PAUL McCARTNEY: "RINGO AND I HAD NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE"

Paul McCartney has detailed the origins of his duet with Ringo Starr. While developing his latest record, The Boys Of Dungeon Lane, Paul composed a track titled “Home To Us”—a nostalgic nod to their shared childhood in Liverpool.

Upon receiving the demo, Ringo contributed lyrics to the chorus, prompting Paul to realize that the song required his old friend’s vocals. Speaking to a group of fans during an exclusive listening session at the iconic Abbey Road Studios, Paul said:

“Ringo went round to the studio and drummed a bit. I said to [producer Andrew Watt], we should make a track and send it to him. So this song is done totally with Ringo in mind … In writing the song I’m talking about where we came from. In common with a lot of people, you come from nothing and you build yourself up …

Ringo was from the Dingle [area of Liverpool], and that was well hard. He said he used to get mugged coming home, because he worked. Even though it was crazy, it was home to us.

I made the song around that idea and sent it to Ringo. He sent me back a version where he just added some lines to the chorus, so I thought, maybe he doesn’t like it.

I rang him and he said he thought I only wanted him to sing one or two lines, and I said I’d love to hear him sing the whole thing. So we took my first line, Ringo’s second line, and then we had a duet. We’d never done that before.”

Paul subsequently concluded that the track required top-tier harmony singers, leading him to enlist the talents of Chrissie Hynde alongside Sharleen Spiteri, the frontwoman of Texas.

Paul said: “We wanted some backing vocals and I had the idea it would be nice to hear girls. Chrissie Hynde said she’d do it, and Sharleen Spiteri, they’re mates. So they did it.”

The Boys Of Dungeon Lane is set for release on May 29 while Home To Us is out on Friday (08.05.26).

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