During a recent interview with Professor of Rock, music legend Sting shared the song Paul McCartney regrets not writing.
Sting talks about Paul McCartney
“One of the greatest honors I’ve had about that song is when McCartney said, obliquely, that it was one of the songs he wished he’d written,” the singer said of the song ‘Fields of Gold.’
“Now, I can name you a long list of songs of his that I wish I’d written.”
Sting continued:
“Him to name one of mine was major for [me as a] Beatles fan. McCartney is one of the reasons that I had the nerve to try and be a songwriter…He and Lennon conquered the world with their own songs.”
During a previous Q&A at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, McCartney said, “I liked Sting’s ‘Fields Of Gold,’ and I thought, ‘You know what, I should have written that. How dare he?’”
McCartney kicked off the 1980s strongly with ‘Tug of War,’ but his later albums, like ‘Pipes of Peace’ and ‘Press to Play’ weren’t that successful. Sting noticed that the rocker seemed to be losing his ability to make serious music.
“I worry about McCartney, too. I think he isn’t sure what to do anymore,” Sting told David Sheff in an interview. [He’s] is a genius in many ways, but I think he should push himself to do work that’s more serious.”
He went on to explain, “His Beatles work was as important as Lennon’s was–more important, in some cases–and he is one of the people in the world who could take more risks.”
The Beatles is one of Sting’s biggest influences in music. Speaking with Rick Beato in 2021, the singer shared, “I’m glad you mentioned the Beatles because the reason I’m a musician is because of the Beatles. They were from Liverpool, I was from Newcastle; both port towns in the north of England – working class. They had the same education as me, I went to grammar school; they were scholarship boys. Smart working class kids.”
He added, “They conquered the world with their own songs, and therefore gave permission to a younger generation, a decade younger, to try the same thing [and think] ‘Oh we’ll try that, I know those four chords – I could do that, probably.’ And we all tried. We owe a lot to the Beatles, they really were an amazing influence on all of our lives.”
‘Fields of Gold’ appeared on Sting’s fourth studio album, ‘Ten Summoner’s Tales.’ It arrived on June 7, 1993.
