Paul McCartney’s songs have been used by millions to celebrate life’s biggest moments, but now the rock icon is listing off the tunes that have provided the soundtrack to his own life.
A fan named Alex wrote to McCartney, asking what songs “take you back to certain periods in your life” and what his own music evokes when he performs it today.
“My favorite albums by other people tend to be: ‘Music from Big Pink’ by The Band, ‘Pet Sounds’ by the Beach Boys, and ‘Harvest’ by Neil Young,” the 83-year-old music legend replied on his website. “They are the three classics that I love to listen to, and they all remind me of certain times in my life.”
He said listening to his own work, including the music he made with The Beatles, has a different effect on him.
“When I perform my own songs, the great thing is that they often bring back memories of recording them,” he said. “That can often entail memories of John and George in the studio ― sweet memories!”
McCartney’s inclusion of “Pet Sounds” is hardly a surprise to longtime fans. He’s long listed it as a favorite, saying in 1990 that the Beach Boys’ masterpiece “blew me out of the water.”
He has also called one of the album’s signature tracks, “God Only Knows,” his favorite song.
“‘God Only Knows’ is one of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it,” he told BBC Radio 1 in 2007. “It’s really just a love song, but it’s brilliantly done.”
McCartney has said “Pet Sounds” influenced The Beatles as they created “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
McCartney paid tribute to Brian Wilson when the Beach Boys co-founder ― who was the mastermind behind “Pet Sounds” and many of the band’s other beloved albums ― died earlier this month at the age of 82.
“Brian had that mysterious sense of musical genius that made his songs so achingly special,” McCartney wrote on Instagram. “The notes he heard in his head and passed to us were simple and brilliant at the same time. I loved him, and was privileged to be around his bright shining light for a little while. How we will continue without Brian Wilson, ‘God Only Knows’.”
He hasn’t mentioned the other albums quite as frequently but has cited Young as ― along with Wilson ― one of his favorite songwriters, calling him “pretty uncompromising.”
And in September 1968, he gave “Music From Big Pink” a shoutout as The Beatles performed “Hey Jude” on the “Frost On Sunday” show, just two months after The Band released the album.
Listen closely, and toward the end of the song you can hear McCartney yell “Take a load off, Fanny,” a reference to The Band’s “The Weight.”
McCartney takes questions via his official Facebook page.
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