Rick Rubin: Paul McCartney is “the best of all bass players”
Producer Rick Rubin, who has worked with some of the best in the business, has revealed that he believes that the former Beatles member Paul McCartney to be “the best of all bass players”.
Speaking to MOJO, Rubin explained that he thinks McCartney is the best bassist of all time and was surprised by his songwriting approach, which he described as the “simplest”. Notably, the pair worked together on the 2021 Hulu miniseries McCartney 3,2,1.
“I thought about how everything I’ve seen, Beatles-related, is either about the songwriting or Beatlemania,” Rubin told the publication. “Paul McCartney the bass player, or Paul McCartney the musician, because he plays everything – that’s a little story told.”
He continued: “You just think of him as Beatle Paul, yet in my opinion, he is the best of all bass players, he’s number one.”
Rubin then discussed how impressed he was with McCartney’s straightforward approach to writing hit songs. He said: “What blew my mind was when he sat at the piano and he started showing me how to write a song.”
Rubin added: “He was saying, ‘See, you could (do) it like this’, and what he was showing me was the simplest thing, but then he starts moving his fingers around slightly, and all of a sudden it evolves into ‘Hey Jude’ or ‘Let It Be’. He’s using this technique that any child could do, then it morphs into one of the greatest songs of all time!”
Elsewhere, it was announced earlier this month that Paul McCartney will release a new book of photos entitled 1964: Eyes of the Storm to celebrate his 81st birthday in June. Comprised of stills taken on his 35mm camera, the wealth of never-seen-before images were shot in New York, Washington, London, Liverpool, Miami and Paris. They display The Beatles in 1964, the year they took to the world stage.
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