It Could Have Been Jesus

'McCartney had not gone three steps on the sidewalk when a burly young man with a military haircut lunged into his path and thrust something at him: a CD--"The Beatles 1"--along with a black marker. McCartney took them and opened the CD's jewel; case. "Put it to Lloyd," the man said. McCartney signed the CD and handed it back. "There you go, mate," he said. Then, hands in his pockets, he resumed his walk. The speed and violence with which the fan had accosted McCartney were jarring, and I remarked that the man could have been another Mark David Chapman [John Lennon's killer]. "Yeah, or it could have been Jesus, come to give a blessing," McCartney said. He added: "When you number's up, it's up."

--from a profile of former Beatle Paul McCartney, in the current issue of the New Yorker. To this day, the author notes, the surviving half of the 20th century's most successful pop songwriting team can neither read nor write music. The piece isn't online, but you can listen to an interview with the profile's author here.