The Paul McCartney Song That Almost Featured Radiohead’s Thom Yorke
Paul McCartney has collaborated with many great musicians, including Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Dave Grohl, Rihanna, and Elvis Costello. However, there are still plenty of artists the former Beatle would like to work with, including Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. The pair almost teamed up on a Paul McCartney song, but it, unfortunately, fell through.
Paul McCartney was nervous to ask Yorke about collaborating
It’s hard to imagine McCartney being nervous to ask another artist, considering his legendary status. Most musicians wouldn’t take the opportunity to work with a former Beatle. However, the “Yesterday” singer was worried about asking Yorke if he wanted to collaborate out of fear of rejection. He was eager to work with the Radiohead singer but didn’t want to be turned down.
“[My daughter] keeps saying to me, ‘Ring Thom and just go into the studio and just see what you come out with,’” McCartney said in a 2012 NME interview (via The Guardian). “I’m a bit sort of paranoid to just ring him up. ‘Hey Thom, it’s Paul here. What do you fancy, what are you doing? Do you fancy writing something?’ Just in case he says, ‘Er, actually, I’m busy’.”
Yorke turned down the Paul McCartney song ‘Mr. Bellamy’
Paul McCartney’s fears of rejection came when he asked Yorke if he wanted to appear on “Mr. Bellamy” from 2007’s Memory Almost Full. In a 2007 interview with The Observer, Yorke said McCartney asked him to play the piano on the song. However, he had to say no because he couldn’t play the instrument as Macca wanted.
“Uhh, ’cause I can’t play the piano,” he explained. “Not like that. I had to explain to him that I listened to the tune – ‘Mr Bellamy’ – and I really liked the song, but the piano playing involved two hands doing things separately. I don’t have that skill available. I said to him, ‘I strum piano, that’s it.’”
McCartney shared his side of the story, which differed from Yorke’s. According to an interview with T4, McCartney said Yorke declined the offer because he was only comfortable working on his own music. That doesn’t seem likely, as Yorke has worked with other artists, including Bjork, Flying Lotus, and PJ Harvey.
Yorke isn’t the only artist to reject McCartney
Yorke isn’t the only artist who declined the chance to work with the “Let it Be” singer. While with The Beatles, Paul McCartney wrote a song for Frank Sinatra, “Suicide”. In an interview for The McCartney Archive Collection, Sinatra rejected the song, and McCartney regretted not making a few edits before passing it along.
“It was a real early song of mine, and I used to do it as a joke, really. I actually once got a request from Sinatra for a song,” McCartney shared. “And I spoke to him on the phone and told him about it, ‘Great, Paul, send it along.’ ‘Thank you, Frank.’ And I sent it to him, and he thought I was taking the piss. ‘Is this guy kidding?’ You know, sending Sinatra a song called ‘Suicide’. He did not get it! But I did think, ‘Oh God, maybe I should have changed it a bit to send it to him’.”
