‘Wingspan’: Intimate Look at Paul McCartney

There’s a moment in the Paul McCartney documentary that airs tonight on ABC when the program’s hostess asks the ex-Beatle what inspired him to write “My Love,” a Top 10 single around the world in the early ‘70s.

McCartney smiles and replies to the interviewer, who is his daughter, Mary: “Well, your mummy. . . . It was a love song to her [Linda McCartney].”

The sweetness of the scene--and others like it--is what makes “Wingspan” such a surprising and endearing entry in the overcrowded world of pop documentaries.

Just when you thought VH1’s “Behind the Music” had reduced every rock story to a cliche and that there wasn’t anything more you needed to know about any of the Beatles, “Wingspan” is as intimate and inviting as McCartney’s most melodic songs.

One reason is that the two-hour program is largely a family affair--even directed by McCartney’s son-in-law, Alistair Donald.

The program offers lots of home movie footage and a generous amount of concert shots, but its heart revolves around McCartney reminiscing about putting his life together after the traumatic break-up of the Beatles in 1970.

At the center of that reflection is his wife, Linda, who died of breast cancer in 1998.

“I was very insecure, very paranoid, very out of work, very useless,” McCartney says in the documentary, describing the weeks after the Beatles split.

“I wouldn’t get up in the morning. When I did get up, I wouldn’t shave or bother with anything. I’d reach for the whiskey . . . and that was a path that was not going to be a good one. I was going downhill. . . . If I had to do that on my own, I’m not sure I would have got out of it, but very luckily your mom was there [to] steer me in a good direction.”

The connection between his personal life and his music is immediately underscored by the playing of “Maybe I’m Amazed,” a love song to Linda in 1970 that stressed the rock star’s dependence on her. One of its key lines: “Maybe I’m amazed at the way I really need you.”

Another reason the documentary is so revealing is that McCartney over the years has remained private even while in the public eye. Even if he brought Linda on stage and into the studio with him, the couple lived quietly with their four children (one from Linda’s former marriage) in remote areas of southern England and in Scotland. If John Lennon bared his soul in his music and in his interviews, McCartney drew a curtain.

In “Wingspan,” however, McCartney pushes aside that curtain. The ex-Beatle traces how he met Linda, a rock photographer and daughter of wealthy New York attorney Lee Eastman, at a club in London in 1967, and how their courtship progressed. He also reminds us of the resentment of Linda by many young female Beatles fans. To make things worse in their eyes, she was an American divorcee.

Especially intriguing in “Wingspan” is the way McCartney operates so much on instinct. Considering he was the most powerful figure in rock, you’d think he’d rely on a battery of advisors to plot strategy after the Beatles split.

But there was no master plan. McCartney knew that he didn’t want to be a solo artist, so he decided to start another band. The easiest thing would have been to assemble an all-star supergroup, but he rejected the idea. One reason--unexplored in the documentary--is that he didn’t want to set himself up for the kind of conflicts that he experienced in the Beatles. He wanted to be the one in charge this time.

The only person he really needed in Wings was Linda, whose role as a keyboardist and backing vocalist in the band opened her to more attack because she had no background in music. From a distance, it looked like she was forcing herself on the band. In fact, McCartney wanted the comfort of her by his side. The other personnel would change so much that there were seven different Wings lineups in less than a decade.

With the band, McCartney kept the hits coming, from “Band on the Run” and “Live and Let Die” to “Silly Love Songs.” The tunes didn’t assert the savage self-examination or boldness of Lennon’s solo work--yet there is in the music the sort of soothing warmth that McCartney found in his family life.

By the end of the ‘70s, McCartney realized that he no longer needed Wings. He had proven to himself that he could stand on his own musically. All he really needed was Linda and his family. It was a love story that would continue for another 18 years. Maybe McCartney will someday pull aside the curtain on those years as well.

* “Wingspan” airs at 9 tonight on ABC.