Hurt Myself

“Hurt Myself” is a song written by Rusty Anderson, and released on his 2003 album, “Undressing Underwater“. As Rusty was part of Paul McCartney’s live band since 2001, he managed to get Paul playing bass and doing backing vocals on this track.

Well, “Hurt Myself”, that one Paul plays bass on it and he sings some background and plays a little bit of cameo guitar stuff and that was a lot of fun obviously because what happened was I talked to Paul and said, “Hey it be great if you play on something”, he said “I’d love to” because I’d given him a CD of some stuff I’m working on. So then I realized we had only 3 days to do this before going to Mexico and then off to Japan and then I wouldn’t see him, so I had to pull it together super quick and, we ended up going over to Sunset Sound and David Kahne was on board to produce it and the band was on board to play on it. Yeah, it was just an amazing experience. You know playing, recording this song and Paul is sitting playing bass in the corner, which was just a real mind-blower and he makes a mistake. “Shit !, like” (Rusty laughs)

Rusty Anderson, interview for macca-central.com

Well, I can say the recording process was pretty cool. Paul said: “Let’s plan something” and I realized we had only three days to do it so I quickly booked a session, everybody came on board and David (Kahne) said: “Sure I’ll produce it” and because it had to be organized so quickly because we were just about to go to Mexico City and then Japan and then everyone would disperse, so we quickly found ourselves in the studio, I was singing the song, Paul was playing bass and then made a mistake and he goes: “shit!” and I felt it was me, mad at myself for not learning exactly how I thought it should, it just made me realize how human we all are.

Rusty Anderson, from beatlesinternational.com, February 2004

[Paul is ] on “Hurt Myself.” I had the nerve after working with Paul on the first leg of the 2002 tour. I said, “Paul, I’m working on a record. I’d love if you could play on a song.” He said, “Sure.” I was like, “Wow. Cool.”

Then I asked David Kahne to produce and everyone else in the band, Brian, Wix, and Abe. They all said, “Sure.” We went to Sunset Sound, the same studio where I worked with the Bangles all those years earlier. And we recorded the song.

The amazing thing was that Paul came in a little later. He started playing bass. He’d curse himself when he made a little mistake. It was so endearing. I know that feeling of, “Why do I keep making that mistake?” It’s the learning process, especially if you aren’t reading the music and just following it. That’s how people in our world flesh it out.

It was very surreal. Paul called me the next day and goes, “What a cool song. That was really fun.” He plays bass, did some background vocals, and even played a little guitar for an intro part. We came up with an arrangement together in the studio with everybody. He goes, “You know that one section?” He called it the “rescue bit.” That’s one section of the song that wasn’t anything yet. It was maybe just chords. He goes, “I had a thought. It would be really cool if you came in there with some orchestral instruments. An oboe or a flute or a trumpet.” I thought, “OK. Why not. That sounds cool.”

We got Probyn Gregory. He played with Brian Wilson. He’s a multi-talent. He came in and brought a flugelhorn. He tried a few other things. It was cool to see the way Paul’s brain works and have that be part of the song.

Rusty Anderson – Interview with Rolling Stone – October 11, 2023

Your first solo record, Undressing Underwater, is a classic. Was it difficult to finally branch out?

Not really – I’d been in many roles and in various bands, so it felt pretty natural. It is a lot of hats to wear, though. The craziest bit was cutting the song Hurt Myself with Paul McCartney, the band, and David Kahne producing.

We were in Sunset Sound Studios and Paul’s playing the bass and learning the song. He made a small mistake then cursed himself, just like we all do. It was so endearing! Then he added amazing backing vocals, a bit of hooky guitar, and some awesome production suggestions. What a mind-blower that was!

Rusty Anderson – Interview with Guitar World, June 13, 2024

Lyrics

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

Live performances

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.