{"id":698262,"date":"2026-05-27T17:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T17:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/698262\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T17:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T17:06:14","slug":"paul-mccartney-talks-unreleased-prince-beatles-cover-hed-like-to-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/698262\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul McCartney Talks Unreleased Prince Beatles Cover He’d Like to Release"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tYou\u2019d think that after more than 60-plus years of doing press that Paul McCartney<\/a> would have run out of anecdotes to share. But you\u2019d be wrong. The indefatigable former Beatle and solo superstar managed to pull a doozy out of his hat during a recent chat with Vernon Kay on BBC Radio\u2019s Tracks of My Years show, in which McCartney ran down the ten songs that connected his Liverpool childhood to the Beatles global fame through his wistful new solo album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\n\tAnd while it was interesting to hear McCartney, 83, describe how Gene Vincent\u2019s \u201cBe-Bop-A-Lula\u201d \u2014\u00a0the first album he ever bought \u2014\u00a0helped inspire how the Beatles thought about presenting their music, from B-sides to single packaging, the real revelation came when he casually dropped a wee tale about the Prince cover of a Beatles song that never was.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m going to ask them [Prince\u2019s estate]. I could make it into something really good,\u201d McCartney said of a cover of the Beatles\u2019 1970s Let It Be anthem \u201cThe Long and Winding Road,\u201d that was recorded by Prince during a rehearsal and has never been officially released. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of rocky. He plays some really good guitar on it,\u201d added McCartney, who did not offer any additional details about where or when the song was tracked.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat he said was that he was with \u201csome guy\u201d a few years ago following Prince\u2019s death in 2016 at 57 of an accidental fentanyl overdose, and the man asked if he\u2019d heard Prince\u2019s cover of the ballad from the Beatles\u2019 final studio album. \u201c\u2018Have you heard Prince do \u2018Long and Winding Road?’\u201d he said the man, who he believed was a photographer for Prince, asked him. \u201c\u2018Well, no. That\u2019s one of my songs,’\u201d McCartney responded. \u201c\u2018I don\u2019t think he ever did it.\u2019 So he sent it to me and it\u2019s really great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor the record, McCartney chose Prince\u2019s \u201cKiss\u201d as his favorite track from the late singer\u2019s catalog, which he praised for its elegant simplicity. \u201cHe\u2019s a wizard,\u201d McCartney said of the singer he lamented he wished he\u2019d gotten to know better.<\/p>\n

\n\tElsewhere in the chat, McCartney described the impact of songs by Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly & the Crickets, Elvis, the Kinks, the Human League, Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys. He also took a minute to opine on some of the most popular songwriters of today, saying he\u2019s met some of today\u2019s biggest pop artists and he likes what he hears.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve met a few of these girls and admired what they\u2019re doing. I think they\u2019re good singers,\u201d McCartney said. \u201cTaylor\u2019s very good. She\u2019s clever,\u201d he said of Taylor Swift, whose massive global fame he said neatly parallels the Beatles\u2019 huge fan base in their day. As for any advice he might have for Swift, 36, McCartney said \u201cI don\u2019t think she needs any advice, tell you the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFirst describing himself as the \u201colder brother\u201d and then the \u201cgrandad\u201d to that generation of pop stars, McCartney described a party his wife and daughter clothing designer Stella McCartney had where \u201ca load of those\u201d girls were in attendance. \u201cI ended up chatting to them all,\u201d he said, ticking off a list that included Swift, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey\u2019re really cool people. They\u2019re very good,\u201d he said, praising all their voices and doubling down on his feeling that none of them need his advice, but that he\u2019s more than willing to offer it if they ask.<\/p>\n

\n\tWatch McCartney talk Prince\u2019s \u201cKiss,\u201d that phantom Beatles cover and his thoughts on Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter below.<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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