Hey, Camp Kids!
Here comes the sun and you all know what that means! The time to twist and shout at summer camp is right around the corner. Whether your kid is roughin’ it overnight or if they’re a day tripper—the approaching summer camp season sure is something to sing about. Would you believe that Paul McCartney of The Beatles thought so too when he was closer to your age?
The Corf campsite has been delivering magical summers for young boys since 1937 on the Isle of Wight. The island is situated in the English Channel, four miles off the coast of Hampshire—separated from mainland. 23 acres on the west side of the island is like an infinite, rustic playground for lucky Corf Scouts like Paul was back in his early adolescence.
His first summer there, Paul and his younger brother attended a week of Scouts together. Everything went fine until Paul prompted Mike to see how long he could hang from a cliff. The experiment ended in a broken arm and a visit to the infirmary, but despite the unfortunate conclusion to Paul’s bad idea his Scout leader, Arthur Evans was impressed with Paul’s overall character.
Peter Ames Carlin, a biographer, wrote in his book, ‘Paul McCartney: A Life’, about a Scout Leader of McCartney’s recalled “Paul’s enthusiastic showmanship while leading the Scouts’ nightly campfires. He’d brought his guitar, of course, so once the Scouts gathered and the flames rose, the evenings would become full-blown McCartney concerts, complete with jokes and a set list split between rock n’ roll favorites and what Evans recalled as a few McCartney originals.”
It wasn’t long after summer camp that Paul became a part of this band that was slowly forming called ‘The Beetles’. It took a little time for the ‘Fab Four’—Paul, John, George, and Ringo—to finally unite (or for the word ‘beetle’ to finally be spelled with an ‘A’), but once they did, there was no stopping them. They went on to create unique, upbeat music that the world has since loved.
Outlasting any pop band of the time and surpassing just about every band in popularity, The Beatles delivered hit after hit. Summer camp was a great experience where Paul discovered his love for playing his music in front of a crowd. What will you discover? As always, thanks for reading and be sure to check out Paul’s performance of a song he wrote back in his summer camp days called ‘I Lost My Little Girl’ below.
- John