Sir Macca has said Elvis Presley was the second-coolest person he'd ever met, recalling how the King of Pop was an inspiration behind the iconic Beatles album, 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'.
The Beatles and Presley had only ever encountered each other once on 27th August 1965, under mutual agreement that no photos or recordings would be made. McCartney and his bandmates each shared diferent memories of the moment, although they all agreed that it started off a little awkward.
In a new interview on The Adam Buxton Podcast, McCartney was asked to name the coolest person he ever met. "My wife … she is very cool," he replied, adding that he hoped she was listening. "However, speaking like that, I have met Elvis Presley, who was darn cool. Because this was pre his Las Vegas and the rhinestone suit [period], this was just sort of Beverly Hills. So he was really cool."
Listen to the whole interview below.
Sir Macca also recalled how the Beatles were inspired by Presley to create 'Sgt. Peppers', after the band realised they "weren't having fun" on the road.
"We came back, and we started to think, 'What can we do? We don't want to tour again,'" he noted. "We heard that Elvis Presley had sent his gold-plated Cadillac out on tour. He didn't go with it – he just sent it out. And people would flock to see Elvis' Cadillac, and then it would go to the next town and those people would flock."
"So we thought, 'That is brilliant! Only Elvis could have thought of that.' We said, 'Well, what we should do is, we should make a killer record, and that can do the touring for us.' So that's what Sgt. Pepper was all about."
