Paul At Fifty

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Since November, McCartney has been holed up weekdays in a renovated 18th century mill overlooking England's southern coastline. He is laying down songs in his private 48-track Hog Hill Studio for an untitled album -- his 23rd since the Beatles' breakup two decades ago -- and preparing for a new tour next year. Hog Hill boasts the latest in electronic gear, but there are nostalgic and whimsical touches too, like Elvis Presley's bass from Heartbreak Hotel, the Mellotron from Strawberry Fields Forever and a Megaroids video game. Next to the studio is a cozy kitchen featuring a spread of Linda's veggie foods. Upstairs is a retreat for writing amid the scent of fresh flowers and patchouli.

In between recording sessions recently, McCartney slipped upstairs to talk about life after the Beatles. "I'm only interested in looking back now because I have this misbelief about my life. Did I really get here?" he asks while munching on a cheese-and-pickle sandwich. He stares out at a view of rolling green hills that is a long way from the council housing of his Liverpool youth. "I hear myself telling stories to my kids, and sometimes I ask myself, 'Are you sure about this one, man?' "

Yes, we're sure. James Paul McCartney was the son of working-class Irish parents. His father was a cotton salesman and an ex-jazz trumpeter and piano man, his mother a midwife. As a child, McCartney was a Boy Scout and a bird watcher. His first real instrument was a Zenith six-string, which he played left-handed. In 1960 he was just one of four unknown teenagers performing in the squalor of Liverpool's underground Cavern club. By 1965 the Beatles had stormed America, met the Queen and been hailed as pop prophets. By 1971 -- before any of the four hit 30 -- it was all over, ruined by a bitter business fight.

Yet even now, The Guinness Book of Records lists the Beatles as the most successful group in history, with more than 1 billion disks and tapes sold. McCartney is the most successful songwriter in the history of the U.S. record industry, having penned 32 No. 1 hits, vs. Lennon's 26. McCartney has racked up more gold and platinum disks (75) than any other performer in history. His song Yesterday is the most recorded ever, with more than 2,000 versions.

McCartney's unspoken fear is that he will be remembered only as a pop singer who made pretty records. The Master of Ear Candy, shallow and self-indulgent if catchy and commercial -- and, of course, never as good as his now dead collaborator, Lennon. McCartney's critics forget that he was the prime force behind such songs as Hey Jude, The Long and Winding Road, Penny Lane, Eleanor Rigby and Let It Be. Post-Beatles, he was the most successful survivor, with 17 gold albums and hits like Band on the Run, Ebony and Ivory, Say Say Say and the James Bond theme Live and Let Die. McCartney shallow? It depends on whether one wants hummable riffs or Lennonesque angst.

McCartney's answer to the doubters has been to work. He struggled artistically after Lennon's slaying and his own 10-day incarceration in Japan for marijuana possession in 1980, but he continued to churn out albums, and he hit the road in 1989 after a 13-year absence. His world tour attracted 2.5 million fans, and in the U.S. he was the biggest single act in 1990, beating out Janet Jackson and Madonna.