Paul McCartney at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony in Ohio in 2021.
Photo: Getty Images for The Rock and Ro, Dimitrios Kambouris. All rights reserved.
Paul McCartney explained that his children at school were not allowed to believe that their father was the original author of “Live and Let Die.” The reason for this was the cover version by Guns N’Roses, whose version is featured on the hard rock band’s 1991 album “Use your Illusion I”. McCartney’s original is almost 20 years older, recorded with his band Wings in 1973 for the Bond film “Live and Let Die”.
Paul McCartney on the mix-up: “For a while it was just Guns N’ Roses”
In the latest “A Life in Lyrics” podcast episode, the singer-songwriter shared how his children bragged at school that their father wrote “Live and Let Die” – and were ridiculed for it. Nobody wanted to believe the statement because Guns N’Roses were believed to be the composers of the track. Nevertheless, McCartney was pleased with the band’s cover version:
“I was very happy that they did it. I always like it when people interpret my songs.”
In 1973, the ex-Beatles member wrote “Live and Let Die” for the eighth part of the 007 franchise of the same name, in which Roger Moore took on the role of British spy James Bond. McCartney has already commented on the creation of the song in previous episodes of his podcast and stated that he had always had “the ambition” to record a Bond song.
Most recently, McCartney and Ringo Starr released the “final” Beatles song “Now And Then,” which was completed with the help of AI. The band reached number one in the UK charts with the song.