The Beatles and The Rolling Stones are two of the most important British bands of all time and since both of them were huge in the 60s a kind of rivalry was created at the time by the press and fans. But the friendship between the members of both groups always existed, with Paul McCartney and John Lennon being the ones who helped the Stones to get their first record deal.
Even though there were times that his statements about the band were misinterpreted or taken out of context, Paul McCartney adores them and has a huge respect for their music. In an interview with Esquire back in 2015, he even listed 3 Rolling Stones he would definitely want to hear if he went to see them playing live.
He cited them as an example to explain how he decided to include Beatles’ music on his solo and Wings concerts in the 70s. Because according to him, an artist need to play to the fans what they really love. So those three songs are the ones that he would love to hear The Stones playing live in concert if he went to see them.
The 3 Rolling Stones songs that Paul McCartney likes
“Satisfaction”
Just like most part of The Beatles songs were composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, almost the entire Rolling Stones discography was written by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. The legendary guitar riff for Satisfaction actually came to Richards in a dream. He used to sleep with a recorder close to his bed in case that happened. So he woke up, recorded the riff and went to sleep again.
Richards recalled that story in his autobiography “Life”. “I was between girlfriends at the time, in my flat in Carlton Hill, St. John’s Wood. Hence maybe the mood of the song. I wrote ‘Satisfaction’ in my sleep.”
Keith Richards continued:
“I had no idea I’d written it. It’s only thank God for the little Philips cassette player. The miracle being that I looked at the cassette player that morning and I knew I’d put a brand-new tape in the previous night, and I saw it was the end.”
“It was just a rough idea. There was only the skeleton of the music. It didn’t have all that noise. But the skeleton was everything we needed,” Keith Richards said.
In the following day he heard the riff and showed to Mick Jagger, who completed the verses to the song. “He only had the first verse and the riff. It sounded like country music on the guitar. It didn’t look like rock. But he thought it was a joke. He didn’t realize that it was a unique material. We all said, ‘You are crazy’, and he was, of course,” Keith Richards said.
Released in 1965, the song has one of the most famous guitar riffs of all time. It was their first number 1 single in the United States and their fourth number 1 single in the United Kingdom.
“Honky Tonk Women”
Another Rolling Stones song from the 60s that Paul McCartney likes is “Honky Tonk Women” first released in 1969 as a single. Once again, the song was credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. They wrote the lyrics pretending they were cowboys living in Texas.
It was initially recorded as “Country Honk” when the band’s late guitarist Brian Jones was still a member of the group. But it was when Mick Taylor replaced him that the track was really transformed in the version that became one of their biggest classics.
“Our styles were very different. Keith was influenced by Chuck Berry and me by B.B. King. It worked really well. During a song we would switch back and forth between rhythm and lead. We were very supportive of each other,” Mick Taylor said in an interview with Classic Rock in 2021.
“Ruby Tuesday”
Released in 1967, “Ruby Tuesday” is another song released by the band in the 60s, that Paul McCartney likes. Written by Jagger and Richards, the song became their fourth number 1 hit in the United States and reached number 3 in the United Kingdom at the time.
It featured the band’s late co-founder and guitarist Brian Jones, who could play “any instrument” as Keith Richards recalled in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2015. “(Brian played flute on “Ruby Tuesday”) Yeah, he was a gas. He was a cat who could play any instrument. It was like, ‘there it is, music comes out of it. If I work at it for a bit, I can do it.'”
“It’s him on marimbas on “Under My Thumb”. (Also on) mellotron on a quite a few things on Satanic Majesties. He was the strings on ‘Two Thousand Light Years From Home,’ Brian on mellotron, and the brass on “We Love You,” all that Arabic riff,” Keith Richards said.