Paul McCartney fans want Beatles member to collaborate with music legend

Fans of the legendary songwriter Paul McCartney want The Beatles legend to collaborate with a fellow music legend.

While the chances of such a collaboration may be slim, listeners believe the pair would be a brilliant match in the studio. A post to the r/PaulMcCartney had fans suggest a host of possible collaborations. The likes of Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and Weyes Blood were suggested by listeners hoping to hear the Wings frontman get back into the studio with special guests. McCartney is no stranger to collaboration, having written with John Lennon, Elvis Costello, Nirvana, and even worked with producer Nigel Godrich in the past. While his recent album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, may have been made alone, fans are hopeful of hearing more in the studio from McCartney.

A fan asked: “Paul writes solo now but he’s previously collaborated with Denny Laine, Eric Stewart (from 10cc) and Elvis Costello. Who else would you like to seen Paul co-write with? Personally, I’d say Neil Finn.” McCartney and Finn have been tied together by an erroneous interview quote. The myth goes that, when asked how it was to be the greatest living songwriter, McCartney replied: “I don’t know, you’d have to ask Neil Finn.”

Comedian and musician Tim Minchin, when interviewing McCartney, managed to verify that the quote is not true. McCartney replied: “No, it just isn’t a true story, sorry.” He did go on to say he enjoyed Finn’s music, though the quote calling him the best living songwriter is false.

Other names were mentioned by McCartney fans, with some believing he and Carole King would be quite the studio pairing. Others believe McCartney should be thrown into the studio with his peers to see what they can come up with.

One fan wrote: “Depends on the day. Sometimes I wish that Paul and Neil Young were locked in a fully stocked studio for two weeks. Sometimes I think that Paul and Jacob Collier in the same situation would provide bountiful results. Other times though, I would have liked Paul working with one of the lyrical masters: Paul Simon, Stephen Sondheim, Aimee Mann.”

Others were hopeful of hearing McCartney return to collaborating with Pump it Up hitmaker Elvis Costello. A fan of the pair’s work on Flowers in the Dirt shared: “I wish he had KEPT writing with Elvis Costello. Paul’s lyrics never reach the effortless peaks of his music, but with EC, the lyrics came DAMN close.”

Another suggested: “I always thought him and Donovan should have worked together after The Beatles ended. They were friends, or at least friendly since they went to India together, but maybe he was more on the John/George side around then, who knows.”

More recently, McCartney collaborated on a covers album made by Barbra Streisand. The pair covered McCartney’s My Valentine on the album The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two, which also featured Streisand collaborating with Bob Dylan, Hozier, and Laufey.