Although Geddy Lee is also a singer and keyboardist, he is primarily recalled as a really respected bassist, which was a fundamental part of the Canadian power-trio Rush. They became one of the most influential bands of all time, which mixed Progressive Rock and Hard Rock, selling an estimated amount of more than 40 million records worldwide.
Over the decades, Lee talked about many of his peers and even once said that in his opinion, The Beatle Paul McCartny is really overlooked as a bassist.
Why Paul McCartney is overlooked as a bassist according to Geddy Lee
Since he became one of the most successful and influential songwriters in the history of music, Paul McCartney is not always remembered primarily as a bassist, but as songwriter. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine back in 2020, Geddy Lee said that Paul is really overlooked as a bassist, since he is a really melodic player.
“(McCartney) gets overlooked as a bassist, but as a pop bassist goes, he’s such a melodic player. And you’re talking about a guy who wasn’t originally the bass player for the band… He adapted, of course, and he picked it up. I just find his story really interesting, as a bass player. So he comes at the instrument from a much more melodic place, and you really hear that in a lot of Beatle music.”
“And if you listen to ‘Taxman,’ or if you listen to ‘Come Together,’ and a range of music in between, that bass part is always so round. It’s always so bouncy and melodic. I think that’s really no small part of the infectious nature of Beatles songs. It really added a great element to those songs.”
He continued:
“I think he was sort of subconsciously working his way into my psyche as a bass player. Although the style of music that I played wasn’t The Beatles style of music. I did have great respect for them. We used to play a version of a song called ‘Bad Boy’ that was fashioned sort of after a song that the Beatles did. The Beatles did a cover of that as well. So we all listened to the Beatles… I was always respectful of what Paul McCartney brought to the Beatles. Not only as a singer – but as a bass player,” Geddy Lee said.
For Geddy, McCartney wrote many bass lines that were unusual and inventive considering The Beatles made pop music. He said that in an interview available on Youtube (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
“Paul McCartney, I was a huge fan of his bass lines. Some of The Beatles bass lines are really inventive, really unusual and quite in their own way, considering it’s ‘Pop’ quite busy. They are really changing the song with what they’re doing.”
“So I was always drawn to the bass players that had a sound different than your typical vroomy bass sound. Paul McCartney and Chris Squire are such great bass players. They write melodies and they play these melodies rather than just play,” Geddy Lee said.
Paul McCartney told Geddy that he should reunite with Alex Lifeson and tour as Rush
Rush finished their final tour in 2015 and in 2019 they lost a really important member, their drummer and main lyricist Neil Peart. Since then the fans believed the band would probably never reunite again. But that already happened twice during special occasions, like for example the Taylor Hawkins tribute show organized by Foo Fighters. Besides Geddy and Alex playing Rush songs, many other artists were part of the tribute.
One of them was Paul McCartney and he had the chance to meet Alex and Geddy. He got to know their music and told them that they should get together again and tour.