June 18

 Paul McCartney's Birthday
 
     

Paul McCartney, the most successful pop musician of all time, was born on June 18, 1942. A founding member of Wings, a spectacularly successful solo artist, and an early popularizer of Britain’s skiffle scene, McCartney is a knight of the British Empire and a tremendously engaging performer.

Oh yeah, and he was in The Beatles.

McCartney was born in Liverpool, England. His mother, a nurse, died when he was still young. His dad was a musician, and bought young Paul a trumpet, which he soon exchanged for a guitar. Paul met John Lennon, his future fellow Beatle, at a party at a local church.

The Beatles’ history from there is quite well documented in countless books and movies, and indeed in a couple other recipes in this very cookbook. McCartney contributed bass guitar, lead vocals and a plurality of songwriting credits to the legendary group.

After the Beatles broke up in 1970, McCartney teamed with his wife Linda and several other musicians to form Wings, Wings was active for the entirety of the seventies and had a string of hits, including “Band on the Run” and “Live and Let Die.”

From the eighties onward, Paul continued to make his passion for philanthropy known. His seminal live version of “Let It Be” played at the Live Aid concert in 1985 was backed by concert found Bob Geldof and the likes of Pete Townshend and David Bowie.

To this day, McCartney continues to write, record and perform – easily one of the greatest living legends of music, if not the greatest legends period.

While we agreed that an ideal way to celebrate Sir Paul's birthday was  to watch A Hard Day's Night (1964), we were split on the appropriate recipe. One option was raccoon stew inspired by "Rocky Raccoon"  which was primarily written by Paul when the Beetles went to India for a well-publicized retreat to study under Maharishi Yogi. in 1967, but the limited access to the fresh or frozen raccoon meat was a challenge. So instead we suggest making a honey pie to commentate Paul's song of the same name (although erroneously attributed to both Paul and John Lennon) since there will never be a shortage of honey. Pair it with Help! (1965).

Honey Pie

 

Ingredients
 
1 cup honey
3 large eggs, beaten
3 TB butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
 
1 cup chopped pecans
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie shell

 
Instructions
 
  1. In a saucepan, bring honey to a boil. Quickly beat eggs into the honey; add butter, vanilla, chopped pecans, and nutmeg
  2. Pour into a 9-inch unbaked pie shell.
  3. Bake at 325°F for 25 minutes, or until the center is set.
Serves 8

© 2011 Gordon Nary and Tyler Stokes