Sir Paul McCartney found freedom in Scotland

Sir Paul McCartney found freedom when he, his wife Linda and their young family moved to Scotland after the break-up of The Beatles.

28 July 2012
Sir Paul McCartney found freedom when he moved to Scotland in 1971.

The legendary musician took his wife Linda and their young children - Heather, Linda's child from a previous relationship, and Mary - to their farm on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland, in the wake of the dissolution of The Beatles to avoid dealing with all the legal problems that arose with the end of the group.

Paul said: "It was a good relief from everything that was going on, after The Beatles had broken up. For me, from the early days in Liverpool right through to the Ed Sullivan show to the big American tours, that had been my life, so when it suddenly ended in disarray, over business things, it was very unpleasant.

"So my thought at the time was, 'Just get away, don't' just sit in all these meetings with people saying, 'You've got to do that, oh no, no...' and it was really miserable and it was the opposite of what The Beatles had been.

"We just got away, Linda and I and took the kids and went to Scotland and found freedom. Freedom to raise our young family. And we suddenly realised how important that was. Otherwise I was, 'See you later love, you raise the kids, I've got to go to some heavy meeting, talk about business,' so we got away."

While they stayed on the farm, Paul and Linda worked on their musical collaboration 'Ram' which he says reflected the peaceful and idyllic background they found themselves in.

He added to BBC Radio6 music: "That was the spirit that 'Ram' was written in, I could go up, over the hills with my guitar, just write a little song, come back and stick it down in my notebook, then go off and record, and we went off to New York and later Los Angeles.

"It was great, it was freedom, so that album sums up the freedom that we were feeling at the time and it think it is reflected in the music."

'Ram' was re-released in May with a number of extra tracks and exclusive content, as well as in a Deluxe Edition Box Set.

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