The artist Paul McCartney still wants to duet with: “I don’t know if we’ll ever get round to it”
To say ‘he’s done everything there is to do’ is a misconstruction when it comes to Paul McCartney. He’s been doing things we didn’t even know you could do his whole life. Eight decades into his long and winding road, he still hasn’t stopped turning over stones. In 2023, he proved he was still pioneering new ways to maximise creativity when ‘Now and Then’ became The Beatles’ 21st ground-breaking number one.
Still not satisfied, he has his sights set on a few lofty horizons yet. One of which would provide a very fitting finale if it were ever to come to fruition. You see, McCartney was pushed on from the very start by a sense of inspiration—perhaps there are more romantic ways to put it, but competitiveness has propelled him. However, there is one hero he has kept on an unimpeached pedestal, and he would only take him down to play alongside him. We can all hope this happens someday soon—mutual admiration would certainly hint that it is possible.
His hero is, of course, Bob Dylan. On a fateful night, he met him at the Delmonico Hotel in 1964, McCartney poignantly recalled: “I could feel myself climbing a spiral walkway as I was talking to Dylan. I felt like I was figuring it all out, the meaning of life.”
In fact, high as a kit on his first toke of American weed, McCartney even put down his mystic message in writing: “‘I’ve got it!’ and wrote down the key to it all on this piece of paper’, it all, on this occasion, being absolutely everything. ‘I told [Beatles roadie Mal Evans] ‘You keep this piece of paper, make sure you don’t lose it because the meaning of life is on there. Mal gave me the piece of paper the next day, and on it was written ‘There are seven levels.’ Well, there you go, the meaning of life…”
While Dylan might have been a bit more mute about his tiered love for The Beatles’ bassist, he certainly took a lot from him, too. “I’m in awe of Paul McCartney. He’s about the only one that I am in awe of. But I’m in awe of him,” the usually reticent Dylan told Rolling Stone in 2007. “He can do it all and he’s never let up, you know,” that much is true as ‘Macca’, a year younger than the equally active Bob, continues to inspire legions of fans.
As Andrew Bird told Far Out: “There are very few who are continuously obviously pushing themselves. Paul Simon can still pull out an amazing song, and Paul McCartney is no different. There aren’t many people who make it that far and are still pushing themselves.” He’s still got his finger on the pulse of society, and he’s proved this by collaborating with modern bands like Khruangbin in recent times.
The ‘Hey Jude’ star continues to push the progressive envelope like a postman of hits, and as Dylan adds, there is nothing but fantastic musicianship behind it. “He’s got the gift for melody; he’s got the rhythm,” Dylan continued. “He can play any instrument. He can scream and shout as good as anybody, and he can sing the ballad as good as anybody, you know so… And his melodies are, you know, effortless.”
Looking through his impressive career, it’s hard to disagree. His recording presence is impossible to undermine, and his ability to take it to the stage secured his spot as the ultimate spectacle, even 60 years after he first set foot on the boards. But he’d love to do it just once more with his hero, commenting to a fan question about who he would love to sing with: “Bob Dylan keeps coming up in my mind, but I don’t know if we’ll ever get round to it.”
If there is a God some seven stories above us, then please cut us some slack and align their diaries.
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