When it comes to British music legends, it’s fair to say Paul McCartney is up there with some of the best.
The musician, who gained worldwide fame with The Beatles back in the ’60s, is the master behind a number of hits from Love Me Do to Yesterday to Yellow Submarine. But, even though he’s worked to create some of the most brilliant songs of our time, it turns out there are a few tunes he actually wishes he’d written.
The conversation recently come up on Reddit after people started talking about McCartney, now 82, and his personal taste in music. Someone wrote: “The song Paul McCartney said he wanted to have written.”
Since the post was shared people offered all sorts of ideas as to tunes he wishes he’d coined himself. One fan said: “He wishes he had written ‘God Only Knows’ by The Beach Boys. Saved you a click.”
Another added: “He has also said he wishes he’d written ‘Fields of Gold’ by Sting.” Someone else also chimed in with: “Also Just the Way You Are, by Billy Joel, according to some sources.”
In a past interview, he admitted he does have a soft spot for three songs in particular. Though he doesn’t dwell on what or what he hasn’t written, he did admit there are some songs that move him greatly.
1. “Stardust” by Hoagy Carmichael & Mitchell Parish
At the time, McCartney shared: “I don’t really want to have written anyone else’s songs, but, as a fantasy question, I love ‘Stardust’, by Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish. It’s a beautiful song. And I remember thinking that Billy Joel’s first hit, ‘Just The Way You Are’, was a nice song, I’d like to have written that one too. ‘Stardust’ first, though.”
The song was composed by Carmichael during his time at Indiana University. It’s thought it was inspired by his love affair with Kathryn Moore, who later married Art Baker, the trumpet player in Carmichael’s Collegians.
Even though Carmichael revealed many explanations as to how he was inspired to write it on the University campus, biographer Richard Sudhalter claimed the theories were “encrusted in myth – much of it the composer’s own creation”.
2. “Just The Way You Are” by Billy Joel
Billy Joel’s “Just The Way You Are” was released way back in 1977, and is still hugely loved today. It’s reported it was written for his first wife, Elizabeth Weber, who was also his business manager at the time. Allegedly, it wasn’t that liked by either Joel or his band, and he initially decided not to make the track a part of The Stranger.
But it’s said both Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow, who were recording in the same building at the time, requested that he did, so he agreed to add the song to the final mix of the album.
3.”Fields Of Gold” by Sting
During the same interview, McCartney added: “I liked Sting’s ‘Fields Of Gold’, and I thought, ‘Y’know what, I should have written that’. How dare he? I told him: ‘You stole my song.’ I thought that was a nice one, y’know?”
It may seem like it’s been around longer, but Sting’s “Fields of Gold” was released back in 1993. It was featured on his fourth studio album, Ten Summoner’s Tales.
In the song, the singer describes the view from his 16th-century Wiltshire manor house. In Lyrics By Sting, the singer depicted the view from his 16th-century Wiltshire manor house. It read: “In England, our house is surrounded by barley fields, and in the summer it’s fascinating to watch the wind moving over the shimmering surface, like waves on an ocean of gold.
“There’s something inherently sexy about the sight, something primal, as if the wind were making love to the barley. Lovers have made promises here, I’m sure, their bonds strengthened by the comforting cycle of the seasons.”