From 2006 to 2015,\u00a0Canada had a prime minister who\u00a0offered few public insights about his inner life. Not even Stephen Harper\u2019s family (wife Laureen, daughter Rachel and son Ben) were much on display. However, he had his passions. In these excerpts from his new memoir \u201cHere for Canada: Memoirs of the 22nd Prime Minister,\u201d Harper recounts three moments where the piano-playing PM\u2019s interest in music came to the fore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sir Paul McCartney<\/p>\n
In 2008, when Paul McCartney was touring in North America, he had a concert in Quebec City to celebrate its 400th anniversary. During that time, he had appeared on television with his then-wife Heather Mills attacking the Canadian seal hunt \u2014 a fashionable cause for celebrities at that time. But this annual harvest had worked hard to adopt more humane killing mea\u00adsures over the decades, and my Government strongly supported it as a critical industry in parts of Atlantic and Northern Canada, especially among the Inuit. Frankly, I was fed up with affluent celebrities looking to burnish their social activism credentials at the expense of these Canadian workers.<\/p>\n
So when Ray Novak came into my office one day saying he had, of all people, Paul McCartney on the line and that he wanted to talk with me, I asked him what it was regarding. \u201cI think it\u2019s about the seal hunt,\u201d Ray said. \u201cWell, then, tell him I won\u2019t take the call,\u201d was my immediate response. Stunned, Ray asked, \u201cReally? Are you serious?\u201d \u201cYeah, just tell him I\u2019m not taking the call,\u201d I responded.<\/p>\n
Ray went back to his office and delivered the message, making me, I suspect, the first person since Decca Records refused to sign the Beatles in 1962 not to take a call from Paul McCartney. I felt terrible about it, not just because I am a huge Beatles fan but also because, as a McCartney watcher, I could see that this out-of-character, abrasive activism was the product of a doomed marriage.<\/p>\n
All that said, it was not a hard decision. As prime minister, I took seri\u00adously my foremost duty to represent the interests of the Canadian people. On this matter, I was defending those interests, and the views of a foreign celebrity were irrelevant. Besides, I have always been careful about my relationships with celebrities. Given the publicity-seeking nature of their careers, such associations can be a dangerous thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper plays the piano with a band at the prime minister\u2019s official residence in Ottawa Friday, April 22, 2011.\u00a0<\/p>\n
FRED CHARTRAND THE CANADIAN PRESS<\/p>\n
However, my eventual 2013 meeting with McCartney in Ottawa did have an ulterior motive. It had been facilitated by representatives of the Canadian music industry as part of their efforts to influence the government on copyright policy. As we were, in fact, examining the issue of expiring copyrights on 1960s music, this was pertinent. McCartney\u2019s office had been clear that he wished to raise \u201cissues related to the music business\u201d with me. We had indicated that I would listen but make no commitments.<\/p>\n
I met Sir Paul about a half-hour before he went on stage. He was cordial in introducing himself, but instead of bringing up anything about the music business, he started asking me about my trip to Lac-M\u00e9gantic and if I could share some of the things I had seen and witnessed on the ground.<\/p>\n
From his demeanour, it was clear that the event had shaken him. He paid careful attention as I spoke and at the end asked, \u201cIs there anything I can do?\u201d I responded that I would be going back to Lac-M\u00e9gantic, prob\u00adably several times in the near future for funerals and memorials, and I would certainly pass on his condolences. McCartney never did raise the business issues.<\/p>\n
After our meeting, Sir Paul proceeded to put on a magnificent show. He played for three hours. At seventy-one years old, he took no breaks, although his much younger bandmates did \u2026 It was wonderful to see McCartney doing what he clearly loved as if he were still a teenager.<\/p>\n
Two weeks later, when his tour took him to Quebec City, Sir Paul paid to bring a thousand fans from Lac-M\u00e9gantic to the concert. Further, he offered free concert tickets for all those willing to go to Lac-M\u00e9gantic to help with the recovery. Only sometime later did I receive a short letter from him on the copyright issues.<\/p>\n
As a politician, I have a sufficiently cynical side about the things that people say. However, in this case, Sir Paul showed how genuine his sym\u00adpathies for the people of Lac-M\u00e9gantic were. He did not have to do what he did. For me, it was refreshing to meet somebody you admire for some\u00adthing and find them to be worthy of that admiration in other areas of their life as well.<\/p>\n
Beatle for a Day<\/p>\n
When I was in London in 2009 for the G20 meeting, my family joined me. They did not come on many of these trips, but every so often they would, depending mostly on the school year calendar. The timing of the summit was only four weeks prior to my fiftieth birthday, and it turned out they had set up a surprise for me.<\/p>\n
