“I met George on a bus, I first saw John on a bus, George auditioned on a bus. Penny Lane was the bus depot. If I was visiting John I could go from my place in Forthlin Road to Penny Lane change and go up to his place in Menlove Avenue. I just like buses.” – Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney tells how buses helped in the formation of The Beatles and how they pop up in his songs.
“I met George on a bus, I first saw John on a bus, George auditioned on a bus, we went across town to find this guy who knew B7 (chord) on a bus. Penny Lane was the bus depot. If I was visiting John I could go from my place in Forthlin Road to Penny Lane change and go up to his place in Menlove Avenue. I just like buses.” Buses played a part in the formation of The Beatles. Buses pop up in Paul McCartney’s songs and could help to explain how he chose open top seaside special double-decker WNO 481 as the 1972 Wings Tour Bus.
Buses have even featured in Paul McCartney’s songs including A Day In The Life from The Beatles 1967 album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and even as recent as On My Way To Work from 2013. In this video Paul McCartney talks about how buses have loomed large in his legend as he celebrates his new book, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, in an event held in November 2021 at The Royal Festival Hall at The South Bank Centre with author Paul Muldoon, chaired by Samira Ahmed.
Samira Ahmed: “I want to talk to you about buses. That song (On My Way To Work – 2013) starts with riding the big green bus to work and they loom large in your legend, Sir Paul, buses, don’t they?”
Sir Paul McCartney: “Yeah, I never realised it, you know, but that I tell stories to Paul (Underwood) or more recently to my eldest grandson and he was doing an essay for his final thesis at university and he wanted to look into the Cultural Revolution in Britain. So we sat down and I was talking to him about Liverpool. Yeah, well so we started talking and every story I told him… I met George on a bus, I first saw John on a bus, George auditioned on a bus, we went across town to find this guy who knew B7 (chord) on a bus. Penny Lane was the bus depot. So, yeah, there are millions of stories about buses and then he very cleverly I thought looked up why the bus system was so good and after the war, World War ll, there had been the Transport Act. So, he researched it, found, I can’t remember it but like (then Transport Minister) Herbert Morrison did the Transport Act so that gave us this great bus system so in Liverpool you could go anywhere. If I was visiting John I could go from my place in Forthlin Road to Penny Lane change and go up to his place in Menlove Avenue… and you know school and all of this there was this amazing system that I didn’t realise we were kind of the first generation to benefit from that and also there was The Education Act. That meant that kids like me from not very well off homes could go to very posh schools and I think the idea that he puts forward in his essay is that this gave everyone over Britain this opportunity to be more mobile and more educated and that was a big factor in the Cultural Revolution.
Samira Ahmed: “I know I sound obsessed with buses but I have one more question about buses first which is being on the upper deck and the view and how important that was and the length of your commute to school because it was half an hour that all seemed quite relevant and also there’s an interview you did on one of the Pop Goes The Beatles type shows that was on the Live At The BBC album where you were asked about what you miss now that you’re famous and you’re straight in with like riding on a bus and it really mattered to you losing that. Is it thinking time? Is it dreaming time? Is it the view?”
Sir Paul McCartney: “Yeah, I just like buses.”
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