Well, the hot rumour is that Paul and Heather's marriage is on the rocks. Not only am I not surprised, if this is actually the case, but I have had a feeling for quite some time now that something was not quite right. I wish I'd posted about it when I first got the feeling because probably no one will believe me since I've not said anything till the news started to leak out. But I will elaborate, anyway.
Back when I saw the footage of them together on the Back in the U.S. dvd, I thought, "Wow, he's going to get sick of that pretty quick." Not only did I feel like it was a classic case of a rebound relationship, she just seemed SO needy and demanding. There are a couple times where he's doing interviews, either for local t.v. or the radio, and she's in the next room shouting at him (not angrily, I mean; just trying to tease him or make jokes). Right in the middle of him being interviewed! It put me in mind of a kid who is perfectly well-behaved until the mother gets a phone call and then the kid goes nuts, trying to get attention back on herself. That set off little red flags for me that this was a high-maintenance person. But I figured it also could just be sour grapes so I adopted the stance that if Paul was happy, I was happy. He certainly deserves happiness.
Fast forward to last year when Chaos and Creation in the Backyard was released. After I'd been listening to it for a while it suddenly struck me that things might not be so happy anymore. I am not 100% sure why; it's just a feeling I got in considering the songs, as a whole. For one thing, the album isn't filled with his usual shmoopy love songs that he tends to go heavy on when things are good. Secondly, the song "Promise to You Girl" tipped me off. The song isn't, oh, I love you so much, let's be together forever. The basic sentiment I get from the song is more along the lines of, "I promised we would team up to save the world and I'm not going to go back on my promise." Not exactly the most romantic sentiment. None of the other songs on the record appear to me to be the usual, gooey fare we've had from him in the past. It seemed like something was just.....off, and I got the feeling that none of the other songs on the record were directed at her. When Paul is head-over-heels in love he shouts it from the mountaintop. There was no shouting on this album. Also, the entire record seems to have a more somber tone to it. Paul seems to do his best work when things in his personal life aren't great, and this album is some of his best work in decades. How accurate were my perceptions? I don't know. All I know is that I got an unshakeable suspicion after listening to the album a number of times that Paul's feelings for her had changed and perhaps the bloom was off the rose.
The one other thing that struck me was the lack of singing her praises on his part during publicity for last fall's tour. During the appearances for the Driving Rain/Back in the U.S. tours, and while on stage during those tours, he brought her name up frequently and was very effusive when doing so. This past tour, though, she merited only one mention on stage; he dedicated a song to her, and I was again struck by the impression that there wasn't the same feeling behind it. He also didn't bring her up that often in the interviews I saw/heard, and when he did it was more of a passing mention rather than him gushing about her.
So, what's all this worth? Nothing, of course -- whether I'm right or wrong. But, this is my Beatleblog and it's here for me to be an outlet for all my Beatle-related thoughts. And this is something that's been on my mind a lot for several months now. I was beginning to think that, perhaps, it had all been in my head. Then, lo and behold, yesterday's email from Yahoo Alerts had two stories about the suspected marital troubles and today's had even more. Apparently I am not as nuts as I sometimes think I might be. Now, nothing is official, these are just rumours....but substantiated ones. Paul's own spokesperson the other day, instead of categorically denying anything was wrong, fueled the buzz by admitting he had no idea if Paul had seen Heather since he'd been back from his trip and didn't know if they were together in the same place or not. There are also numerous other sources close to Paul's camp who are confirming things have taken a turn for the worse.
I just hope Paul will be okay, no matter what happens.
