My Soul

Song facts

“My Soul” is a song written by Paul McCartney and British Indian musician, producer and composer Nitin Sawhney. It was released on Sawhney’s 2008 album “London Undersound“.

So many collaborations for you over the years, Sting, Brian Eno, Sinead O’Connor, Jeff Beck, Ellie Goulding, A.R. Rahman, Anouska Shankar, but I’ve read you say that working with Paul McCartney was a particular highlight. He was supposed to play the wineglass, but he didn’t.

Well. So I’ve known Paul McCartney for a long time, and he came over the first time back in the 90s, to the shared flat I was in with Sanjeev Bhaskar actually. It was amazing because he called me up in the morning and said, I’m thinking of coming over and watching what you’re doing. And I was quite worried about that…

About the flat, if our Desert Island Discs listeners were there, what might they have seen?

Mess. (laughs) So basically, everyone was frantically running around hoovering and doing all kinds of things, trying to figure out what to do with random cardboard boxes. And then he came up to my tiny bedroom, where I had all my studio gear, and he looked around, and then he looked at me and just said, “I used to live in a place like this”. And he said, “I wrote a track called scrambled eggs in a room a bit like this”. And he sat down and played Yesterday on my guitar, which is what that was. It was called “Scrambled Eggs” originally. So I was like, okay, “Paul McCartney is in my bedroom playing Yesterday to me, this is an interesting point in my life”. And so anyway, I got to know him. And then one time I was at his house, and David Gilmour was there, and they decided to have a jam at one point. So I ended up playing piano with David Gilmour on saxophone, and Paul McCartney singing. And then later on, at the dinner, Paul McCartney just started playing a note on the wineglass, just with his finger, just as we were chatting, and I said, “you know what, it would be amazing if you appeared on my next album, but not playing bass or singing, but just playing the wineglass” and he said, “I really like that idea”. So he turned up, but then he brought his bass and we ended up writing a song together, obviously.

Nitin Sawhney – Interview for BBC Desert Island Discs, June 21, 2019

Paul McCartney walked into my bedroom when we were working together, and said: “I wrote a song called Scrambled Eggs in a room quite like this, but then it changed into another lyric.” He picked up an acoustic guitar and sang Yesterday. At the end of Paul’s garden, out in the woods really, he has a bar. He makes a great margarita.

Nitin Sawhney – interview with TheGuardian, July 13, 2019

He was the easiest person I’ve ever worked with. […] He had no ego. He was really chilled.

Nitin Sawhney, about Paul McCartney – interview with The National, January 19, 2020

Funny, intelligent, open, inspiring — I thought of how I was in the giant shoes that John Lennon had been in

Nitin Sawhney, about Paul McCartney – Interview for Financial Times (ft.com), September 17, 2020

Having worked with, and become yourself, a big international name in music, what’s the star quality all these people – McCartney, Visconti, etc – have in common?

They’re very focused. They know what they want, and have a drive that means they see things through to the point of delivery. They deliver in a room, whatever they’re doing, they see it through. Paul McCartney has still got that same hunger, he’s still interested in pushing boundaries. When I first met him in the Nineties, he was doing the Fireman project with producer Youth, and he wanted me to remix a couple of tracks. It’s pretty out there. He came to my house and we used to hang out there. It was a completely different thing from what he was used to. He was really pushing himself. All those people do.

Nitin Sawhney – Interview for theartsdesk, August 22, 2017

Last updated on April 16, 2021

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