My Old Friend

Song facts

“My Old Friend” is a song written by Carl Perkins in 1981, while participating to the recording of Paul McCartney’s album “Tug Of War“. Carl Perkins was invited by Paul to Montserrat, where the recording of the album took place; and participated in Paul’s song, “Get It“. He spent eight days there

 to thank Paul for the invitation to Montserrat. Recorded on February 25, 1981, and released fifteen years later – after some sweetening – on Carl’s album Go Cat Go (October 15, 1996). On this album Carl presents collaboration with all of the Fab Four.

The night before I was supposed to leave, I thought I might run short of words telling Paul how much I appreciated him having me down there, so I wrote down some words and put a little tune to them. I called it ‘My Old Friend’, and sang it to him the next morning. Then I had to stay another day, because he said, ‘This is one we have to record.’ Linda told me, ‘He doesn’t cry a lot, but you touched him with that song.’ I only meant the song to be from me to him, but it turned out that it sounds like John Lennon is talking to him.

Carl Perkins. From Badman, Keith. The Beatles: Off The Record 2 – The Dream is Over: Dream Is Over Vol 2 (p. 303)

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From Club Sandwich N°33, 1984:

[…] Paul really liked [My Old Friend] and got Carl to play it again for Linda and George Martin. Although Carl felt it was just a statement, Paul persuaded him to go into the studio there and then to put it down. Carl sang and played two guitar parts, Paul played organ, rhythm guitar, drums and bass, whilst adding backing vocals. It was cut within the hour.

Paul’s interest in the song was so strong that he asked Carl if he could take it back to England to work on an arrangement. Carl feels that Paul’s treatment is a masterpiece, which heightens the feelings expressed in the song. He says that My Old Friend means more to him than any other song he’s ever written, including Blue Suede Shoes, as it’s both his personal feeling to Paul whilst managing to hit a universal note with which many people can associate.

From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RywM8Xy98Ew:

The night before he left, a song came to Carl that summed up his warm feelings about the visit, and he couldn’t get it out of his mind. It was so strong that Carl didn’t even write it down, which he said was strange for him. He usually always wrote his songs down immediately.

In the morning, Carl Perkins sang the song, which he named My Old Friend, for Linda and Paul, saying it was his gift for having him as a guest. Half way through the song, after singing “if we never meet again this side of life, in a little while, over yonder, where there’s peace and quiet, my old friend, won’t you think about me every now and then?” tears streamed down Paul’s face and he stood up and stepped outside.

Not knowing what the matter was, Carl stopped, a bit shaken. Didn’t Paul like the song? Linda warmly put her arms around Carl, and thanked him. She said the song was getting Paul to finally connect with his grief over John Lennon’s death.

Linda explained that the last time Paul talked to John, he had said the same line to Paul: “think about me every now and then, my old friend.”

Carl and Linda were now convinced that the song had been channeled from John Lennon’s spirit, as a gift to Paul.

Well, it was something that I’ll never live long enough to forget. It happened in February of 1981 and as the world all knows, and never will forget, in December of 1980 when John Lennon was taken away from us, and so this was the following year, in February. I wrote the song about and for Paul McCartney. I did it because he was so kind to invite me down to this beautiful island of Montserrat with Stevie Wonder. Ringo was there, just had a wonderful time. I flew down by myself. Paul and Linda met me with a jeep on the (center) airfield with a little single engine plane and took me across the mountains we were like kids again, and it was a wonderful time, and I wanted to do… I didn’t want to cry when I left after staying down there, and I’m a big crybaby! If something moves me, I’ll just choke up… I talk about it. I thought that would happen, so the night before, I just wrote how I felt on the isle of Montserrat on every shell, forget a country boy with a guitar and a song you invited me, and you treated me like kin, and you’ve given me a reason to go on. So my old friend, think about me every now and then. I sang it for Paul, at about 10:00 the next morning. I was scheduled to leave flying again in the little single engine aircraft to the island of Antigua where I was flying commercial back to Atlanta and on to Nashville and back to Jackson, where I live here. I sang it, he said “Carl, it’s beautiful… would you sing it again?” and I said. “Sure, man.” He said “wait just a minute,” and he got Linda in there, and they sat on the floor, I sat on his old Fender twin reverb amplifier, with a guitar, I did however notice a microphone over there. I didn’t pay that much attention to it, but George Martin recorded it and after I finished singing the song to Paul, he was crying, tears were rolling down his pretty cheeks, and they’re pretty to me just like they are to the rest of the world. I think he’s a very handsome boy and always did. He’s even handsomer when he’s crying. And Linda said, “Carl, thank you so much.” I said, “Linda, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to make you cry.” She said, “But he’s crying and he needed to. He hasn’t been able to really break down since that happened to John.” I mean he stepped outside of the room, out by the pool, and he just had his handkerchief out, and he was going at it. And she put her arm around me and said, “But how did you know?” I said, “Know what, Linda? I don’t know what you’re talking about?” She said “There’s two people in the world that know what John Lennon said to Paul, the last thing he said to him. Me and Paul are the only two that know that, but now there’s three and one of you… you know it. I said, “Girl, you’re freaking me out! I don’t know what you’re talking about!” She said the last words that John Lennon said to Paul in the hallway of the Dakota building were… he patted him on the shoulder, and said, ‘Think about me every now and then, old friend.’

That’s just amazing…

And she said, here you are, that’s what you just sang, and how did you know? And I said I didn’t know it, gosh, I didn’t know it. But McCartney really feels that Lennon sent me that song, he really does.

Carl Perkins – from interview with Goldmine

Last updated on June 18, 2023

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