Paul McCartney

Which celebrity would you love to meet, and what would you talk about?
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The famous people that I’ve admired throughout my life have been pop/rock stars and Christian preachers or theologians. I don’t tend to think of the preachers or theologians as celebrities though. And I have already met some famous ones 😀.

So maybe, I should choose a pop star. I got into pop music in 1972. I was familiar with the Beatles as solo artists before I discovered the Beatles properly – when I bought the Red Album (62-66) in the autumn of 1974. I did recognize many of the songs from my childhood, but I didn’t know or care much about the Beatles as a child. I do remember watching The Monkees on TV. My dad mentioned the Beatles – but I was scared of beetles. I preferred monkeys 😀. The first Paul McCartney song that I remember was Mary Had a Little Lamb from early 1972. I hadn’t got into pop music at that stage. And then, in 1973, I loved Live and Let Die. I remembering being impressed with all the solo singles and all his Beatles songs.

Later in the 1970s, I got into Pink Floyd. Roger Waters is their main guy, but I think he’d hate me. He always comes across as a hateful guy, though I did enjoy his music. Dave Gilmour seems the more friendly type – so maybe I could meet him and chat about his experience in Pink Floyd – and I’d like to chat to Paul McCartney about his experience in the Beatles.

I was initially sceptical about punk/new wave when I first heard about it in 1977. But then, after going to a Stranglers concert in Cork City Hall in 1977, I got into it in a major way. Maybe I’d like to meet one of the Stranglers of Elvis Costello – or Paul Weller (of the Jam). I liked Paul Weller’s music for most of my life. In the late 1990s, I began to like Manic Street Preachers. I had heard of them, but when I saw them singing “Design for Life”, I became a bit intrigued by them. I’d like to see them becoming Christians – and maybe see them preaching in the streets 😀. Despite being atheists, they did write and release a song about God.

Here it is – from 2002. They probably valued some aspects of cultural Christianity – the way Richard Dawkins does. But they didn’t believe that there’s enough evidence for God’s existance.

What about Christian singers? Well, I loved Bob Dylan’s Christian albums. But I’ve never really been into Christians as artists. I like a lot of the songs though. I can think of some influential preachers/theologians. I have met some of them. Their theological outlook varies. I never like to align myself completely to anyone other than Christ, but if someone gets me thinking about Scripture, I value them – even if I don’t agree with them on 100% of issues I’ll make a list of some who I might want to spend time with in heaven – if I don’t meet them on earth 😀:

There’s actually many more that I listen to, but the above list are some of the names that I can think of “off the top of my head”. All of them are evangelical, though they might have different views on specific issues. Years ago, I’d have aligned myself to a couple of them, but nowadays, I can find lots of resources and opinions. Two of my favourite podcasts from the late naughties were 9Marks and Unbelievable. On Unbelievable, a debate show, the person on the Christian side would often be a little too progressive in my view, but I still enjoyed listening to them. It’s good to remain open to learning and correction, so in some ways, I’m glad that I no longer stick to those whom I deem to be “ultra orthodox”. Even if someone has peculiar views about something, he might be helpful in other respects. N.T.Wright is a good example of that – he sometimes sounds a little too critical of traditional evangelical views, but he’s a good defender of truths, such as the physical resurrection of Jesus.

Anyway, better get back to Paul McCartney – here are two of my favourites: