Sir Paul McCartney says reuniting with Sir Ringo Starr was "magic".
Sir Ringo Starr and Sir Paul McCartney
The pair previously joined forces on the track 'Beautiful Night' - their first post-Beatles collaboration - from McCartney's 1997 'Flaming Pie' album which is due for re-release and Paul, 78, admitting working with his old bandmate again was "highly emotional".
He said: "I'd been saying to Ringo for years that it'd be great to do something, because we'd never really done that much work together outside The Beatles.
"One night Jeff (Lynne, Electric Light Orchestra co-founder) suggested, 'Why don't you get Ringo in?' and I said, 'OK.' It just sort of happened.
"I had this song 'Beautiful Night' which I'd written quite a few years ago. I'd always liked it but I felt I didn't quite have the right version of it.
"So I got this song out for when Ringo was coming in, and right away it was like the old days. I realised we hadn't done this for so long, but it was really comfortable and it was still there."
Paul also revealed that he still has chemistry with Ringo, 80, on stage and he was in awe of his former bandmate when they performed together in Los Angeles in 2019.
He said: "To sit down with Ringo is always a great thing. It's always worthwhile. It's always fun.
"In 2019 when I finished touring in Los Angeles, Ringo got up on stage and we were doing 'Helter Skelter' together. And he's drumming away and I'm singing facing front because I was on the mic.
"But when I wasn't on the mic, in the solo breaks and stuff, I really made a point of turning round and watching this guy drum.
"And I'm thinking, my god, you know the memories across this 10-yard gap here, him on the drums and me on the bass, the lifetime that's going on here."
"So, you know, it's a sort of magic. And he and I these days get quite emotional about it, because we should. We ought to. It's a bloody emotional thing, the years. If nothing else."
The Paul McCartney Archive Collection, which contains 32 bonus audio tracks and a 128-page book containing previously unpublished images by Linda McCartney, will be released on Friday 31st July.
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