Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote catchy tracks because they had no other way of remembering lyrics otherwise.
Talking to Jarvis Cocker in a special Q&A at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), Paul’s old school that he and Mark Featherstone-Witty revamped as a performing arts college in 1996, the Beatles legend reflected on his life and career to students and fans around the world via Facebook Live.
When quizzed by the Pulp frontman on how he penned music before the invention of portable tape recorders, the 76-year-old revealed how his famous songwriting partnership with John started.
“We had to write songs you could remember – I think that turned out to be a good thing,” Paul smiled. “John and I would have a writing session, go away and have an evening out, and in the middle of the evening we’d think, ‘What was that thing we wrote? Oh my God we’ve forgotten!’ It would always come back to us in the morning.
“We said if we can’t remember it, how do we expect other people to? So, we were writing stuff that was memorable… and I think it still is.”
Paul recently performed a special gig at Abbey Road Studios for A-listers including Nile Rodgers, Kylie Minogue and Stormzy, where he played new material from upcoming album Egypt Station as well as some of the Fab Four’s hits.