.
• Youthful Perspective and the "17-Year-Old" Benchmark: Although Paul wrote "Yesterday" at about 21 years old (joking that being "half the man" would make him 10.5), wrote "When I'm Sixty-Four" in his 20s, and was considered "retired" at 27 when The Beatles broke up, he claims that in his head he stopped aging at about 25. While hedging on his self-reflection ("Sometimes I don't bother to think things through too seriously"), he explains that The Beatles navigated major career and musical dilemmas by asking what they would have thought when they were 17. In an era when rock-and-roll bands expected a lifespan of "five years top whack," The Beatles used this unjaded perspective to make 13 albums over 8 years, creating Sgt. Pepper after the 5-year mark.
• The "Playaholic" Approach to Music and History: Paul rejects the label of workaholic in favor of "playaholic" because he plays rather than works music. This passion led him to quit his first post-school job winding coils in a Liverpool factory for 7 pounds 15 a week as soon as John Lennon and George Harrison showed up with a gig at The Cavern. Looking back on his bandmates, Paul notes that George was about 1.5 years younger than him and he was 1.5 years younger than John, that he and George attended the same school while John went to the art college next door, and that he originally met George on a half-hour double-decker green school bus journey (inspiring the song "Down South" on Boys of Dungeon Lane). Paul also expresses frustration with historical inaccuracies in biopics like Sam Taylor-Wood's Nowhere Boy (with Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Sam Mendes's upcoming film (with Paul Mescal), noting that directors cast taller actors to play John when in reality Paul, John, and George were the exact same height (and Ringo was a bit smaller).
• Intuitive Songwriting and Wordplay: Despite returning to his old Liverpool school—now LIPA—every year to teach a one-on-one songwriting class to students who have studied for 3 years, Paul explicitly hedges on his expertise in songwriting mechanics ("I don't know how to do this. You know, I know I'm teaching you, I've no idea how you do it") and hedges on whether his current music producers are honest with him when something is bad ("I'm not sure. Maybe he doesn't"). His own songwriting often relies on simple linguistic flips: on Boys of Dungeon Lane, the song "Days We Left Behind" came from flipping "black and white" photos to "looking back at white and black," while the surreal lyrics of "Monkberry Moon Delight" (from Ram) came from his toddlers mispronouncing "milk" as "monk," inspiring a fantasy milkshake. Furthermore, The Beatles recorded so prolifically that when Paul's hired car driver puts on The Beatles Channel on Sirius, Paul once heard a song he had written and recorded so fast that he couldn't remember the title or the song itself.
• Performance Stamina and Daily Discipline: To sustain his current touring schedule, Paul relies on strict routines. While Amy asks about a 2-hour pre-show fasting window, Paul explains he skips dinner before a show in favor of a "gig lunch" and only worries if he stays up until a hypothetical 6:00 in the morning before a gig. Every morning, he eats the exact same breakfast: cereal, 5 raspberries (4 in a square, 1 in the middle), 1 handful of blueberries, 1 cut-up strawberry, a few pecans, a few raisins, and water—with no morning coffee, and maybe 1 coffee in the middle of the day. Discussing how Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift do 3-hour shows, Paul blames Springsteen for ruining the old-school 1-hour show standard; Paul now plays 3-to-4-hour shows himself, noting The Rolling Stones still do about an hour or so.
• Admiration, Royalty, and Lifelong Friendships: Despite his stature, Paul remains a fan of others: he wishes he had written Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are" (referred to as "The Way You Are") and still wishes to collaborate with Bob Dylan, though he is too nervous to call him. Recalling famous encounters, Paul notes the first famous person he met was Queen Elizabeth II when he was about 21 (noting she was crowned when he was 11 and she was about 23), that he was knighted with the sword "Edward the Confessor," and hedges on his wife Nancy's claim that the Queen fancied him ("Now, there's no knowing if there's any truth to that... I like to think it's true"). He also remembers meeting Chrissie Hynde in an Air London recording studio corridor and bonding over vegetarianism, an ethos shared by his late wife Linda, who had a gentle, Disney-esque way with animals. In the comedy world—where Amy references friendships lasting 40, 50, or 60 years—Stella notes that Paul and Lorne Michaels do yoga together as the "Yoga Boys," and recalls attending last season's SNL finale with Will Ferrell and convincing her dad to get Ferrell to do "the cowbell." Paul recalls John Lennon introducing him to SNL in New York when Lorne offered The Beatles $3,000 on air to reunite (compared to the millions others offered); though they considered driving down for the 11:30 live broadcast, they stayed comfortable in John's apartment. Paul also shares a story of a dinner with Lorne Michaels, Jimmy Fallon, and Martin Short where Short arrived late doing a physical comedy bit bumping into tables.
• Spirituality, Early Memories, and Personal Favorites: Paul practices meditation, uses a simple version of The Secret (manifestation/visioning), hedges on his belief in a higher power ("I sort of believe in a power. I don't know what he or she is, well I know there's something there that I feel"), and hedges with "Possibly" when asked if he has lived before. Both he and Stella connect with the very beginning of life: Paul recounts that when Linda went to the hospital to give birth to Stella, she had placenta previa requiring an emergency C-section, placing Stella in an incubator. Paul strongly hedges on his own earliest memory ("You know, these things, you don't know if you've made it up, or if it's a thing, but I have this feeling that I kind of remember being born"), recalling white Victorian tiles and clanging chrome instruments from his forceps birth at Walton Hospital in Liverpool (which Amy also claims she was). In a rapid-fire segment and a FaceTime call at the end with Amy's parents, Eileen and Greg Poehler, Paul states the best decade for music was the 60s, if he were an animal he'd be a horse, his favorite song he wrote is "Here, There and Everywhere," Nancy's favorite song of his is "Days We Left Behind," the last concert he attended was Brandi Carlile, his favorite comedy is the 1980s film My Favorite Year starring Peter O'Toole, and jokes that he saw Amy's mother Eileen in the 4th row in the 1960s.

