Paul McCartney feared he was “gonna kill” old woman with explosive ‘Live And Let Die’ performance
Paul McCartney has recalled how he worried that he was “gonna kill” an elderly fan with his on-stage performance of ‘Live And Let Die’.
The renowned singer, songwriter, bassist and former Beatle detailed the moment in his A Life In Lyrics podcast – explaining how he began to make his performances more elaborate over time, but was left concerned about how it would impact one particular audience member.
According to McCartney, he began introducing flames and pyrotechnics to his live shows many years ago, particularly during his renditions of the 1973 James Bond theme, ‘Live And Let Die’. However, when he first began implementing the explosions, he looked out at the crowd and was left on edge to see a “90-year-old woman in the front row”.
“It’s a big song for us. We have pyrotechnics and it can get a little hot up there. As we know the explosions are going to happen, we look at the people in the front row and then “boom”. It’s great to just watch them and they look at each other and they are just shocked,” he explained.
“In the early days we did it and there was an explosion. I noticed when we started it there’s like a 90-year-old woman, very old, in the front row,” he continued. “I suddenly go, ‘Oh, shit, we’re gonna kill her’.
“I can’t stop the song and go, ‘Cover your ears love’, [so] I look away and ‘boom’,” he added, recalling his relief when the fears didn’t come true. “Then I look back to her and she is loving it!”
The song was written for the eighth 007 movie of the same title, and was the instalment that saw the late Sir Roger Moore make his debut as the British spy.
Elsewhere in the podcast episode, Macca also went on to reveal how he was first asked to write a song for the franchise, and what the opportunity meant to him on a personal level.
“It was always a sneaky ambition to write a Bond song because, in some ways, I like to see myself, one portion of myself, as a jobbing writer. You require a song for the queen’s wedding, I’m your man,” he said.
“The equivalent of that for a lot of people is the Bond song. [If] you’ve written a Bond song, it’s a bit of an accolade.”
“In this case, our record guy, who was handling The Beatles’ Apple Records, knew somebody connected with the Bond franchise. One day we were just chatting and he said, ‘You don’t have interest in doing a Bond film, do you?’” he recalled. “‘Yeah, I’d probably be interested,’ [I] didn’t want to look too enthusiastic. ‘Yeah, sure, I’ll do it.'”
In other Paul McCartney news, the rock legend recently shared the “final” song from The Beatles, ‘Now And Then’.
First announced back in June, McCartney confirmed he was working on the project with bandmate Ringo Starr, and the track was originally a demo recording from John Lennon that they salvaged with the help of AI.
An accompanying music video was also shared for the track, directed by renowned filmmaker Peter Jackson and featuring recently unearthed footage of the band.
As well as sharing the track with fans, the singer-songwriter is also on tour in Australia, and recently performed ‘She’s A Woman’ for the first time in nearly two decades.
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
