Recording "As You Lie There"

In March 2021, Andrew Watt was named Producer of the Year at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, an achievement that likely drew the attention of Paul McCartney. Paul’s manager, Scott Rodger, then reached out to Watt, and the two agreed to meet in April 2021 in Los Angeles.

At the time, Paul was in Los Angeles for several commitments, including work on the animated film “High in the Clouds”, a private preview screening of “The Beatles: Get Back“, and promotional activities for the album “McCartney III Imagined“.

Anticipating the session, Andrew Watt purchased a left-handed guitar. Their first meeting, held at his personal studio in Los Angeles, quickly evolved into an impromptu recording session, with Paul returning the following day to continue working together.

During these initial sessions, they recorded the track “As You Lie There“, marking the beginning of their collaboration. Paul publicly revealed he was working with Watt as the sessions progressed, during conversations with EOB, St. Vincent and Phoebe Bridgers for the promotion of “McCartney III Imagined“.

Over the following years, Paul and Watt continued to meet regularly to record new material. Their collaboration ultimately resulted in the album “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane“, released in May 2026, with “As You Lie There” serving as its opening track.

This partnership also led to Paul contributing to a track on “Hackney Diamonds” by The Rolling Stones, produced by Watt and released in 2023.

Have you got another album on the go, have you got more music?

I’ve just met this guy, Andrew Watt, who’s a new young producer… He’s probably not that new, but I mean, to me, he is. And I just met him the other day, he’s got a great little studio which is in Charlie Chaplin’s old house. So it’s real Hollywood history, you know. And he’s got a fabulous little studio in the bottom, so I was going around maybe to just have a cup of tea with him, and we got start, we got talking and I was talking about something, and I said “you know I don’t have to have a left-handed guitar here, do you?” “yes we do”

So suddenly I’ve got a guitar, we just took it from there and I said “should we put this down” and we’ve ended up doing a track but, again, you know, it’s not me trying to make a new album, it’s just doing a song with this guy who’s fun to work with. It may well be on a next album, but I’m not in a hurry, you know, we’ve got tonight’s album coming out you’re on.

Paul McCartney – In conversation with EOB, April 15, 2021

I am in Los Angeles. […] I just started doing a little bit of work. I met the producer, Andrew Watt. Have you heard of Andrew? […] I just met him. My manager said “you might like to go say hello and meet him”. So I went around for a cup of tea, and of course we ended up making a track.. So that’s, that’s great fun… […]

[This afternoon] I’m going over to a studio with Andrew Watt. And I said, we were working on a track. It’s exciting. I just met him and I wasn’t sure what we do. We just have a cup of tea or whatever. But we got talking and we got playing little guitar stuff. And I actually started off saying “sometimes it’s great to experiment with a chord you don’t even know”. I say, “a crazy chord like …” and I did this chord and I thought “Oh, that’s really crazy”. But I messed around with it a little bit. And it resolved itself into a less crazy one, and it’s just the opening sequence in a little thing. So then, we started and I said “well, should we put this down?” And that was fatal. And then, Yeah, how about some drums… It was very nice. And so I’m hoping to kind of finish that up today, or near enough finish it. So that’s quite nice. It’s the theme of the tune was… Sometimes an image will come into your mind. And I remember when I was a kid, where we used to live, there was blocks of flats where people lived, and I remember walking by this one (where) I knew this girl lived… And her light was on, so I could kind of see her silhouette in the window. So I always thought, wow… I mean, I suppose that makes me a voyeur. But there’s something kind of romantic about it. So I just started the song with that thought, like, ‘I walk by your house and I see your silhouette on the blind.’ And then try to develop it. ‘Do I ever cross your mind?’

Paul McCartney – In conversation with St. Vincent, April 15, 2021

Phoebe Bridgers: What about you? What have you got going on?

Paul McCartney: I’ve got quite a sort of full day today. I’ve just now watched an animation film that I’m involved in where I’ve written a music. It’s a film called “High In The Clouds” […] And then I’m talking to Phoebe Bridgers later. She’s really cool, man. Have you heard of her? […] And then I’m gonna talk to Josh Homme. […] And then I’ll go over to a recording studio, where I’ve been working with a young producer. You’ve probably heard of Andrew Watt.

Phoebe Bridgers: Oh yeah. Big fan.

Paul McCartney: I hadn’t met him. But my manager said “it would be nice if you wanted to meet him, you know, just hang out and grab a cup of tea or something”. So I went over to his place. And we were just chatting. And then at one point, he just looked at me kind of cutely, and said, “I’d like to do a song with you”. I thought, okay, so certainly, we’re picking up guitars and then making the song and I was on the drums. And so I’m going over there, hopefully to finish off the thing we’ve been doing. And then my nephew is in town with his daughter, and I’m going out to dinner. Me and Nancy are going out to dinner with them later. So I’ve got a full day.

Paul McCartney – In conversation with Phoebe Bridgers, April 16, 2021

What was this story where you got to have tea with Paul McCartney and then you started writing songs with him? Describe to me that process.

His manager – a guy named Scott Roger who’s great guy – I told him I would love to get with Paul sometime and then, right after that, I won the producer for the year at the Grammys, and then I think he told Paul about that, and then Paul was like “okay I’d love to meet this guy”. So I just got a text Paul wanted to come over for tea.

To your house?

So I’m like “Paul McCartney is coming to my…” so I cannot sleep the night before. I’m like what the [ _ ] so I’m literally starting to doze off and I sit up in the middle of the night, I’m like “holy [ _ ], I have no Lefty guitars.” I have only right-handed guitars, I’m a lefty but I play right. I’m like we’re supposed to have tea, but what happens if he wants to play a chord or wants to show me something or I could have Paul McCartney playing guitar in front of me, and I won’t be able to… so we start Googling and we kind of find a company that would rent them, then they’re around. So they’re coming over for tea, I am tripping out like never before, it’s the one time I was like, “okay I need you to slap me in the face as hard as you can” to my assistant.

You’re nervous…

There’s going to be a Beatle in my kitchen, how is that something that you can fathom… So we start having you know deep conversations about stuff and we started talking about Blackbird because it’s one of my favorite songs ever and it’s very interesting to play, it’s got like a very particular right hand and I thought I kind of have it how to play it, so I was like asking him if I kind of got it right and he was kind of showing me stuff and he was like “you know the most important part of that song is that you tap your foot while you play it” and I thought that’s a metronome. So they actually have his foot mic’ed in the studios. He was telling me that story there where he’s playing the song but you hear a little pulse and that’s just his foot tapping. So getting those kinds of little bits of information from the source, that’s like the reason why I exist. It gives me life. […]

Then he texted me and he said “I really like this. Can I come back tomorrow and let’s work on it a little bit?” So, he came back and then he kept coming back for like five or six days, and we made this really awesome song that I love and he loves. And then from there, we just kinda kept working together, and it’s been one of the most amazing experiences in my life just watching him work. He plays every single instrument unbelievably.

Andrew Watt – Interview with Howard Stern, February 2025

Session activities

1. As You Lie There

   Written by Paul McCartney, Andrew Watt

   Recording

Staff

Production staff