Sir Paul McCartney Explains How His First Duet With Sir Ringo Starr Happened

Sir Paul McCartney has opened up about how he and former Beatles bandmate Sir Ringo Starr ended up recording their first ever duet together.

While working on his upcoming album The Boys Of Dungeon Lane, Paul revealed he wrote the song Home To Us as a reflection on their shared roots growing up in Liverpool, England. After sending the track to Ringo, the drummer contributed additional lines to the chorus, which eventually inspired Paul to turn the song into a full duet.

Speaking during a special fan preview event for The Boys Of Dungeon Lane at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios, Paul explained: "Ringo went round to the studio and drummed a bit. I said to [producer Andrew Watt], 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 [area of Liverpool], 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."

Paul then shared how the collaboration unexpectedly evolved into the pair’s first official duet together.

"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."

Wanting to add extra depth to the track, Paul also recruited Chrissie Hynde and Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri to provide backing vocals.

He said: "We wanted some backing vocals and I had the idea it would be nice to hear girls. Chrissie Hynde said she’d do it, and Sharleen Spiteri, they’re mates. So they did it."

The Boys Of Dungeon Lane is scheduled for release on May 29, while Home To Us arrives on Friday, May 8.