Paul McCartney has spent decades trying to correct the public perception that, within the Beatles, the avant-garde impulse was embodied in John Lennon. In 1967, McCartney produced, with his three cronies, a delirious 14-minute piece, 'Carnival of Light', conceived for occasional use in a psychedelic rave.

Another route to the cool respectability favored by McCartney: the instigation of projects that escape his main occupation and that are sometimes published abroad. Sometimes, McCartney's extracurricular activities let say, let's say, the last album of his last career. Let's not look: no pop artist refuses to win medals for his work.