Quotes

• At 0:06:25 - "It was very extreme, you know, we were on a farm, it was just the six of us and we were like in a tiny, all in one room and mom was cooking and dad was shearing sheep and writing songs, and then we were on tour, you know, with like 200,000 people screaming at your parents." - Stella McCartney explaining the contrast between her grounded upbringing in Scotland and massive global tours.
• At 0:18:05 - "I used to look at the lyrics of 'Yesterday,' 'I'm not half the man I used to be, suddenly I'm not half the man I used to be.' Well, I was like 21, so half the man would put me at like about 10 and a half." - Paul McCartney reflecting on how young he was when writing mature songs for The Beatles.
• At 0:19:03 - "In The Beatles we used to have this sort of thing whenever there was like a question about a piece of music or something to do, whether we go on tour or whatever, and we couldn't figure out the answer, we'd say, 'What would we have thought when we were 17?'" - Paul sharing the decision-making rule The Beatles used to stay authentic.
• At 0:22:19 - "I didn't realize that the farm we lived on was like so rundown. It's a tip! You know, we were in love and we had a new baby and it was all great and I was, you know, I could fix it up, no problem, I'll make a table." - Paul reacting to seeing his family's Scottish farm in the documentary Man on the Run.
• At 0:24:02 - "I thought one day, well, we don't work music, we play music. So I'm like a playaholic. I'm definitely addicted to that." - Paul explaining why he continues creating and touring decades after The Beatles.
• At 0:25:15 - "One of the guys in the factory said, 'There's some guys out there, you know, want to see you like, you know.' So I went out, they said, 'We've got a gig. We've got a gig at The Cavern.' So I said, 'Ooh, I don't know, let me think about it.'" - Paul recounting the moment John Lennon and George Harrison showed up at his coil-winding factory job.
• At 0:33:01 - "I don't know how to do this. You know, I'm, I know I'm teaching you, I've no idea how you do it, because your song's going to be different from mine and stuff, and then we work it through." - Paul describing his honest, collaborative approach when teaching third-year songwriting students one-on-one at LIPA.
• At 0:39:34 - "Five raspberries. Got to be five. Looks good. Four in a square, one in the middle. Handful of blueberries, just chuck them in, and a strawberry, which I cut up." - Paul detailing the exact visual and portion rules of his daily breakfast routine.
• At 0:50:03 - "She had this kind of Disney-esque view of animals. So that if we saw like a frog in a garden or something, she'd pick it up, and you know, not every girl would. So she'd pick it up, and the way—it's getting emotional—but the way she would hold it, it wouldn't hurt it." - Paul getting emotional while remembering his late wife Linda's gentle nature with animals.
• At 0:52:10 - "I'll remember writing it with John and think, 'Wow, I was really lucky.' You know, this is amazing, I'm sitting down writing with someone and he happens to be John Lennon." - Paul expressing gratitude for his songwriting partnership with John Lennon.
• At 0:59:24 - "I have this feeling that I kind of remember being born. I was born in a place in Liverpool called Walton Hospital, which was a real old Victorian thing, I think it had been something else before a hospital. So I kind of remember white tiles, very sort of hygienic white tiles, and chrome instruments and a clanging, because I was a forceps birth." - Paul describing what he feels is his earliest memory.
• At 1:00:54 - "The word for milk was 'monk.' You know, 'Daddy, can I have some monk?' So that was milk. So I was thinking of a milkshake. So it was like milk, berry, Monkberry Moon—so it's the name of a milkshake in my head." - Paul revealing to Stella the innocent family origin behind the psychedelic lyrics of "Monkberry Moon Delight."

Takeaways

• Consult your 17-year-old self when facing difficult creative or career decisions to cut through people-pleasing, industry pressure, and jadedness.
• Reframe your craft as "play" rather than "work" to become a "playaholic," protecting your intrinsic joy and preventing burnout over a multi-decade career.
• Generate creative ideas by flipping everyday phrases (such as turning "black and white" into "white and black") or building fantasy worlds around children's mispronunciations.
• Embrace a beginner's mindset when mentoring others by admitting there is no single formula for creativity and working through problems collaboratively based on the student's unique voice.
• Standardize your daily routines—such as eating a consistent, measured breakfast and timing meals around major performances—to reduce decision fatigue and maintain physical stamina.
• Balance periods of intense public or professional pressure with quiet, grounded domestic life and hands-on activities like cooking or fixing things yourself.
• Practice simple visualization and meditation to quiet the mind and set positive intentions before undertaking demanding projects.