Paul McCartney‘s destiny was to be a musician. However, that didn’t stop The Beatles bassist from considering other types of employment as a young man. He considered several options. However, one seemed most idealistic and practical, not unlike McCartney himself. The musician once fantasized about “going on long journeys” as a “faith-filled” truck driver.
Paul McCartney grew up in a working-class family
Per Britannica, McCartney’s young life in Liverpool, England, was typically working class. His father, Jim, worked in the Liverpool Cotton Exchange. Mother Mary was a midwife.
The McCartney extended family were all hard workers who also knew how to have fun. Jim was the leader of Jim Mac’s Jazz Band, passing his love of music down to his two sons, Paul and Michael. However, the senior McCartney believed that while playing music was a fine hobby, making a full-time living as a musician wasn’t the way to support a family. Therefore he implored his son to find steady, full-time work.
“I’m more careful in everything,” McCartney told GQ about his father’s influence. “My dad is a very strong factor in this. He was an ordinary working-class guy, very intelligent and good with words, but his whole philosophy was to think it out a bit. So, that turned out to be my sort of way.”
Therefore, when Jim told his oldest son to consider work that could support a family, Paul heeded his father’s advice and considered going on “long journeys” as a truck driver, but a different type of long-hauler than most.
Paul McCartney fantasized about ‘going on long journeys’ as a ‘faith-filled’ truck driver
In the same GQ interview, Paul spoke of his father’s advice as he grew older and had to consider a career. The senior McCartney suggested teaching, which he felt was a steady job.
However, Paul had other ideas. He thought about the type of job that would let him see the world outside of Liverpool, England, driven by a higher power.
“Just driving forever, going on these long journeys, full of faith in God and the world,” he says, remembering how he had felt back then. “To me, that would be quite good.”
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McCartney elaborated further on his faith journey, spurred by his Roman Catholic mother and Protestant father. “I mean, Saint Francis of Assisi was my big favorite,” he says. “And I turned out to be for animal welfare, animal lover and nature lover. But the picture of him in the Bible sitting on his throne-like chair, birds all over him, and rabbits, and they’re all interested in him—was magical to me.”
Is Paul McCartney still religious?
In a 2012 interview with The Independent, Paul discussed his religious beliefs and whether or not he subscribed to a particular faith journey. He said, “Not really. I have personal faith in something good, but it doesn’t go much further than that. It’s certainly not subscribing to any organized religion.”
He continued, “I think that [organized religion] is the cause of a lot of trouble – ‘My God is better than yours.’ But I think there is something greater than me, and that’s not easy to imagine. No, stop it, come on.”
While McCartney may have remained agnostic in adulthood, his history with organized religion influenced several Beatles hits, including “Eleanor Rigby.”
He told GQ, “Over the years, I’ve met a couple of others, and maybe their loneliness made me empathize with them. But I thought it was a great character, so I started this song about the lonely old lady who picks up the rice in the church, who never really gets the dreams in her life.”
He continued, “Then I added the priest, Father McKenzie, the vicar. And so, there were just the two characters. It was like writing a short story, and it was basically on these old ladies that I had known as a kid.”
