Paul McCartney shares previously unheard recording with Jeff Beck
In the first month of the year alone, we’ve lost legends including David Crosby and Tom Verlaine. Any rock star past the age of 70 might want to be on watch because 2023 might be the year of reckoning. It all kicked off just a few days after New Year’s, when iconic British blues guitarist Jeff Beck passed away at the age of 78.
Beck had gotten around, playing with everyone from old childhood friend Jimmy Page to Motown legend Stevie Wonder to recent scandal-prone actor Johnny Depp. Along the way, he cultivated a massive discography that put him among the most prolific artists of his generation. In 1994, Beck even found some time to collaborate with Paul McCartney, although their focus wasn’t solely on music.
Instead, the pair recorded a message regarding deforestation, cattle grazing, and one of McCartney’s most beloved causes, vegetarianism. The duo also recorded a brief bit of instrumental music to back up the audio messages. Now, McCartney has shared the previously unheard track while promoting his ongoing campaign of Meat Free Mondays.
“With the sad passing of Jeff Beck – a good friend of mine, and a great, great guitar player – it reminded me of the time we worked together many years ago on a campaign for vegetarianism,” McCartney shared in an Instagram video. “It’s great guitar playing, because it’s Jeff. So if you’d like to hear it, if you’d like to hear what we did and the messages of the campaign, go to this link, and you’ll hear it.”
“What worries me is what else we’re killing besides the cows,” Beck says in the message. “Nearly a quarter of all medications and pharmaceuticals that we use today are derived from tropical plants. 70 per cent of the plants identified as having anti-cancer agents come from rainforests. And yet, because we want more and more grazing land for cattle, we are ripping up the rainforests, uncaring or oblivious to the fact that these forests may and possibly do contain plants that can provide a cure for leukaemia or heart disease. Maybe even a cure for AIDS. Who knows?”
As it stands, the message and brief instrumental represent the only studio collaboration between Beck and McCartney during their lifetimes. It’s strange to think that two of the biggest figures in British rock never really made time to work together, especially considering Beck’s extensive history of collaboration, but thankfully, they did find the time to make this recording for a good cause.
Listen to the recording below.
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