McCartney was ‘nervous’ about Kanye gig

Paul McCartney admits he was initially “nervous” about working with Kanye West and wasn’t even sure their song would be released.

The former Beatles and Wings musician teamed up with the rapper and singer Rihanna on the song

in 2015 and it made the top 10 in singles charts around the globe.

But McCartney couldn’t anticipate its success since he wasn’t even sure what to expect when it came to recording with West.

Recalling during a Facebook Live chat with Australian performer Tim Minchin on Wednesday how his manager had phoned him to share West’s desire to collaborate, McCartney said, “I was a little bit nervous at first, because I thought it could go horribly wrong. But I was intrigued to see what he was up to and how he did it. And it was a very intriguing process.

“You basically don’t write songs. You basically just talk and noodle a bit and you record it all on your phone. And then he goes away. And that’s basically his record,” McCartney said.

But three months after they’d finished working on the song, McCartney still hadn’t received an update on what was happening next. He felt so out of the loop that he questioned whether West was going to unveil it at all.

“I’m thinking, should I say, ‘Did we write a song? Will a record come out of this?’ ” he said. “Anyway, this arrives and it’s a Rihanna song ... I said, ‘This is great! I have to ring up and say, ‘Am I on this?’ And he goes, ‘Oh, yeah. You’re the guitar player.’ I go, ‘I don’t remember.’ And he said, ‘We sped it up.’ ”

McCartney didn’t mind that his efforts had been altered, though, noting that his band’s famous album

– which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2017 – was all about “manipulating” sounds.