‘He seemed to have fallen in a rut’: Foreigner’s Mick Jones on a Paul McCartney collaboration that never happened

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Long before he co-founded Foreigner, Mick Jones palled around with the Fab Four during the heady days of Beatlemania in 1964. Fast forward a decade, and he could be found working as a sideman on George Harrison’s Dark Horse album. Hopes to collaborate with Paul McCartney, however, have yet to work out.

“About 15 to 20 years ago I thought I would like to work with Paul,” Jones tells the Daily Record. “He had great ideas but one thing that was missing was a real songwriter to help him out of the rut that he seemed to have fallen into and bring some vital new stuff out.”

Jones, who aside from his tenure in Foreigner has also produced Van Halen, Bad Company and Billy Joel among others, instead saw Mark Ronson work with McCartney on his latest release, simply titled New. “I always thought about working with Paul,” Jones says, “but my stepson Mark beat me to it.”

Jones split with Ronson’s mother back in 2007. Thus far, they’ve only collaborated on Foreigner’s 2009 album Can’t Slow Down, on which Ronson served as co-producer. Jones cautions against looking for another career intersection any time soon.

“He’s got his career and I’ve got mine,” Jones says. “He’s writing his solo album, and it might be too close. It’s OK doing a one-off here and there, but he’s got his style and really has to concentrate on his direction. I admire what he’s done and would love to work with him again, but I think you have to be careful.”

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