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The reason why Paul McCartney didn’t want to do ‘Carpool Karaoke’ with James Corden
The Paul McCartney edition of ‘Carpool Karaoke’ is a piece of television which nourishes the soul. In 2018, Macca took a trip down memory lane by visiting his hometown, which has thankfully been archived forever, but it almost never happened.
The segment is part of James Corden’s The Late Late Show, which has aired on CBS since 2015. ‘Carpool Karaoke’ quickly became an online phenomenon and a fan favourite. It sees Corden usually drive a famous musician around Los Angeles while singing along to some of their biggest hits, which the host uses as a loose vehicle for an informal interview.
Corden has had everybody from Foo Fighters to Adele participate in the segment, and McCartney was a name he wanted to secure from the beginning, even if it felt impossible. In 2018, Corden finally began talks with the former Beatle, and he wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip when he was told Macca had got “cold feet”.
McCartney is an artist that doesn’t need added publicity, and even though his appearance on the programme was guaranteed to generate international media coverage, it wasn’t particularly required. However, that wasn’t why he agreed to take part. Shortly before filming was due to begin, McCartney’s team got in touch with the show and informed them that he was unsure about taking part, which sent Corden into a frenzied panic.
The project was a large-scale operation, and Corden’s team had already put a great deal of work into arranging places in Liverpool where they could film, such as The Cavern. With the segment on the brink of collapse, Corden personally intervened to save it. The comedian told People: “I’ve never really done this before. Normally, I would always consult [with my team]. And I thought, I’m just gonna send him an email. And I just wrote him an email saying, ‘I think that this is unacceptable’.
“I said, ‘I completely respect your decision not to do it, but I need you to understand what the knock-on effect is for our show. We have flown people to Liverpool, scouting these locations for pubs. We just don’t have a budget that can sustain that sort of expense without a finished product,” Corden recalled.
He continued: “Paul, I guarantee you, I promise you, this will be great. And the reason it will be great is because you’re Paul McCartney. You’ve written songs that mean more to people than any of us will ever, ever be able to comprehend. And I urge you to reconsider. But if you can’t, I respect it. But I would ask you to come and do something in return when we bring our show to London.”
After McCartney realised the work had already gone into place, he understood it was too late to back out. The Beatle agreed to go ahead with the segment on the condition they didn’t film inside his childhood family home because he hasn’t been back since, and Corden was more than happy to oblige.
In the end, Macca was thrilled to take part and later explained: “What with one thing and another it was all getting a bit much and I rang up and said ‘Hey I don’t think I can do this I haven’t got time’ and James got back to me and said ‘Oh no you’ve got to do it, give us something.’ The minute I got in that car I loved it.”
Watch Paul McCartney’s appearance on ‘Carpool Karaoke’ below.
