Paul McCartney Gave Taylor Swift a Gift She Will ‘Cherish for the Rest of [Her] Life’
Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift are among their respective generations’ most famous and successful musicians. McCartney has spoken highly of Swift’s songwriting, and she grew up with his music. When they had a chance to sit down together for a conversation, they spoke in depth about music. Swift also took the opportunity to be a fan. She asked McCartney for a favor that she will cherish forever.
Paul McCartney gave Taylor Swift a simple gift she will always cherish
While Swift and McCartney have met multiple times over the years, they had one of their most in-depth conversations for Rolling Stone’s Musicians on Musicians series. They met in Oct. 2020, giving them a rare reprieve from isolation during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Swift was thrilled about the opportunity.
“I mostly work from home these days,” she wrote for the magazine, “and today feels like a rare school field trip that you actually want to go on.”
Before they settled in for a conversation during which they covered their respective songwriting processes, recent albums, and fame, Swift made a request of the former Beatle.
“We walk into his office for a chat,” she wrote, “and after I make a nervous request, Paul is kind enough to handwrite my favorite lyric of his and sign it.”
McCartney joked about her selling the extremely valuable bit of writing, but Swift had no plans to do so.
“He makes a joke about me selling it, and I laugh because it’s something I know I’ll cherish for the rest of my life,” she wrote. “That’s around the time when we start talking about music.”
Paul McCartney is also a fan of Taylor Swift
The value Swift placed on McCartney’s writing shows how much she appreciates his catalog of music. He feels similarly about her, praising her for her authenticity as an artist. He revealed that he even wrote the song “Who Cares” with Swift in mind.
“I was actually thinking about Taylor Swift and her relationship to her young fans and how it’s sort of a sisterly thing,” he told the BBC. “And I was imagining talking to one of these young fans and saying, ‘Have you ever been bullied? Do you get bullied?’ Then I say, ‘Who cares about the idiots? Who cares about all this? Who cares about you? Well… I do.'”
The two nearly got onstage together in 2020
In what would likely have been a thrilling moment for both musicians, McCartney and Swift might have gotten onstage together at Glastonbury. They both planned to perform at the festival in 2020 but, of course, could not because of the coronavirus. Still, both wanted to have invited the other onstage.
“Wow, it would’ve been so fun to play Glastonbury for the 50th anniversary together,” Swift said.
“It would’ve been great, wouldn’t it?” McCartney responded. “And I was going to be asking you to play with me.”
“Were you going to invite me?” she said. “I was hoping that you would. I was going to ask you.”
McCartney revealed that if he had been able to invite Swift onstage, he would have wanted to perform “Shake It Off” together.
