Andrew Watt has built quite a name for himself as the go-to producer for rock veterans, working with the likes of The Rolling Stones, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, and Pearl Jam.
Fresh from a Grammy win for the Stones’ latter-day album Hackney Diamonds and Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ Die With A Smilecoupled with an Oscar nomination for an Elton John and Brandi Carlile track, Watt has discussed another notable individual on his ever-growing list of collaborators – and it happens to be a Beatle.
“His manager, this guy named Scott Rodger, who’s a great guy, I told him, ‘I would love to get with Paul (McCartney) some time,’” Watt tells Howard Stern.
“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, ‘OK, I’d love to meet this guy.’ So I just got a text: ‘Paul wants to come over for tea to your house.’
“So I’m like, Paul McCartney is coming out, so I cannot sleep the night before and I’m literally starting to doze off, and I sit up in the middle of the night (and) I’m like, ‘Holy shit, I have no lefty guitars. I have only right-handed guitars.’ I’m a lefty, but I play right.
“We’re supposed to have tea, but what happens if he wants to play a chord, or wants to show me something? I could have Paul McCartney playing guitar in front of me and I won’t be able to. So we start Googling and we find a company that will rent them, so they’re in the house.”
Watt explains how he was psyching himself out before Macca finally made an appearance – and how he managed to discover some invaluable information about a timeless recording session straight from the source.
“We started talking about Blackbirdbecause that is one of my favorite songs ever, and it’s very interesting to play. It’s got a very particular right hand. So I was asking him if I got it right. And he was showing me stuff.”
Blackbirdwhich McCartney plays on the White Album with his Martin D-28, has become a rite of passage for fingerpicking guitarists. However, according to the songwriter (and the original guitarist) himself, most people are missing a key element that contributes to the song’s timeless magic.
“‘(McCartney said,) ‘You know, the most important part of that song is that tap your foot while you play it.’ And I’m like, ‘I thought that’s a metronome.’ ‘We didn’t have metronomes. That’s my foot tapping,’” Watt relays to a surprised Stern.
“So they actually had his foot mic’d in the studio. So getting those little bits of information from the source – that’s the reason why I exist. It gives me life.”
Last year, Watt revealed how he convinced McCartney to guest on a Rolling Stones track for latest album Hackney Diamonds.
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