Paul McCartney

McCartney named Bob Dylan as the artist he would still like to collaborate with, though he is too nervous to call him.

“No, I get asked this question, and I always think Bob Dylan”

Good Hang with Amy Poehler: Paul McCartney (Oct 13, 2026) · Listen from 43:42

McCartney said he admires Billie Eilish but does not wish he had written her songs, and found some current pop banal.

“Billie Eilish, I think is cool, but I don't think I want to have written her songs”

Good Hang with Amy Poehler: Paul McCartney (Oct 13, 2026) · Listen from 42:07

McCartney blamed Bruce Springsteen for the expectation of very long concerts, noting older acts played about an hour.

“Bruce just suddenly doing these three, four hour things. So that's what we do”

Good Hang with Amy Poehler: Paul McCartney (Oct 13, 2026) · Listen from 41:02

McCartney said he has no formal method and writes by improvising on guitar or piano and following what sounds good.

“I always just sit down with a guitar or at the piano and just start plonking something”

Good Hang with Amy Poehler: Paul McCartney (Oct 13, 2026) · Listen from 33:12

McCartney rejected being called a workaholic, describing himself instead as addicted to playing music.

“we don't work music. We play music. So I'm like a playaholic. I'm definitely addicted to that”

Good Hang with Amy Poehler: Paul McCartney (Oct 13, 2026) · Listen from 23:20

McCartney said he has become an increasingly devoted fan of the Beatles over time.

“I'm a fan. And the more we go on, I'm a bigger fan. I'm like a Beatles fan”

Good Hang with Amy Poehler: Paul McCartney (Oct 13, 2026) · Listen from 51:17

McCartney said the Beatles did not expect to last long because rock bands of the era typically had short careers.

“in this sort of rock and roll world, it was like, you know, five years, top whack”

Good Hang with Amy Poehler: Paul McCartney (Oct 13, 2026) · Listen from 20:18

Paul McCartney said the Beatles resolved difficult decisions by asking what their 17-year-old selves would have thought.

“We'd say, what would we have thought when we were 17? What would that guy have said?”

Good Hang with Amy Poehler: Paul McCartney (Oct 13, 2026) · Listen from 18:42

McCartney said the new song 'Down South' recounts meeting George Harrison on the school bus.

“there's one song called Down South. And it's about how we met on the school bus”

Good Hang with Amy Poehler: Paul McCartney (Oct 13, 2026) · Listen from 52:47

McCartney said he knew 'Days We Left Behind' was working when he inverted the phrase 'black and white' to 'white and black'.

“So I just, the fact that I'd switched, it was not a black and white photo anymore. It's a white and black”

Good Hang with Amy Poehler: Paul McCartney (Oct 13, 2026) · Listen from 34:53

McCartney said watching SNL with John Lennon during Lorne Michaels's reunion offer showed him why the show was an American institution.

“realized why everyone was massive fans of it and why it was such an American institution”

Good Hang with Amy Poehler: Paul McCartney (Oct 13, 2026) · Listen from 1:03:35

McCartney explained that 'Monkberry Moon Delight' was an imagined milkshake, derived from his children's word 'monk' for milk.

“So I was thinking of a milkshake. So it was like Milk Berry, Monk Berry, Moon. So it's the name of a milkshake in my head”

Good Hang with Amy Poehler: Paul McCartney (Oct 13, 2026) · Listen from 1:00:31

McCartney said he meditates and believes in an undefined higher power, though he lacks a formal spiritual practice.

“I don't have like a practice so much. I meditate. And no, I sort of believe in a power”

Good Hang with Amy Poehler: Paul McCartney (Oct 13, 2026) · Listen from 53:52

McCartney recalled that Linda McCartney was so outspoken about vegetarianism that she would challenge meat-eaters at dinner parties.

“You know, if you're at a dinner party and someone's eating meat, she would, like, give them trouble over it”

Good Hang with Amy Poehler: Paul McCartney (Oct 13, 2026) · Listen from 49:07

McCartney objected that Nowhere Boy inaccurately depicted him as smaller and weaker than John Lennon.

“My character is kind of wimpy. smaller than John. John knocks me to the floor. And it's like, Sam, this is not true”

Good Hang with Amy Poehler: Paul McCartney (Oct 13, 2026) · Listen from 26:40