Yes, Paul McCartney will be on the Rolling Stones' new album (original) (raw)

Paul McCartney will appear on the new Rolling Stones album, EW has learned.

The Beatles singer will play bass on one track of the untitled project, the first Stones LP of original material since 2005's A Bigger Bang, and their first full-length since the death of drummer Charlie Watts in 2021.

Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger. Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Previous reports had speculated that Ringo Starr would also show up on the album, making for a rather historic collaboration between the Stones and the last surviving Beatles members, but EW has learned that this is not true.

The two legendary groups have had something of a rivalry since the 1960s, particularly among their fans, who continue to debate which of them is deserving of the unofficial title of "Greatest Band in the World."* The Beatles broke up in 1970, after forming in Liverpool in 1960. The Stones formed in 1962 in London, and released their second single, "I Wanna Be Your Man," written by McCartney and fellow Beatle John Lennon, the following year.

Stones frontman Mick Jagger was even a "semi-regular guest of honor at Beatles sessions," sitting in on the recording of "All You Need Is Love," the mixing of the Revolver album, and the recording of the orchestral section of "A Day in the Life," reports Rolling Stone.

Still, the camaraderie between Jagger and McCartney did give way to the occasional shade, with McCartney telling Howard Stern in 2020, "The Beatles were better."

Jagger then unfolded his reading glasses and went to town on Apple Music's The Zane Lowe Show in response.

"There's obviously no competition," he said. "The Rolling Stones [are] a big concert band in other decades and other eras, when the Beatles never even did an arena tour, Madison Square Garden with a decent sound system. [The Stones] started doing stadium gigs in the '70s and [are] still doing them now. That's the real big difference between these two bands. One band is unbelievably, luckily still playing in stadiums, and then the other band doesn't exist."

Macca later referred to the Stones as a "blues cover band" while promoting Peter Jackson's Beatles documentary, Get Back. "I'm not sure I should say it, but they're a blues cover band — that's sort of what the Stones are," McCartney said in 2021. "I think our net was cast a bit wider than theirs."

To be fair, the Stones' last studio album was 2016's Blue & Lonesome, an album of… blues covers. But Jagger took it all in stride because, you see, there's really nothing but love and respect between the two bands.

Whichever camp you're in, Beatles fans and Stones fans can both delight in McCartney's bass action on the upcoming Stones album — though not much else is known about it yet, including its release date.

*The correct answer is, as always, Led Zeppelin.

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