In January 1982, Paul McCartney appeared on BBC Radio 4’s long-running program Desert Island Discs, where guests select eight recordings they would take if stranded on a deserted island. Hosted by Roy Plomley, the interview came at a particularly emotional time, just two years after the death of John Lennon.
When asked to choose the music that meant the most to him, McCartney surprised listeners by selecting a song from Double Fantasy, Lennon’s final album, released shortly before his passing.
The track, ‘Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)’, was a deeply personal lullaby written for Lennon’s son, Sean, and McCartney described it as “a beautiful song” that was “very moving” to him.
Released in 1980 on Double Fantasy, ‘Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)’ was one of the most intimate songs Lennon ever recorded. Written during his five-year break from the music industry, the song reflected the profound joy he found in fatherhood.
At the time, Lennon had stepped away from recording to focus on raising Sean, and ‘Beautiful Boy’ captured this shift in his life. The lyrics offer both comfort and guidance, with Lennon softly singing: “Close your eyes, have no fear, the monster’s gone, he’s on the run and your daddy’s here.”
McCartney’s selection of Beautiful Boy also stood out because he had not chosen any Beatles or solo McCartney songs for his Desert Island Discs list – instead choosing to represent that chapter of his life through a Lennon solo track.
“I haven’t chosen any Beatle records, but if we’d had more than eight, I probably would have. I haven’t chosen any of my records. So to sort of sum up the whole thing, I’ve chosen one off John Lennon’s record Double Fantasy, which I think is a beautiful song”, he explained.
“It’s very moving to me. Anyway, so I’d just like to sum the whole thing up by playing a song called Beautiful Boy”, added McCartney.
The song itself was inspired by quiet, everyday moments Lennon shared with his young son. The songwriting genius had written about fatherhood in his music before, but ‘Beautiful Boy’ was unlike anything else in his catalogue.
His earlier song Good Night, which appeared on The White Album, had been written for his first son, Julian, but was sung by Ringo Starr in a grand, orchestral style. In contrast, Beautiful Boy was intimate and unmistakably personal, performed in Lennon’s own voice with a gentle arrangement that made it feel almost like a bedtime story. Before the song fades out, Lennon can even be heard whispering, “Good night, Sean. See you in the morning”.
Later in McCartney’s Desert Island Discs interview, when pressed to choose just one record out of the eight, he confirmed: “It probably would be Beautiful Boy.”
The program also revealed a broader range of musical influences that shaped the former Beatle’s own career. Alongside ‘Beautiful Boy’, he chose ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ by Elvis Presley, recalling how it was one of the first records that truly caught his attention as a young music fan.
He also chose ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’ by Chuck Berry – one of the musicians who “defined rock and roll” for him -, ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’ by Gene Vincent, – “the first record I ever bought” -, and ‘Tutti Frutti’ by Little Richard – a “friend of mine from the Hamburg days”.
Steering away from rock and roll, McCartney included ‘Gloriana: Courtly Dances: La Volta’ by Benjamin Britten and Julian Bream, expressing his appreciation for classical music despite admitting, “I don’t know much about it, but I like the great tunes.” He also picked ‘Searchin’’ by The Coasters, a song The Beatles used to perform at The Cavern Club, and ‘Walking in the Park with Eloise’, a jazz instrumental written by his father, Jim McCartney, which he recorded with Wings in the 1970s as a tribute.