Paul McCartney, one of the finest lyricists of all time, is profoundly aware of the power of words. His profession was creating humorous visual fragments that captured far broader emotional states.

McCartney’s greatest songs are clear and contemplative, enabling him to simplify complicated human experiences with the lightest touch. Examples of these songs are the epiphanies found in “Blackbird” and “You Were Only Waiting for This Moment to Arise” and the existential meditations found in “Eleanor Rigby” and “All The Lonely People, where do they all come from?” Because of his command of language, McCartney rose to prominence as one of the greatest composers of his era. However, the actual worth of his talent was shown while his wife Linda lay dying.

Paul McCartney made news once again, this time for an emotional interview about his first wife Linda, who passed away from breast cancer ten years ago, just weeks after settling his $50 million divorce from Heather Mills.

Recalling their first encounter, which took place at the London nightclub Bag O’ Nails “probably forty years [ago],” McCartney tells Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine. The piece, which was published at the same time as an exhibition of Linda McCartney’s photos at the James Hyman Gallery in central London, quotes him as saying, “There was an immediate attraction between us.”

His opening statement? “My name’s Paul. What’s yours? McCartney informed the newspaper. “I think she probably recognized me. It was so corny, but I told the kids later that, had it not been for that moment, none of them would be here.”

The Relationship

At the release of The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” Paul McCartney got to know famed rock photographer Linda Eastman, but they didn’t start dating until the next year. Contrary to the media’s portrayal of the couple as having a flawless union, the McCartneys had some difficult times after being married in 1969. Paul later claimed (via El País) that “we had a very big fight the night before the wedding and we almost canceled it.” “We had many ups and downs — they were very hectic compared to that image of 25 years of marital bliss.”

Despite everything, the couple spent thirty years of marriage intensely in love with one another and hardly apart. “People may not realize that except one occasion, Paul and Linda have never spent a night apart in the 30 years they loved each other,” Geoff Baker, a spokesman for McCartney in London, told the Tucson Citizen following Linda’s passing.

Final Days

The Columbian reports that Linda McCartney was given a breast cancer diagnosis in December 1995 after finding a lump that was later determined to be malignant. Although the chemotherapy looked to be helping at first, in March 1998, medical professionals discovered that the cancer had progressed to her liver. Paul remarked, “The past two years we spent battling her disease have been a nightmare,” in a statement following Linda’s passing (via the Associated Press). “She never voiced complaints and consistently wished to overcome it. It was not meant to be.”

Paul McCartney thought Linda McCartney didn’t have long to live when they had their last horse ride in the Arizona desert. According to “Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney,” the physicians had informed Paul in early April that Linda’s liver was deteriorating and she only had a few days left. He didn’t tell his wife since he thought she wouldn’t be interested. She was too unwell to get out of bed the following day. Her last day was the day after that. According to the Black Country Evening Mail, Paul and the kids then dispersed her ashes on their English estate in East Sussex.

McCartney’s last words to his wife

The love between Paul and Linda McCartney endured forever. Following over 25 years of marriage, Linda received a breast cancer diagnosis. She fought against it for three years. Linda McCartney passed away on April 17, 1998, at the age of just 56.

Paul McCartney created an image of the ideal day when he recognized her time had come. He told her, according to the Sun-Sentinel, “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.”

That was all that was required. Just as McCartney was about to finish her remark, she closed her eyes and slowly walked away.” The artist acknowledged that he and her kids “will never get over” her passing, but he also said, “I think we will come to accept it.”