At 83, Paul McCartney somehow still has fresh stories to pull from the vault. During a recent appearance on BBC Radio’s Tracks of My Years show with Vernon Kay, the legendary former Beatle casually dropped one of those “wait, what?” moments that only comes around once in a generation: Prince recorded a cover of The Long and Winding Road that’s never been officially released, and McCartney wants to put it out into the world.
Here’s how it came about. A few years after Prince’s death in 2016, someone McCartney believed was a photographer for the late Minneapolis icon approached him asking if he’d heard Prince’s take on the 1970s Let It Be anthem. McCartney hadn’t. The photographer sent him a recording and McCartney was blown away. It’s “kind of rocky,” he explained, and “He plays some really good guitar on it.” The cover was laid down during a rehearsal, capturing Prince in a moment of creative spontaneity — which, honestly, feels like exactly the kind of thing Prince would do.
What’s fascinating here isn’t just that Prince made the cover, but that McCartney’s genuine enthusiasm about releasing it suggests this isn’t some dusty bootleg that needs polishing. This is a moment where one of rock’s greatest songwriters wants to share something recorded by another giant, a gesture that feels both generous and rare. McCartney made clear he plans to reach out to Prince’s estate about making it official. Whether that actually happens depends on the intricate machinery of estates and rights, but the fact that McCartney is openly campaigning for it says something about the quality of what’s sitting in that vault.
The conversation also gave us McCartney’s genuine respect for Prince’s artistry. When asked about his favorite Prince track, he chose “Kiss” for its elegant simplicity, calling Prince “a wizard.” It’s the kind of compliment that lands harder coming from someone who’s been making music longer than most people have been alive. McCartney also took time during the chat to praise today’s generation of pop stars — Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, and Sabrina Carpenter among them — saying they’re “really cool people” and “very good,” and that they don’t need his advice but he’d give it if asked.
It’s a reminder that even after 60-plus years in the business, McCartney’s curiosity and appreciation for musicianship across generations hasn’t dimmed. And for fans of both Prince and The Beatles, the prospect of hearing Prince tackle one of their most iconic ballads with that guitar work McCartney keeps raving about? That’s worth paying attention to.
