Paul McCartney on working on the new Rolling Stones album: "I felt like a fan"

Paul McCartney has spoken about the excitement he felt during the recording sessions for the new Rolling Stones album, due out in the coming months. For the former Beatle, this marks his second recent collaboration with Mick Jagger's band, following his appearance on “Hackney Diamonds“, an experience that, despite his extraordinarily long career, still retains a special appeal for him.
Speaking to NME on the occasion of the release of his nineteenth solo album, “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane”, McCartney explained that he approached those sessions with the same wide-eyed wonder as a fan. “It was really exciting,” he said, noting that it's not often he gets to work “like a session player.” “It was really nice to just show up at the studio with my bass and say: 'Right, where do you want me?' You start playing, they let you hear the track, and I started thinking: 'I'm playing with the Stones!'”.

The English artist revealed just how moved he was to take part in the sessions. “You could be a bit blasé about it and say: 'Yeah, fine, so what?' For me it was the exact opposite.” The memory of those sessions is still vivid: “It was like: 'Wow, there's Mick! Ooh, there's Keith! Woah, there's Ronnie!' It was thrilling. Really lovely.” McCartney also recalled the pleasure of watching the band's working method up close while recording “Covered In You”, one of the tracks on the new record. “I could hear Keith, take after take, working out the riff that ended up on the album, Ronnie building his solo, Mick working on the vocal part.” By the end of the day in the studio, his enthusiasm hadn't faded one bit. “I went home that day and kept telling everyone: 'I just played with the Stones!' I'm glad I wasn't blasé about it. It really is exciting. Not everyone gets to play 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 record revisits his childhood in Liverpool, his family history, and the years of artistic growth he shared with John Lennon and George Harrison before the Beatles found success. Among its most notable moments is “Home To Us“, billed as the first-ever duet between McCartney and Ringo Starr, while “Days We Left Behind” contains a reference to the “secret code” he shared with John Lennon and has never publicly revealed.

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