Stella McCartney’s favourite song by The Beatles
Trying to pick a favourite song by The Beatles feels impossible. As the band moved through so many different sounds and styles, how can you even begin to compare tracks like ‘Help!’ or ‘Helter Skelter’ in order to select a favourite? With so many tracks to pick from, it feels like a trick question. But Stella McCartney has her answer locked in.
The designer and Beatles heir Stella McCartney is the third child of Paul and Linda McCartney. After her older sister Mary and Linda McCartney’s child Heather, whom Paul legally adopted, Stella grew up travelling the world with Wings. In fact, the band name was apparently inspired by Stella’s birth and her father’s prayers that she’d live on “the wings of an angel”.
Stella has spoken a lot about her pride in her father over the years. Having a father with such creative force must have been an inspiring way to grow up, with McCartney following her father’s artistic streak as she went into the fashion world. Her brand has even collaborated with The Beatles before, always keen to connect with the band’s legacy.
But when it comes to her favourite song, Stella prefers the later period. Her favourite track comes from the 1968 self-titled album, best known as The White Album. Sharing a playlist of her favourite songs of all time, featuring Talking Heads’ ‘Road To Nowhere’, David Bowie’s ‘Starman’, Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and more, ‘Blackbird’ was the Beatles song to make the list.
“I’m really proud of Dad that he wrote it at such a young age,” she told the BBC in 2017. “He had this sort of incredible vision to understand politics, to understand poetry,” she added.
In 2022, during his Glastonbury headline slot, Paul McCartney’s rendition of the hit was a beautiful, standout moment. But we have Stella to thank for still being able to hear the song live.
As a tricky song to play live due to its intricate guitar instrumentation, Paul McCartney wanted to save himself the stress and pull the song from his live sets. As her favourite Beatles song, Stella convinced her father to keep playing the song at his shows, saying, “I was really happy that he put it back in.”
To this day, Paul McCartney still plays the track live for his daughter, regularly taking to the stage solo to give the beautiful song a special moment.
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