• April 05, 1976
• Vol. 5
• No. 13

Reunion Is Out If It Clips Paul's 'Wings'

If God, the saying might go, had meant the Beatles to fly again, wouldn't He have given them Wings? To the contrary. Paul McCartney, of course, has Wings, and with wife Linda flapping along, the group's soaring success is an obstacle to any Beatles reunion.

McCartney has sustained the fullest post-Beatles career: all six LPs, the past four with Wings, went gold; and his four-man (plus Linda) outfit, having just finished a second European jaunt, launches its maiden U.S. tour in Fort Worth April 8. They finish May 25 in New York, and even Bill Sargent concedes privately that the McCartneys might be chary about undertaking a second blockbuster project within the same tax year.

Paul's lawyer and father-in-law, Lee Eastman, denies ever considering Sargent's proposition. A close friend says that with their "aristocratic posture, it's beneath Paul's dignity to accept something because someone is waving a check." Another crony adds, "Paul feels he was made 'the heavy' for the breakup and wants to be romanced back."

For now, McCartney's hottest romance is family life. He and Linda cart their three daughters along even on tour, accompanied by their tutors. (Last year Mommy breezed through an L.A. refresher course herself on drug abuse, her "sentence" for a minor pot-possession conviction.) Mostly, the McCartneys live at their English country home and vacation, amid dogs and horses, on their two farms in Scotland.

Even though he is in the 83 percent bracket, Paul says the idea of tax exile is unthinkable. "I'm British to the core. Linda is an honorary Briton—and above all, she makes a great cup of tea." That may be so, but the Eastman clan is not the other Beatles' cup of tea. While even Yoko has become one of the gang, the boys are cool to Linda.

Otherwise, the troubles seem to be ending. Paul reports, "My own kids saw a Beatle film on telly a while back, and they were very excited about their Dad being in it. Then they asked me who the other chaps were, and whether they were mates of mine." Dad's answer was yes. "There is no animosity left anymore, and I wouldn't object to us playing together on the same stage if the time was right. But most of all I've got the lady I love and that is what it's all about, really, isn't it?"