An Ever Present Past

Youth and Persona in Paul McCartney’s Self-Titled Solo Albums

Abstract

This article examines age in the work of Paul McCartney. It investigates how McCartney’s ongoing engagement with his own youth has shaped his musical output and accompanying visuals at key points throughout his career. It focuses specifically on the extended trilogy of self-titled McCartney albums, which culminates in two of his most recent releases, McCartney III (Capitol 2020) and McCartney III Imagined (Capitol 2021). Exploring Paul McCartney’s voice in his music and image in his music videos, this article considers the McCartney albums as a distinct statement on the role of age in popular music.