Following his split from Jane Asher in 1968, Paul McCartney fell into the arms of the love of his life, Linda McCartney, née Eastman. They married in 1969 and never looked back. Through the split of The Beatles in 1970, Linda was at Paul’s side as a devoted confidante. As the rest of the band slipped from his grasp, Linda’s hand tightened around his. She would provide the rock bed from which he could recover when the inevitable finally happened.
As the Fab Four went their separate ways, it was a tough time for all four quarters of the group. However, a good argument suggests McCartney suffered more than most. It was he who had seemingly caused the end of the band and, therefore, it was he who was under the most intense scrutiny. After nearly a decade of Beatlemania and public harassment, McCartney opted for the countryside lifestyle, raising his four children, Mary, Stella, James and Heather, in the tranquil setting of High Park Farm in Scotland.
Over the years, the family enjoyed a slower life than that of the Beatles era, with Linda joining her husband in Wings in the 1970s. While some have seen this as a canny way to divide up the songwriting credits from the label a little more effectively, it was clear that Linda was committed to the group. After Wings disbanded, Paul continued in his solo exploits while Linda focused on her photography and took a firm stand in the Animal Rights Movement, founding her popular eponymous vegetarian and vegan food company in 1992.
Sadly, Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995 and finally lost her battle with the disease in Tucson, Arizona, on April 17th 1998. Naturally, the loss came as a brutal setback to the McCartney household and Paul was met with a bitter reminder of his mother’s death some four decades before as he looked to comfort his children as a widow.
In his statement announcing Linda’s death, McCartney recounted his final words to her: “You’re up on your beautiful Appaloosa stallion. It’s a fine spring day. We’re riding through the woods. The bluebells are all out, and the sky is a clear blue.”
I had barely got to the end of the sentence when she closed her eyes and gently slipped away,” he added. “Our family is so close that her passing has left a huge hole in our lives. We will never get over it, but I think we will come to accept it, total heartbreak.”
Linda was cremated in Tucson, and her ashes were taken back to England, where Paul spread them on the McCartney family farm in Sussex. A memorial service was held at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London with friends and family in attendance, including George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Billy Joel, Elton John, David Gilmour and Peter Gabriel, among a congregation of 700 who celebrated her life and moured her tragic passing.
During the service, the 1970 McCartney-penned Beatles song ‘Let It Be’ was played as a touching tribute to Linda. The song was originally written as a break-up song for the Beatles. While the Fab Four were recording music for their final two records in 1969, tensions rose to fractious levels as Harrison became frustrated with McCartney and Lennon’s dominion, and the latter became increasingly withdrawn under the spell of his relationship with Yoko Ono.
One night during this difficult period, McCartney was visited in a dream by an angelic embodiment of his mother who told him to just “let it be”. Upon waking, McCartney was inspired to write about the experience: “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom… Let it be,” McCartney recalled, adding: “I woke up with a great feeling. It was really like she had visited me at this very difficult point in my life and gave me this message: Be gentle, don’t fight things, just try and go with the flow, and it will all work out.”
The Beatles’ classic became relevant once again at Linda’s funeral service. Where the song had once offered maternal comfort to Paul at a time of abject turbulence within the Beatles, it would now offer strength to his children as they faced life without their mother.
