Like most artists, Paul McCartney is loathe to talk about his favorite songs, often comparing the process to picking one child over another. And with a career stretching back five decades through chartopping bands like the Beatles and Wings, not to mention his record-smashing solo career, it can’t be an easy proposition.
Pressed, however, via a BBC audience Q&A session, McCartney offers a trio of suggestions — beginning with “Here, There and Everywhere,” from 1966’s Revolver.
“I have a lovely memory,” McCartney adds. “We were filming Help! with the Beatles, and I was sharing a room with John. We played that track, we were listening to the album, and he just sort of turned to me and said: ‘That’s a great one, that is.’ And, you know, he didn’t give a lot of praise — so that, to me, was like, ‘Whoa, come on!'”
McCartney goes on to select the title track from 1970’s Let It Be (“just because my mom came to me in a dream, and she gave me the idea of that”) and “Here Today,” a tribute to Lennon which appeared on his 1982 solo effort Tug of War. “That’s kind of an emotional one for me,” McCartney says, before hastily adding: “That’s my three — for today.”
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His memory is (more than) a little faulty. How could he and John have been listening to the ‘Revolver’ album from 1966 when the Beatles filmed ‘Help!’ in 1965? Paul’s habit of revisionist storytelling got him again.
Could have been a demo.
“We played that track, we were listening to the album.”
On another occasion, Paul said the incident with John listening to the song took place on the Beatles’ 1966 tour, which began with a show in Germany (June 24th), not Austria.
Sorry, his memory is, ahem, faulty.