“How do you come up with that?”: the two songwriters Paul McCartney called geniuses
Being labelled as a musical genius is a massive accolade to receive on its own and is undoubtedly something that all artists strive to be recognised as. However, no matter how many people dish out this high level of praise to you, surely nothing can beat the intense rush of being labelled a genius by someone else who has already had this title bestowed upon them – someone such as Paul McCartney.
Macca is no stranger to being labelled as a genius in his own right, given how his contributions to The Beatles and his subsequent efforts as a solo artist and frontman of Wings are often praised for being among the greatest rock and pop records ever released. McCartney isn’t just a talented songwriter and musician but is someone who can be regarded as an innovator who held the capacity to help shape the course of popular music throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, and for that, the title of genius is very much warranted.
At the same time, he’s always been a vocal supporter of others and has never been afraid to share his love for his contemporaries, dishing out praise for those who have managed to inspire him throughout his own illustrious career. However, liberally applying the term genius to others is a difficult thing to navigate, as too much use of the word can often result in a softening of its impact. The term ought to be reserved for those that deserve the highest recognition, and when it came to McCartney bestowing this honour onto others, he certainly only dished it out to the crème de la crème.
Having worked alongside soul icon Stevie Wonder on multiple occasions throughout his career, McCartney is well-equipped to recognise his talents and has witnessed his brilliance in the studio first-hand. First collaborating in 1982 for their duet ‘Ebony and Ivory’, and then later teaming up once again for Wonder to sing on his Kisses on the Bottom album track ‘Only Our Hearts’ in 2012, the former Beatle has praised the Motown legend for his natural abilities in the past, and has referred to him as a “musical monster”.
” I’ve actually performed it with him, and I’m afraid to say that during the soundcheck, I broke down.”
paul mccartney
Speaking of the latter collaboration, McCartney noted that when Wonder came into the studio, he “listened to the track for about ten minutes, and he totally got it” before taking to the microphone to deliver an exceptionally virtuosic solo in next to no time. “When you listen, you just think, ‘How do you come up with that?’”, McCartney said of his experience working alongside Wonder. “But it’s just because he is a genius, that’s why.”
The other musician to have been on the receiving end of McCartney’s “genius” tag is one with whom The Beatles were constantly in fierce competition and who continually pushed them to better themselves from the mid-1960s to the end of their time as a band. Recognising The Beach Boys’ frontman and chief songwriter Brian Wilson as one of the greatest musicians to have ever lived, McCartney was invited to induct him into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 2000, where he noted that Wilson was “one of the great American geniuses.”
McCartney has also been fortunate enough to perform alongside Wilson during his career; a moment that he recalls was able to move him to tears. Speaking about his personal favourite song of Wilson’s, ‘God Only Knows’, he would bring out the label once again to decorate the Californian songwriter, stating that “it’s really just a love song, but it’s brilliantly done. It shows the genius of Brian. I’ve actually performed it with him, and I’m afraid to say that during the soundcheck, I broke down.”
While Wonder and Wilson both occupy different spaces in the history of popular music, McCartney’s observation of their unmatched talents is certainly warranted, and there’s little evidence to suggest that either of them aren’t completely deserves to be labelled as geniuses.
