“I said, ‘Well, I’m not doing this again. I’m not cut out for this. I’m no good.’”
Paul McCartney has shared an embarrassing story from early on in his career that he says made him want to quit playing live music.
The former Beatle was speaking on the latest episode of his iHeartPodcast, McCartney: A Life in Lyrics, when he spoke about one of the band’s earliest shows together, which featured McCartney taking the coveted lead guitar role.
“We had this gig and it was the first thing I ever played, and I was lead guitar player,” he explained. “John [Lennon] was rhythm. I had a solo and I totally froze. Could not move my fingers.”
“It was just so embarrassing. My lead guitar playing career melted at that moment and I said, ‘Well, I’m not doing this again. I’m not cut out for this. I’m no good.’”
McCartney later assumed the role of bass guitarist with the band, with Lennon remaining on rhythm guitar and George Harrison taking on the lead guitar duties.
Last week, Macca commented on Beyoncé’s cover of his song ‘Blackbird’, commending her for using it to “ease racial tension”.
Queen Bey included her version of the track on her new record ‘Cowboy Carter’, which was released on March 29. The song was originally released on The Beatles’ self-titled 1968 album, commonly referred to as ‘The White Album’.
“I am so happy with @beyonce’s version of my song ‘Blackbird’,” he wrote on social media. “I think she does a magnificent version of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place.”
It was also confirmed that Beyoncé used The Beatles’ original ‘Blackbird’ backing track in her cover of the song.
On other McCartney news, an artwork that was banned for being “too unflattering” in its depiction of him is heading to auction.
The musician also revealed that he once attempted to convince Vladimir Putin to release a group of Greenpeace campaigners by quoting him lyrics from The Beatles’ ‘Back in the U.S.S.R.’.