McCartney Times

With millions of people forced to remain home amid strict social distancing measures, we’re dipping back into the Far Out Magazine archives to fill our time in isolation.

While music venues need to keep their doors closed and live music remains nothing short of a hopeful dream, the time away from concerts allows us the chance to look back at some of our favoured bands and artists.

Here, looking to one particularly well-known group from Liverpool, we’re revisiting the moment Paul McCartney opened up about the past process of writing songs with his fellow members of The Beatles.

McCartney, who remained one half of the prominent songwriters in the group alongside John Lennon, appeared at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts a little while back during a conversation with Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker. The event, which was attended by around 450 students and was live-streamed online, allowed Cocker to delve deep into the processes of one of the greatest bands of all time.

As the conversation flowed through varying subjects, McCartney was asked who in the music industry he admitted the most. “Fellow Beatles,” he replied with an overwhelming admiration for his band.

“John [Lennon], who was pretty cool, and George [Harrison] and Ringo [Starr]. Having worked with John so one-on-one, I got to see his [songs] before the world. I’m a big fan,” he continued. 

On the subject of John Lennon specifically, McCartney offered a little more insight into how the pair would work together on new songs: “When we worked together on something, often what would happen is that whoever would be the creator of this song would bring in the first verse and then we’d sit down and we’d take it from there,” he said before adding: “little things he did were brilliant.”

See the full interview, below.

Source: Paul McCartney explains songwriting process with The Beatles