Before The Beatles were famous, Paul McCartney and his girlfriend were able to go to movies and concerts without the constant attention that would soon follow McCartney. When his girlfriend, Iris Caldwell, had nights off from her commitments as a dancer and The Beatles didn’t have shows, they would go out together. On their dates, Caldwell sometimes found herself cringing away from McCartney. She shared why his behavior could be embarrassing.
Paul McCartney’s girlfriend said he was sometimes embarrassing
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In the early years of The Beatles, McCartney began dating Caldwell, the younger sister of fellow Liverpool musician Rory Storm. They had known each other for years, but he began to view her in a different light after watching her dance at a Beatles show. They began dating, going out together when they could find time between their respective performances.
“We’d go to the cinema every Tuesday: Paul would pay one week, I’d pay the next,” Caldwell said, per the book Paul McCartney: The Life by Philip Norman. “Or we’d go to the Empire if a big name was on — always sitting in the cheap seats.”
Caldwell felt embarrassed by some of McCartney’s behavior during these concerts. She found some of his musical taste questionable at best.
“Paul liked what I thought were quite square entertainers, like Joe ‘Mr. Piano’ Henderson,” she said. “He knew all of Joe’s numbers and sang along with them, which I found a bit embarrassing.”
Paul McCartney’s girlfriend said some of his behavior infuriated her
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While Caldwell found McCartney’s taste in music embarrassing, she thought some of his other behavior was infuriating. She felt he was overly invested in being the center of attention.
“One night, we’d gone to this coffee bar in Birkenhead called The Cubic Club because everything was cube-shaped — the tables, the seats,” Caldwell said. “Paul’s showing-off got on my nerves so much that I picked up the sugar bowl — the sugar was the one thing there not in cubes — and emptied it over his head.”
Because of this dynamic, their relationship was fraught with arguments. For two years, they fought, broke up, and got back together.
“We were always having rows and breaking up,” she said. “And whenever we did, George [Harrison] would be round the next day, asking me to go out with him again.”
Iris Caldwell was interested in another musician at the time
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On some of their dates, McCartney and Caldwell attended Frank Ifield’s performances. At the time, he was a more popular performer than McCartney, and he was interested in Caldwell.
“When Frank came to Liverpool to appear at the Empire, Paul told me he’d got tickets — and for a change we weren’t in the cheap seats but the front row,” Caldwell said. “When Frank came onstage, he could see the two of us sitting there, cuddled up together and holding hands. He didn’t give any sign of having seen us, but I knew the next song he sang was aimed directly at Paul. It was Jim Reeve’s ‘He’ll Have to Go.’”
Caldwell remained in a relationship with McCartney despite Ifield’s best efforts. Still, the couple broke up after two years together.
