Paul McCartney felt like a pre-fame kid again as an Elvis Presley track brought back fond memories and made him cry as an adult.
Elvis had a profound influence on The Beatles, who grew up listening to him as teenagers in 1950s Liverpool. John Lennon went as far as to say that before Elvis there was nothing when it came to music for the young people of that era. Famously, the Fab Four ended up having their chance to meet The King for themselves in 1965.
According to Reverb, during a 1994 interview with guitar writer Tony Bacon, Paul shared which Elvis song made him burst into tears as an adult.
Reflecting back on The King’s 1950s Sun Studio records, Macca said: “Yeah. I heard them this summer – haven’t heard them for years – and I was blown away.
“I suddenly realised the last time I listened to this thoroughly was before The Beatles, before all that happened to me, and it just stripped it all away.
“It was like I was a kid playing snooker again and listening. It actually got me crying, pow. Really did it to me.”
The Elvis song that reduced Paul to tears was I Want You, I Need You, I Love You. The Beatles star said he could remember all the words, singing the lyrics: “Hold me close, hold me tight…”
He shared: “And my kids were like, Dad, you know all the words to this stuff? You better believe it.
“And I thought, ‘Well, I once was a kid like this, before all The Beatles thing, and now you live with the whole legacy of The Beatles, and it’s great. You could do a lot worse.’
“But you know what I mean? Just the idea of that was fantastic—I was 17 again. Not a bad feeling when you’re 52. Anyway, what do you want to talk about? I’m nattering on here.”
On his official website, a fan asked Paul McCartney, “Is it true there is a recording out there somewhere of a jam session that you had with Elvis Presley?
” Paul said, “There is no recording of a jam session with Elvis – that I know of! I haven’t got it and I don’t remember that. But you know I suppose there’s some slim possibility it’s true.”
Paul: “There is no recording of a jam session with Elvis – that I know of! And, ‘You’re My World’? No. I think it’s highly unlikely. I’d be interested to hear it if anyone has it? I haven’t got it and I don’t remember that. But you know I suppose there’s some slim possibility it’s true. But as far as I’m concerned, it isn’t! It was phenomenal to meet Elvis because we’d grown up in Liverpool and it was hearing his record ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ that I think tipped the balance for the four of us in The Beatles.
