MY CHILDHOOD!

Hi and welcome to my blog! I am Paul McCartney from the very popular band called the Beatles. In my blog I am going to tell you about myself. I was born on June 18, 1942, at the Walton Hospital in Liverpool, England, where my mother, Mary, worked as a nurse in the maternity area. I was born to a working class family. I have one younger brother, Michael, whose birthday is January 7,1944.  I was baptized as a Roman Catholic, but was not raised as one. Religion did not play a major role in my childhood. My mother was Roman Catholic and my father James, was a Protestant but later turned into an agnostic.  My family had moved many times, but had finally settled down in 1955 in Allenton. She rode a bicycle to the houses where she needed to be a midwife. My mom, who was a heavy smoker died on October 31, 1956. My mom died of embolism after a mastectomy operation to stop the spread of her breast cancer; unfortunately the surgery wasn't a success. The early loss of my mother helped later connect me with John Lennon, whose mother also died. John Lennon’s mom died after being hit by a drunk driver when he was 17 years old.

My father was a trumpet player and a pianist who had led the Jim Mac's Jazz Band in the 1920s. He was also worked as a cotton salesman.  He encouraged my brother and I to be musical too! My father used to be able to point out the different instruments in songs, which were played on the radio. He also used to take me to local brass band concerts. My father gave me a nickel-plated trumpet, when jazz music had become popular.  I later traded my trumpet for an acoustic guitar. Unfortunately, I found playing the guitar very hard because my guitar’s strings were strung for a right-handed player, and I was left-handed. I would imitate the songs that I heard on the radio by playing it with my guitar.  I wrote my first song called “I Lost My Little Girl.” I also played my father’s Spanish guitar when writing earlier songs with Lennon. I later learned to play the piano and wrote my second song called, "When I'm Sixty-Four". I took my father’s advice and took music lessons, but I preferred to learn by ear so I never paid any attention to them.

I really enjoyed listening to music influenced by the American Rhythm and Blues. I had once stated that Little Richard was my idol. The first song that I had sung out in public was at a Butlins holiday camp talent competition; the song I sang was "Long Tall Sally."

During October 1957, I tried-out for John Lennon’s band, The Quarrymen, who were looking for a third person who would be able to play the guitar. John Lennon and I began writing songs together that were later great hits. Some of our first songs consisted of Love Me Do and I Saw Her Standing There.