Paul McCartney Still 'Mentally' Checks In With John Lennon When Writing New Music

In case you needed more reason to adore Sir Paul McCartney ahead of his October and November 2023 Australian tour, the Live And Let Die singer recently revealed that he still “mentally” checks in with John Lennon when he’s writing new music.

Appearing on ABC’s 7:30 program with host Sarah Ferguson on Wednesday (2 August), McCartney said, “John's input was very important” when The Beatles were in songwriting sessions.

He continued, “These days, even when I'm writing a song, I will kind of check with him just mentally, you know? ‘Does this suck, like I think it does? Right, let's get rid of it. Start again.’

“So, I really miss that, and I know he missed contact with me, too.”

From there, McCartney referenced his Glastonbury 2022 set, which saw him duet with Lennon using “technological magic”.

McCartney explained, “The first time I ever did it was very emotional. And it keeps being emotional because, you know, I'm singing with my old buddy again.”

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In June, McCartney had to clarify a comment about the “final” Beatles record, in which he said he utilised AI technology to “extricate” John Lennon’s vocals from an old demo to complete a long-lost song.

He told fans that “nothing has been artificially or synthetically created” on Twitter, adding, “It’s all real, and we all play on it. We cleaned up some existing recordings - a process which has gone on for years.”

Concerns rose after a BBC interview where McCartney alluded to Peter Jackson’s Get Back documentary, which featured John Lennon’s voice from a cassette.

“When we came to make what will be the last Beatles record, it was a demo that John had, that we worked on,” McCartney said. “We just finished it up. It’ll be released this year. We were able to take John’s voice and get it pure, through this AI, so then we could mix the record as you would normally do.”

While McCartney didn’t name the final Beatles song, the BBC reports that the song could be Now And Then, a song Lennon recorded in 1978 and was touted as a Beatles “reunion” track in 1995. McCartney plans to release the track later this year.

Paul McCartney’s Got Back 2023 Australian tour begins with an intimate gig at Adelaide Entertainment Centre. From there, he will head to stadiums in Melbourne, Newcastle, Sydney, Brisbane, and the Gold Coast, with the singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist performing in Newcastle and the Gold Coast for the first time. You can find all the tour dates below.