Paul McCartney has talked about the enthusiasm he felt during the recording sessions of the new Rolling Stones album, due out in the next few months. For the former Beatle, this is the second recent collaboration with Mick Jagger's band, after his participation in “Hackney Diamonds”, and an experience which, despite his very long career, continues to retain a special charm.
Interviewed by NME on the occasion of the release of his nineteenth solo album, “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane”, McCartney explained that he experienced those recordings with the same amazement as a fan. “It was really exciting,” he said, underlining that it isn't often he gets to work “like a shift worker.” “It was really nice to show up in the studio with the bass and just say: 'Well, where do you want me?'. You start playing, they play the song and I started thinking: 'I'm playing with the Stones!'”
The English artist revealed all his emotion in participating in the session. “You might even be a little blasé and say, ‘Yeah, okay, so what?’ For me it was the opposite.” The memory of the sessions is still vivid: “It was like, 'Wow, there's Mick! Ooh, there's Keith! Woah, there's Ronnie!'. It was exciting. Really nice.” McCartney also recalled the pleasure of closely observing the band's working method during the recording of “Covered In You”, one of the songs from the new album. “I could hear Keith while, take after take, he worked out the riff that ended up on the album, Ronnie building his solo, Mick working on the vocal part”. At the end of the day in the studio, the enthusiasm remained intact. “I went home that day and kept telling everyone, 'I just played with the Stones!'. I'm glad I wasn't being blasé. It's really exciting. Not everyone plays with the Stones!”
The interview came on the eve of the release of “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane”, McCartney's first album since 2020's “McCartney III”. The album traces his childhood in Liverpool, his family history and the years of artistic training shared with John Lennon and George Harrison before the success of the Beatles. Among the most significant moments stands out “Home To Us”, presented as the first ever duet between McCartney and Ringo Starr, while “Days We Left Behind” contains a reference to the “secret code” shared with John Lennon and never revealed publicly.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
