The Beatles were formed in Liverpool, but their recording career took place in London, where Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr spent a lot of time at Abbey Road Studios, creating some of the greatest and most influential albums of all time. Living in the city that every British band had to go if they wanted to make it, they had the chance to see many incredible groups achieve fame, including The Who. McCartney is a fan of the band and Pete Townshend already revealed which of their songs is his favorite.
Paul McCartney’s favorite The Who song according to Pete Townshend
According to Pete Townshend, “Happy Jack” is Paul McCartney’s favorite song by The Who. “After a summer of professional lunacy that included The Who’s first appearance in the beloved Palace Ballroom of my childhood, in the Isle of Man, I completed and assembled demos for a number of tracks intended for The Who’s still untitled second album. I bought a cello and played it on ‘Happy Jack’, a nonsense song I wrote about a village idiot from the Isle of Man. This is Paul McCartney’s favourite Who song – tellingly, because it was partly inspired by ‘Eleanor Rigby’, which I thought was a small masterpiece.”
“‘Happy Jack wasn’t old but he was a man. He lived in the sand at the Isle of Man. The kids all would sing he would take the wrong key. So they rode on his head on their furry donkey. But they never stopped Jack, nor the waters’ lapping. And they couldn’t distract him from the seagulls’ flapping.’ These are the original words, slightly altered on The Who’s version. The atmosphere of the lyric is meant to be Kafkaesque,” Pete Townshend revealed in his autobiography “Who I Am”.
He was inspired by The Who to write “Helter Skelter”
Paul McCartney has been a fan of The Who since the 1960s, and if “Happy Jack” was influenced by “Eleanor Rigby”, a Beatles song was also inspired by a track by The Who. According to Paul, after reading Pete Townshend’s description of “I Can See for Miles” as the “dirtiest, loudest and filthiest” record ever, he was inspired to write “Helter Skelter”.
“You keep up with what’s going on, I do these days, still. Just because it’s interesting. Sometimes inspire you to do things, sometimes you get a little jealous. I remember, with The Who, I read once that Townshend, he was talking to a newspaper. He said: ‘We just done the dirtiest, loudest, filthiest record ever! I went ‘Wow, we gotta do that. We can get louder, filthier and dirtier. So I go into the studio and say this to the guys and that was ‘Helter Skelter’,” he told Marc Moron in 2018. The track was released in 1966 as a single and was featured on their second studio album “A Quick One”.
Paul McCartney also likes “My Generation”
When Paul McCartney was invited to introduce Pete Townshend as he received the Les Paul Award in 2012, he recalled the “great memories” he had of The Who, including seeing them playing “My Generation” on TV. “Congratulations on getting the Les Paul award, we all know you deserve it. Because man, we go back and I have so many great memories of you and the band. Your music, seeing you on TV doing ‘My Generation’, seeing you live playing. To this day, you’re just great.”
“So isn’t it funny? I never had a chance to really just stand opposite you and tell you. I would probably be too embarrassed. But here it is the ideal occasion for me to just say what I think everybody in the room (wants) to say. You are just a great monster, man! The way you played that guitar, the way you write, it’s fantastic. Always has been, hopefully always will be. So congratulations on getting the Les Paul award. How cool is that? We love Les, another great musical monster. We love Les, we love you and congratulations,” Paul McCartney said during his speech (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
Paul McCartney and Pete Townshend worked recorded together
Paul had the chance to work with Pete Townshend in the Wings tracks “Rockestra Theme” and “So Glad to See You Here”. Those tracks are from the 1979 album “Back to the Egg”. Keith Moon would also be part of but he tragically died at the age of 32 shortly before the session. Paul was one of the last people to see him alive.
On September 6, 1978, McCartney hosted a dinner party to celebrate what would have been Buddy Holly’s 42nd birthday. At the time, he had acquired the publishing rights to Holly’s songs and had produced the biopic “The Buddy Holly Story”. Moon attended the celebration with his girlfriend and was found dead the following day at their home after suffering an overdose. Pete Townshend worked again with Paul in 1986, playing guitar on the song “Angry”. The track was part of the album “Press to Play”.