Paul McCartney shares regret about Prince’s death: “It’s such a shame”
Paul McCartney has reflected on his love of Prince and opened up about his tragic death in 2016, sharing that he wishes that he had known him better.
McCartney made the remarks in a new interview with BBC Radio 2’s Tracks of My Years, which included ‘Kiss’ by Prince as one of his selections.
Firstly, in response to a question about Prince’s ability as a guitarist, McCartney said, “He took a lot from Hendrix, but he was a great player… There’s something about it, you know he knows that instrument. I like his playing.”
“I could have easily chosen ‘Purple Rain’, but ‘Kiss’ is such a crazy little record. There’s hardly anything on it, if you listen to it,” he added.
McCartney then explained precisely what makes ‘Kiss’ such an enduring record, sharing, “It’s just so simple, again to pull that kind of thing off, you can do a kind of simple thing, and it can just sound simple but not great, but his sounds simply great. He’s a wizard.”
The Beatles legend then delivered a “crazy scoop” to host Vernon Kay, revealing, “I was with some guy, a couple of years ago so it was after Prince had died, and he said, ‘Have you heard Prince do ‘Long and Winding Road”, I said, ‘Well no, that’s one of my songs, I don’t think he ever did it’.”
Much to McCartney’s delight, he discovered that Prince had covered the track in rehearsals, and a recording was sent his way, recalling, “It’s really great, so I’m going to ask them… because I could make it into something really good.” Shedding more light on the cover, McCartney described it as “kind of rocky”.
He then mournfully said of Prince’s passing, “He was a special guy, it’s so sad these people y’know, suddenly he’s not here. It always makes me wish that I’d known him better, and I could say, ‘Hey man, what’s going on?’ It’s such a shame, there’s such talents.”
Elsewhere on his Tracks of My Years appearance, his picks find him looking back at his early years, which is a theme that encapsulates his new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, which is set for release on May 29th.
McCartney’s first selection on Tracks of My Years sees him take it back to the 1950s with Gene Vincent’s ‘Be-bop-a-Lula’. His following three selections, Chuck Berry’s ‘Maybelline’, Buddy Holly’s ‘That’ll Be The Day’, and Elvis Presley’s ‘All Shook Up’, also see him stay with this era.
Next, McCartney moves to the ’60s, singling out The Kinks’ classic track, ‘You Really Got Me’, as well as his favourite song of all-time, ‘God Only Knows’ by The Beach Boys’, and ‘Mr Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan, another artist of huge influence on him.
There are also two songs from the ’80s that make McCartney’s list, picking out ‘Don’t You Want Me’ by Sheffield electronic pioneers The Human League alongside the aforementioned ‘Kiss’ by Prince.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.