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Paul McCartney’s dream duet is with a megastar who makes him nervous 'It won't happen'
The Beatles legend Paul McCartney doubts his dream duet with a fellow megastar will ever happen, admitting the musician is one of the only people who still makes him nervous.
By GEORGE SIMPSON
Senior Film and Arts Reporter
EXPRESS
Wed, Jan 15, 2025
Bob and Sara Dylan, Paul and Linda McCartney, Cher and Gregg Allman at the Green House Restaurant.
Los Angeles, 1976
Julian Wasser
Sir Paul McCartney has been world famous for over 60 years, regularly performing concerts to thousands.
And yet, even after all this time, The Beatles legend still feels another living musician makes him nervous, and it’s one he’d love to collaborate with.
Previously answering fan questions on his official website, one asked Macca: “Is there anyone else you would like to sing a duet with?”
The star replied: “Bob Dylan keeps coming up in my mind, but I don’t know if we’ll ever get round to it.”
This isn’t the first time McCartney has said this about Dylan in recent years, having been asked about desired collaborations in a Reddit AMA.
McCartney said then: “I've always had a sneaky feeling to collaborate with Bob Dylan, but it's never happened. It's intriguing, but…”
It isn’t too surprising that Macca thinks Dylan, whose biopic A Complete Unknown hits cinemas this week, is unlikely to work with him given the Bard’s lifetime of mystique and aloofness. Perhaps it’s this aspect of Dylan’s character that makes his 60s contemporary nervous of him.
Speaking previously with The Penguin Podcast, McCartney shared: “There’s one or two people who I would be nervous of. Bob Dylan would actually make me a little bit like, ‘Oh my God what am I going to say…is it going to be okay, is it going to be good.’”
Macca added: “But I did see him. He did a Coachella, but it was like Old-chella, because it's like Stones, us, Neil Young…it was older acts. But I got to talk to Bob there and he was really very nice, so I don’t know why I would have been nervous, but you get that with some people.
“It is a funny thing actually when you think about it. What do you have to do, to get secure in yourself? I mean, I would have thought I’ve done enough now to just [go] ’I’m cool. Y’know I don’t need to be nervous of anyone.’ But it’s a human condition, I think. There’s just something, y’know, where you think, ‘Is it good enough, am I good enough, have I done [enough]?'”
