“I think it’s time to smoke the pipes of peace and to just, you know, put away your hatchet because I think it’s a show of friendship . . . I’m very friendly with the French people I know. I know people of all nationalities.”
- Paul McCartney to the CBC before his concert for the 400th Anniversary of Quebec City
Paul McCartney is as big as they come. His songwriting, in collaboration with John Lennon and producer George Martin, changed popular music from a collection of hangers-on from the Swing Era, fading ’50’s stars, skiffle, folk and teen idols to a major force of world-changing anthems in a few records. In fact many major bands began after watching him and the other The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964 or their movie A Hard Day’s Night. Well, he never disappointed the 200,000 revelers that came out to hear him.
McCartney was last in Canada with his former wife, Heather, and he delved into politics by venturing out onto the frozen ice floes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to pet baby seals. Unfortunately, he never won too many converts to his cause and he and his wife split months later. However, he seemed to forget all this when pounding out his tunes.
The separatists who opposed his concert on grounds that Macca was one of “Les Anglais” basically used the occasion to grab some attention to spark their cause which has withered since their ill-fated attempt to break up the country in 1995. The signatories on the document of protest were mainly artists, musicians, sculptors and probably the odd mime (I’m joking). They had a revisionist view of history and want someone to blame for France bailing out on them in 1759. So the artists and musicians can blame the English (including people with names like Wong and Luchansky whom they bunch together as English) but the British won North America by default.
As for the concert McCartney came out with the big guns like Jet from his Wings days and Beatles hits Drive My Car and All My Loving. Those are great songs in any language.