Paul McCartney‘s childhood home in Liverpool has been opened up to unsigned artists as a spot to write and perform songs. The house at 20 Forthlin Road — where McCartney and John Lennon wrote such iconic Beatles hits as “I Saw Her Standing There” and “When I’m 64” — is owned by the National Trust.
The Trust announced on Tuesday (April 5) that initiative, dubbed the “Forthlin Sessions,” will allow budding acts to “visit, write, and perform at 20 Forthlin Road, sitting in the very same spots where around 30 of the world’s most famous songs, including ‘Love Me Do’, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, ‘Hold Me Tight’, ‘I’ll Follow The Sun’ and ‘When I’m 64’ were written and rehearsed. It is also where Paul wrote his first-ever song, ‘I Lost My Little Girl.’”
“What the Beatles did was inspire a generation to feel free to be creative, regardless of who or where they were. Much of that started at 20 Forthlin Road with the songs that were written under this roof,” said Hilary McGrady, National Trust Director General in a statement. “It’s a pleasure to care for the Beatles’ childhood homes and to use the story of what happened there to continue this legacy. Our places don’t have to be stuck in time; they’re here to keep sparking creativity, dreams, and new ideas. We can’t wait to hear how what happened at 20 Forthlin Road inspired and keeps on inspiring the nation.”
The artists who get this rare opportunity will work with Sir Paul’s younger brother, Mike and British journalist Pete Paphides in consultation with the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts; acts must be over 18 and Uk-based in order to participate. The sessions will be recorded and publicized, allowing the act to reach new, potentially global audiences.
“To celebrate a year of the Beatles’ anniversaries, including Sir Paul McCartney’s 80th birthday in June, and the 60th anniversary of the Beatles’ debut single ‘Love Me Do’ in October, the charity will be celebrating the creativity sparked from the rooms of 20 Forthlin Road (“the birthplace of the Beatles”), by supporting a new generation of talent and bringing a place rich in popular music history, to a wider audience,” read the statement announcing the project.
The British public are also being encouraged to share “what the creativity sparked at 20 Forthlin Road has meant to them,” as a means of inspiring the new music that will be created during the sessions; click here to find out how to apply to play “The Forthlin Sessions.”
The McCartneys moved to Forthlin Road in 1955 and within a year Sir Paul’s mother, Mary, died. leaving Jim McCartney to raise then 14-year-old Paul and 12-year-old Mike on his own. “It was just a normal family home. We were school kids. There was no music except that my dad would tickle – as he called it – the ivories after a hard day at work,” said Mike McCartney in a statement. “At the beginning, there was no music other than dad and no photography. There wasn’t any thought of showbusiness, I can assure you.”
Check out a video announcing the project below, which features the poem “An Ordinary House, An Ordinary Street,” which tells the story of the house in a short film featuring Mike McCartney, Quarry Men drummer Colin Hanton and Colin and Sylvia Hall, the custodians of John Lennon’s Liverpool home and 20 Forthlin road, respectively.
Watch the video announcing the
We’re bringing music back to 20 Forthlin Road in Liverpool, the childhood home of Sir Paul and Mike McCartney. We’d love to hear what the Beatles means to you, so it can inspire new music today.#TheForthlinSessions pic.twitter.com/xHAYafuGZY
— National Trust (@nationaltrust) April 5, 2022
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