Knowing all too well my lifelong love of the Beatles, Laureen suggested we all go to Abbey Road and take that iconic shot from the album cover of the same name with the four of us crossing the road. \u201cWhy not?\u201d I said. \u201cI mean, people are doing that all the time there, so it should not seem too abnormal.\u201d Right? Wrong. Being prime minister meant that security insisted on clearing the intersection. It was a little embarrassing, but it did get us a better photo. Ben took his shoes off, so he really got into the vibe.<\/p>\n
With the picture taken, and us standing in front of the studio, Laureen said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you go knock on the door and see if anyone\u2019s there?\u201d \u201cI\u2019m not just going to start knocking on their door for no reason,\u201d I told her. At that, she revealed that she had arranged a full studio tour, and they were expecting me \u2026<\/p>\n
Our hosts took us through the facility. They demonstrated the use of the best modern recording equipment. They also shared a few stories. When someone in our group tried to use their cellphone but discovered there was no connection in the place, which seemed a little odd, our host laughed and said, \u201cI can tell you that last week Keith Richards was here recording some\u00adthing. I\u2019m not making this up,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was running down the hall yelling, \u2018I can\u2019t get no cell reception!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
As I have said, being PM does come with some very good perks. Well, this was right up there with the best of them. When the official tour was over, they took me to the famous Studio 2, where the Beatles did almost all their recording. Our hosts pulled out all the various pianos and keyboards that the members of the Beatles had used for composing and performing \u2014 some of these instruments had the ivory almost worn off the keys \u2014 and let me try out the pianos and keyboards. This fanatic was in heaven!<\/p>\n
With a Little Help From His Friends<\/p>\n
The pressure to take (my) revived interest in playing music to another level came from none other than Laureen. Like many prime ministers\u2019 spouses, she involved herself in a number of charitable and non-profit activi\u00adties. In this capacity, she had become honorary chair of the annual gala at the National Arts Centre. Five weeks before the event, out of the blue, she said, \u201cI think you should play at the gala.\u201d<\/p>\n
I assumed she was joking, or maybe just thinking out loud. \u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d I asked, stunned at the suggestion. \u201cYou should get up on stage with your band and do a number,\u201d she said. Still rather taken aback, the best I could come up with was, \u201cAre you kidding me?\u201d She was not. \u201cYou\u2019re actually pretty decent, and you can do it.\u201d But she was as insistent as I was hesitant, adding the hard to dismiss, \u201cPlease do this for me \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, left, reacts to a surprised crowd as he follows Stephen Harper onto the stage for his performance of The Beatles song \u201cWith a Little Help From My Friends\u201d which he sang and played on the piano during a surprise appearance at the National Arts Centre Gala in Ottawa, Ont., Saturday October 3, 2009.<\/p>\n
Sean Kilpatrick The Canadian Press<\/p>\n
A few days later, I brought the band over and ran the idea by them. Called Herringbone, they were a Celtic-rock group used to playing in front of live audiences in Ottawa and on the road. However, this would be their biggest gig to date, with orders of magnitude greater attention than they were used to. Yet they were keen on the idea.<\/p>\n
The next question was, \u201cWhat would we play?\u201d Naturally, this being me, Beatles tunes came to the fore. The guys suggested relatively easy numbers, to play it safe. They first proposed \u201cEight Days a Week,\u201d which I could do, although it is not one of my favourite Beatles songs. We ended up settling on, \u201cWith a Little Help From My Friends,\u201d which was perfect for all kinds of reasons. In preparation, we worked up to two or three practices a week to tighten up the band, finding time later in the evenings \u2026<\/p>\n
On the evening of the performance, October 3, 2009, it would have been an understatement to say that I was nervous. While I was routinely in front of crowds, I had not performed musically before strangers in more than thirty years \u2026<\/p>\n
We sneaked into the National Arts Centre early that Saturday for an onstage rehearsal. Besides me, there was Richard Linke on guitar, Andre Van Schyndel on bass, Phil Nolan on drums, and Colin McSweeney, who acted as our \u201cmanager.\u201d Colin also sang with us occasionally, but not on that night. When we got there, Colin told us, \u201cWe have a surprise for you. Yo-Yo Ma is going to sit in with your group.\u201d Apparently, he had been at our sound check, heard us, and wanted to play.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cHere for Canada: Memoirs of the 22nd Prime Minister\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephen J. Harper<\/p>\n
Signal\/McClelland & Stewart<\/p>\n
656 pages<\/p>\n
$45<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Signal\/M&S<\/p>\n
Having worked to really nail this tune as a group, my first reaction was, \u201cDoes he know the song?\u201d McSweeney stopped me short, saying, \u201cPrime Minister, cut it with the artistic temperament. It\u2019s Yo-Yo Ma, for crying out loud. He\u2019ll learn quick.\u201d It did not hurt when later Yo-Yo came run\u00adning up to me to introduce himself saying, \u201cI\u2019m Yo-Yo Ma. Are you Paul McCartney?\u201d<\/p>\n