Mick Jagger says The Beatles were “the most prolific songwriters of that time”
Mick Jagger has heaped praise on The Beatles, labelling them as “the most prolific songwriters of that time”.
While there was a competitive rivalry between the Beatles and Stones in the 1960s, it was the Fab Four who were responsible for giving Jagger’s group their first hit by allowing them to record ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ in 1963.
Back then, The Beatles had more songs than they knew what to do with, also donating tracks to the likes of Peter and Gordon, The Applejacks, and Cilla Black.
Now, in a new interview to coincide with the release of The Rolling Stones’ new album, Foreign Tongues, Jagger has given love to his former foes.
He told SiriusXM’s Classic Vinyl, “They were the most prolific songwriters of that time. You know, they wrote all these songs for themselves, which are all huge hits that were coming out all the time.”
Jagger continued, “Plus they were writing and giving songs that they made as demos for all these disparate people, you know, like Cilla Black and this one and that one—all had huge hits with songs which the Beatles wrote, including us, you know, so we were all really happy to get them and it just made them into this huge writing machine, you know, that they were amazingly prolific.”
His comments come as The Stones share their latest collaboration with Paul McCartney, ‘Covered In You’, which features on Foreign Tongues. McCartney laid down his bass on the track at the same time that he contributed to ‘Bite My Head Off’ from 2023’s Hackney Diamonds.
Notably, both Hackney Diamonds and Foreign Tongues are produced by Andrew Watt, who was also at the helm for McCartney’s latest album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, which instigated the long-time friends finally teaming up together again.
Earlier this week, in a new interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Keith Richards opened up about working with McCartney, who he believes misses being in a band environment.
“You know I’ve realised that Paul really misses being in a band. And his joy of just being in that context is great. So if there’s any more songs to do, I’ll let you know, Paul,” Richards shared.
He then reflected on their long-lasting relationship, saying, “I’ve known Paul for well basically since The Beatles started, since we started, but I mean only on the periphery and John and Paul did a couple of backup vocals for us way back when on ‘We Love You’ and ‘Dandelion’ I think way back in like ’67 or something like that.”
Listen to their new collaboration below.
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