ZIMMY LUVS MACCA!

Rolling Stone is a total hit-or-miss rag these days. One issue will treat Britney Spears or Panic! At the Disco like a serious artist, but just when you’re about to write the magazine off, along comes something like this month’s Fortieth Anniversary issue. It’s packed tight with fascinating interviews with survivors of the Rolling Stone era – Dylan, Sir Paul, Ringo, Mick, Keith, Jack, Tom Wolfe, Neil, Weir, Scorsese, Spielberg, etc.

One of the threads that runs through the interviews is favorite music. Jack Nicholson, for example, cites “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding.)” as his desert-island Dylan tunes. And Dylan, in the lead interview with Jann Wenner, has some very nice things to say about Paul McCartney.

“I’m in awe of McCartney. He’s about the only one that I am in awe of. He can do it all. And he’s never let up. He’s got the gift for melody, he’s got the rhythm, he can play any instrument. He can scream and shout as good as anybody. And his melodies are effortless, that’s what you have to be in awe of… He’s just so damn effortless. I just wish he’d quit [laughs]. Everything that comes out of his mouth is just framed in melody.”

Dylan isn’t saying anything we haven’t known for decades. Macca is absurdly talented. A genius by any standard. Buddy Holly, Mozart, Cole Porter and Prince in one convenient, Liverpudlian package. Yet it’s rare to see a contemporary talk about him so highly. Lennon has gotten his due since his tragic 1980 assassination, made into a one-dimensional martyr for peace thanks to Yoko’s tireless marketing efforts. And Harrison has been the cool favorite Beatle for years, due to his understated guitar playing, disdain for Beatlemania, and the fact that so many of his beautiful songs got run over by the Lennon/McCartney hit machine.

But the cute Beatle is often a subject of derision – written off for writing silly love songs, being cheeky, friendly to the press, devoted to his wife. His songs come from a love of melody, not revenge against “the Man.” Even when he’s been getting screwed over by a money-grubbing trophy wife, he’s been nothing but gracious and cordial (in public anyway).

But now that Dylan has given Paul worship the A-OK, his disciples should fall right into place. Perhaps Patti Smith will do a pointless cover of “Too Many People” or “For No One” on her next album of bar-band quality cover versions. Cheers, Macca. Rock Turtleneck joins the Bard of Hibbing in giving you a big thumbs-up.