Paul McCartney confirms first-ever duet with Ringo Starr
Macca’s forthcoming album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, will feature his old bandmate’s vocals for the first time.
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images
In a new Instagram video, Paul McCartney confirmed that his forthcoming album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, will feature his first-ever duet with Ringo Starr on the song “Home to Me.” In the video, a screen-printed collage—made for the album using 100 archive images of Paul and the Beatles—reveals a cutout of young Ringo. An energetic, Irish-jig electric hook plays in the background, accompanied by Starr’s signature drum sound. In the caption, it’s revealed that the song will be out on Friday.
At a secret album playback event at Abbey Road Studios on Tuesday, McCartney revealed the collaboration to a few lucky fans. “Ringo went ‘round to the studio and drummed a bit,” McCartney told the audience. “I said to Andrew [Watt, who produced the album], we should make a track and send it to him. So this song is done totally with Ringo in mind. In writing the song, I’m talking about where we came from. In common with a lot of people, you come from nothing, and you build yourself up. Ringo was from the Dingle, and that was, well, hard. He said he used to get mugged coming home because he worked. Even though it was crazy, it was home to us.
McCartney continued, “I made the song around that idea and sent it to Ringo. He sent me back a version where he just added some lines to the chorus, so I thought, ‘Maybe he doesn’t like it.’ I rang him, and he said he thought I only wanted him to sing one or two lines, and I said I’d love to hear him sing the whole thing. So we took my first line, Ringo’s second line, and then we had a duet. We’d never done that before.” McCartney also noted that Chrissie Hynde and Sharleen Spiteri would feature as backing vocalists on the tune.
Macca unveiled The Boys of Dungeon Lane, his eighteenth solo album, in late March with the release of “Days We Left Behind,” a gentle look back on the music legend’s early career. The album is out May 29 via MPL/Capitol. Watch the “Home to Me” announcement below:
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