Mary McCartney/MPL Communications
As planned, Paul McCartney took part in a Q&A event Wednesday in his hometown of Liverpool, U.K., at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. Streamed live via Facebook, the interview was hosted by Pulp‘s Jarvis Cocker and featured the ex-Beatles star responding to questions from audience members, Facebook fans and Cocker himself.
Among the topics McCartney chatted about were his upcoming album, Egypt Station; his favorite recent recordings; the song he most wished he’d written; and the musicians with whom he worked that he most admired.
Sir Paul explained that Egypt Station is a concept album, noting that he was interested in making a collection of songs that would “take you somewhere,” in contrast to records by current stars like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift that he feels are “a collection of singles.”
McCartney explained that his new album, due out September 7, begins with “a [train] station noise…and then a choir swells out of that, so it’s like ‘Heavenly Station’ now…And then it goes into the first song.”
As for his favorite recent recordings, the rock legend mentioned Kendrick Lamar‘s latest, DAMN., and a new record by Christine and the Queens that he praised for being “so catchy.” He also picked Kanye West‘s 2010 album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which he said was “why I ended up working with him.”
The song he says he wished he’d written is Sting‘s “Fields of Gold,” jokingly revealing to Cocker that he once told the ex-Police frontman, “You stole my song.”
Regarding the musical collaborators he most admired, McCartney picked his Beatles band mates, especially John Lennon, as well as Stevie Wonder. McCartney also revealed that he’ll be playing a surprise gig Thursday in Liverpool.
Watch the whole Q&A at McCartney’s Facebook page.
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