“He totally got it”: When Stevie Wonder’s process left Paul McCartney in awe
As one of the most beloved and revered musicians around, Paul McCartney has really had his pick of the bunch when it comes to collaborators. Being deeply respected and admired amongst his fellow musicians has meant that the ex-Beatle has been able to work with really anyone he wants, able to pick and choose from amongst the best and brightest. But out of all the people he’s brought into the studio, there was one who truly blew him away.
Think of any major name in music, and McCartney has likely worked with them. He dueted with Michael Jackson, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, George Michael, Elvis Costello, Kanye West and many more. He turned his voice to jazz to duet with Tony Bennett or reunited with his fellow 1960s pioneer when he worked with Brian Wilson.
But even beyond big names, collaboration is clearly something that McCartney loves. After the release of McCartney III in 2020, he then released McCartney III Imagined, where he called in a cast of up-and-coming names to rework the songs. As someone who could have invited the biggest names in the world to cover these songs, his decision to work with the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, Khruangbin and Dominic Fike, amongst established acts like Damon Albarn and Beck, proves his love for melding musical minds with other artists.
Throughout all that though, and all his many, many years keeping the company of the best musicians around in his bands and studios, there was one collaborator that stood out as completely staggering.
“Stevie came along to the studio in LA and he listened to the track for about ten minutes and he totally got it,” McCartney recalled about his 2012 collaborator with Stevie Wonder on ‘Only Our Hearts’, “He just went to the mic and within 20 minutes had nailed this dynamite solo.”
This wasn’t the first time the pair worked together. The first was in February 1981 at AIR Studios in Salem, Montserrat. George Martin was behind the desk as McCartney still called in the trusted Beatles producer for major projects, and given the guest that was about to arrive, this was a major one as Stevie Wonder arrived to work on their number one hit, ‘Ebony and Ivory’.
Across both collaborations, McCartney was blown away by Wonder’s ease and speed at picking things up and making them his own. Getting to watch Wonder at work, coming up with the harmonica solo for ‘Only Our Hearts’ or putting his own spin on ‘Ebony and Ivory’, it always stood out to McCartney as a true highlight in his long career of collaborations.
“When you listen, you just think, ‘How do you come up with that?’ But it’s just because he is a genius, that’s why,” he said, laying on the praise for an artist he believes truly deserves the “genius” status.
