My dad, bless him, was a musician. And his dad had thought that his music was rubbish.

McCartney is reflecting on a family pattern in how artistic work is judged across generations. By praising his father (“bless him”) while noting that his grandfather dismissed the father’s music as “rubbish,” he highlights how creative ambition can meet skepticism at home—often from those closest to the artist. The remark also implicitly normalizes criticism: even within a musical family, approval is not guaranteed. In McCartney’s larger public narrative, it underscores how encouragement and discouragement can coexist in formative environments, and how an artist’s confidence may need to outlast familial doubt.