Paul McCartney has been involved in some of the most popular and beloved music the modern world has ever known. But which one of The Beatles’ extensive back catalogue was his favourite?
In a recently unearthed interview, thanks to CBS, that question has now been answered. The star, usually very coy about picking his favourite songs, was talking to Scott Muni, a legendary broadcaster for WNEW in New York City, about his then-new song ‘We All Stand Together’ back in 1984.
The singer was promoting the track, which featured in the short animated film Rupert and the Frog Song and was credited to Paul McCartney And The Frog Chorus, when Muni hit him with the age-old question, what is your favourite Beatles song?
The difference to every other time that Muni had likely asked the question, this time he was asking Paul McCartney himself. Macca eventually settles on the 1966 Revolver track, ‘Here, There and Everywhere’. The singer opened up about the difficulty in choosing his favourite song from such an extensive and adored back catalogue.
“Well, it’s difficult to choose the favorite. It (‘Here, There and Everywhere’) is one of my favourites. You look at your songs and kinda look to see which of the ones you think are maybe the best constructed and stuff,” says McCartney. “I think ‘Yesterday’ — if it wasn’t so successful — might be my favourite.”
“But, you know, you get that thing when something is just so successful… people often don’t want to do ‘the big one’ that everyone wants them to do. They kind of shy away from it,” continued McCartney. “‘Here, There and Everywhere’ with ‘Yesterday’ as a close second.”
‘Here, There and Everywhere’ remains one of the sparkling moments on Revolver as a soaring romantic ballad about living in the moment, while ‘Yesterday’ is clearly one of the most iconic songs ever written. It’s a testament to McCartney that he has those two choices available.
During the interview, Paul was also asked about the controversial decision to not include former Beatle, George Harrison in Paul’s film, Give My Regards To Broad Street. While Paul starred in the flick, the singer also asked Ringo Starr to be involved.
“George was out of the country for that year… tell you the truth, I know George wouldn’t have wanted to do it,” said Paul. He went on to clarify George’s feelings on films, “George doesn’t really have any aspirations in acting, I don’t think,” he says. “He never really did in the old movies… he was the least keen of us to do some acting.”
Naturally defensive, Paul concludes, “I didn’t exclude him on purpose because I hate him or anything. I know he wouldn’t have done it and he was out of the country.”