The Man On The Run documentary about Paul McCartney is streaming on Amazon Prime. It was odd that there was no mention of the film on the home screen, even though it was just released today. I had to put the title in “search” to find it.
If you’ve closely followed Paul McCartney’s career, there probably won’t many revelations for you, but you will find a lot of photos and videos that haven’t been available to the public.
It’s hard to believe how run down the Scottish farm is that Paul and his wife, Linda, retreated to after the (unannounced) breakup of The Beatles in September of 1969. They lived on the farm with Linda’s young daughter, Heather, new baby Mary, and eventually daughter Stella.
After a bout of depression over the breakup of The Beatles, Paul began recording in a makeshift studio at the farm. McCartney said, “Songwriting is the ultimate therapy.” Besides writing the songs, Paul played all of the instruments. The result was a #1 album, McCartney.
That leads us to an unusual aspect of the Man On The Run film. It spends a lot of time dwelling on the negative side of his career, such as critics not liking his early albums, or that Paul was not in touch with serious issues of the day. Although they eventually got to the immense popularity of his concerts, you wouldn’t know that he was the most popular artist of the 1970s (according to his Billboard chart performance).
What does come across is how important Linda was to pulling Paul out of his depression. She lovingly supported him, even when she had to bear the brunt of criticism for being in McCartney’s band, Wings. The film does a good job of showing how the McCartney family thrived through a very unusual lifestyle.
The McCartney’s were almost certainly the first family to tour together. Those tours eventually became similar to the frenzy that surrounded The Beatles. Paul said “Performing live is the payoff” (for his recording career), so that explains why he’s toured into his 80s.
Since John Lennon very publicly criticized Paul with the song “How Do You Sleep”, we also get to see him say on a television show…“If I can’t have a fight with my best friend, I don’t know who I can fight with.” Paul mentions how important it was for him to have made up with John before his tragic murder in 1980.
Man On The Run is very worthwhile viewing for his fans. As a companion to the documentary, here are some of Paul McCartney’s accomplishments in his recording career, starting with his six best-selling albums.
You may be surprised to see that McCartney’s first two albums have each sold over 4-million copies, even though they were originally considered weak by crtics. Here’s a complete list of his studio recordings.
McCartney’s songs often found their way into the Billboard Top 10 during the 1970s.
No other artist had the amazing success Paul McCartney experienced as both a member of The Beatles and as a solo artist (+ Wings). As a songwriter and performer, he has been part of the most #1 songs in history (32).
The film, Man On The Run, covers the decade after the breakup of The Beatles, and Paul McCartney’s career has spanned another five decades after that!