The one Beatles cover Paul McCartney cherishes most: “I love it”
Every song initially has its origins inside the brain of an individual or tight-knit group, making it an incredibly personal exercise. However, once that same song has been released into the world, it’s suddenly open to interpretation by anyone and belongs to the people rather than its creator, which Paul McCartney knows all too well.
Another artist choosing to cover a song is typically born out of love for the piece of music. Therefore, it should be the ultimate compliment that the original artist is expected to take in their stride. However, it comes with risk if the cover sees an artist taking creative license, which can yield wonderful or horrendous results and rarely anything in between. Bob Dylan was humbled when Jimi Hendrix made ‘All Along The Watchtower’ his own, remarking, “Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it’s a tribute to him in some kind of way.”
Of course, covers rarely get close to the level of ‘All Along The Watchtower‘, and they are often nothing but a poor imitation of the original. McCartney has been covered thousands of times over his career, and it would take him weeks of non-stop listening to acquaint himself with every take on his tracks. Nevertheless, hearing somebody else cover one of his songs for the first time and take it in a new direction was an immense feeling he’ll never forget.
McCartney has been asked about his favourite covers of their work on numerous occasions throughout his career. However, while he has listed several different compositions over the decades, he is particularly fond of Esther Phillips’ version of ‘And I Love Him’. Phillips recorded the track in 1965 and reimagined it completely by bringing it into her wondrous R&B realm. She cast a spell on the track that McCartney never could have done himself, and her originality continues to captivate him whenever he hears it.
During an online Q&A in 2014, the former Beatle told one of his fans who asked about this subject: “There are so many that I love it’s difficult to say, but Esther Phillips’ version of ‘And I love HIM’ comes to mind.” Additionally, during a discussion with Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in 2018, McCartney said: “The earliest one that really caught my ear was by Esther Phillips, R&B Singer. She did a female version of ‘And I Love Her’ called ‘And I Love Him’, which is really great. I love it.”
When Phillips released the cover, it was still a relatively new sensation for McCartney to have somebody else record a take on one of his songs. In the immediate years that followed, the biggest stars in music all lined up to make Beatles covers. Ray Charles’ version of Eleanor Rigby is one of the standouts for McCartney, which he said he “loved.”
Notably, McCartney is responsible for writing the most covered song in the history of modern music, ‘Yesterday‘. There have been thousands of different versions of this song alone, which was far too many for McCartney to wade through, so instead, he got somebody on his team to collate a list of the best ten. He once recalled, “So I listened to all of them. They were great. It was like Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Marvin Gaye – very cool, Ray Charles, and the list went on. Amazing people, amazing versions.”
Although Phillips’ take on ‘And I Love Him’ sits in a league of its own for McCartney, partly due to sentimental reasons, Joe Cocker’s ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ is another he greatly admired. Following Cocker’s death, he fondly shared, “I remember [Cocker] and Denny Cordell coming round to the studio in Saville Row and playing me what they’d recorded. It was just mind-blowing … [he] totally turned the song into a soul anthem, and I was forever grateful for him for doing that.”
While many artists can, somewhat understandably, get precious about other musicians covering their work, McCartney’s approach is refreshing. He understands that once a song is released, anybody is free to record a cover, which comes from appreciation. Admittedly, some may miss the mark, but occasionally, a spectacular cover comes along like Phillips’ ‘And I Love Him’, which proves to be life-affirming.
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