Sir Paul McCartney reached out privately to The Rolling Stones to prevent a new feud.
Sir Paul McCartney reached out to Rolling Stones to prevent feud
After Paul was quoted in a New Yorker profile calling the Stones a "blues cover band", he quickly got in touch with Keith Richards to insist that his comments were based on first impressions and not his current thoughts.
Speaking to writer Brian Hiatt for an episode of the podcast 'Rolling Stone Music Now', Keith, 78, said: "I got a note from Paul about that, saying ‘I was taken totally out of context'. He said (to the New Yorker), ‘That’s what I thought when I first heard them.’ Because Paul and I know each other pretty well. And so when I first read it, I said, ‘Ahhh, there’s been a lot of deleting and editing going on here.’ And the next day I got a message from Paul saying, ‘If you’ve read this s***, it’s all out of context, believe me, boys.'
"That could have been the thing, but Paul isn’t that way. I felt for him. He replied so quickly on that. If he had meant to say it, he wouldn’t have bothered replying. Hey, Paul’s a great guy, man. I mean, Jesus Christ, look at the songs he’s written. You can’t knock a guy like that. We let little things come out in the press and kind of ignore ‘em."
This comes after Paul, 79, previously told Howard Stern: "They are rooted in the blues. When they are writing stuff, it has to do with the blues. [The Beatles] had a little more influences. There’s a lot of differences, and I love the Stones, but I’m with you. The Beatles were better."
Tagged in Keith Richards Sir Paul McCartney