FEATURE:
Paul McCartney at Eighty
IN THIS PHOTO: James Corden and Paul McCartney/PHOTO CREDIT: Craig Sugden/CBS
Twenty-Four: Thinking Back to Paul McCartney’s 2018 Carpool Karaoke and Carpool Karaoke: When Corden Met McCartney, Live From Liverpool
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WHEN thinking about subjects…
to write about when it comes to Paul McCartney, I have been casting my mind back to his appearance on Carpool Karaoke in 2018. Part of James Corden’s U.S. chat show, there was some scepticism from some when it was announced. Maybe some wondered whether Corden and McCartney would not gel, or they would be an ill fit. It stands out as one of the most important moments of his (McCartney’s) career! The original Carpool Karaoke segment was a real coup. Corden, to that point, had driven around a lot of famous people. It is basically him and a guest singing alongside to songs (it is usually artists). It is this unique and fun interview idea. For someone like Paul McCartney that has had such a long and unmatched career, I guess there was always going to be something extra-special. The reaction to the initial segment was incredibly positive. I love the fact that McCartney was so accommodating. Corden drove McCartney around Liverpool; the songwriting legend revisited his childhood home where he wrote music with John Lennon. James Corden did a great job of bonding with Paul McCartney and bringing the best out of him. Although McCartney has provided countless interviews, there was something more intimate and revealing about this one! A glimpse into his life and a city that he calls home, the original twenty-three-minute segment was shown as a special.
This Deadline article talks about Carpool Karaoke: When Corden Met McCartney, Live from Liverpool. It featured never-seen-before scenes. It is an extended version of the original broadcast:
“Saying “Baby, I could drive your car” has proven to be a very good strategy for James Corden — never more so than when he put Paul McCartney into the highly sought passenger seat.
The primetime special “Carpool Karaoke: When Corden Met McCartney, Live From Liverpool” is a contender in five Emmy categories this year, including variety special (prerecorded), plus directing, writing, editing and sound mixing for a variety special. That’s hardly the only impressive stat Corden can claim, though. The late-night host himself is up for seven Emmys, the most for any on-air performer this year, and five of those nods are directly associated with the “Carpool Karaoke” franchise. (The only person with more 2019 nominations than Corden is his executive producer and director, Ben Winston, with eight.)
“You’ve got to be really careful at times like this to not start to think you might be more of a dude than you really are,” admits the “Late Late Show” host, faced with the abundance of Emmy love (which the Television Academy keeps having to adjudicate upward, having previously undercounted before establishing in late July that he got seven personal nods).
It does not hurt to have an ex-Beatle as a co-dude. “I just always felt he was made for” the segment, Corden says. “Genuinely every day since that went out, somebody somewhere has talked to me about it. It’s rare to have a segment on a late-night talk show that would seep into the public consciousness in that way.”
McCartney himself brought it up repeatedly on his recent stadium tour, pointing to the single “Come on to Me” (from 2018’s “Egypt Station”) as “one you might have heard” because of “Carpool Karaoke.” Says Corden: “Every few weeks I’ll get a text from a friend saying, ‘Dude, I was just at Paul McCartney’s show, and he mentioned you.’ It’s lovely that he would talk about it in such a way. Paul had not had a No. 1 album in America [since 1982], and he very kindly and publicly credits that segment as being an instrumental thing in that happening. But I also know that he feels very proud of it because it took a lot for him to open up in such a manner.”
It’s not just McCartney who opens up. When Corden recently did a “Carpool” segment with the Jonas Brothers, s— got just real enough for a few minutes that it seemed as if the seemingly frolicsome bit might be the most revealing interview they did as part of their post-contention comeback.
“Obviously people think about the songs when we do these ‘Carpool’ things, but I think the thing I’m proudest of is the interview,” says Corden. “You’re in there for a long time. I mean, the one we shot with Paul was shot over five or six hours. And the Jonas Brothers was, I think, three hours. Everybody just relaxes into that segment. It’s very rare that we use anything that’s shot in the first 10 minutes of those ‘Carpools.’ Then very slowly people start to open up and chat, and you’ve got to let them know that this is a safe place and they can trust you — and then you’re seeing a real version of themselves, because there’s no one else around. It’s blocked off cameras. There’s not a soul there. If you and I were conducting this interview now in front of an audience of people, or with loads of cameras around, or even a crew around, we’d probably be talking very differently than we are right now, and that’s the thing.
Another freeing element, he says, is “there isn’t the construct or the pressure of time. You can go down some dead ends. You can organically find stuff. If you’re in there with, like, Migos… Offset was in the back, and he was carrying something like $200,000 in cash in a bag, which I had absolutely no idea about. That wasn’t set up. They hadn’t told me. I was just like, ‘What?’ And then that just opens up a whole new sort of thing.”
With McCartney, that played out in an unexpectedly emotional way for interviewer and subject. As Corden recalls: “We were going back to Liverpool, telling stories that he had never told before. On the day of shooting, he said, ‘Can I talk to you for a minute?’ We were in this hotel, and we went into this walk-in closet and he said, ‘Listen, I know we’ve talked about this, but I don’t want to go back into my house.’ And I said, ‘Can I ask why?’ And he said, ‘I just feel weird about it. I haven’t been in there in 50 years.’ It’s now a National Trust house. ‘All I ever do when I bring people to Liverpool is I drive up outside and I show them that house, and I show them where John lived …’ And I said, ‘Look, Paul, don’t overthink this. If you don’t want to go in, we’re not going to do anything you don’t want to do. All you have to think about is having a great time, and that’s all that’s expected of you. Nothing else matters other than you and me enjoying this. Just see how you feel. And if you don’t want to go in, just give me a look, and we’ll drive on.’
“That was a moment where I thought, ‘I don’t know what’s happened to my life that I’m standing in a wardrobe giving Paul McCartney a pep talk about enjoying himself.’ But when we pulled up outside the house, I looked at him, and I suddenly realized we probably should have used a word, because what if he’s giving me a look and I don’t know? But he goes, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ And it was glorious.”
Obviously only parts of it were played for comedy. “I didn’t expect for it to be quite so moving,” Corden says. “And I didn’t expect to have feelings or thoughts of my grandfather. My grandfather was a musician, my father is a musician, and I remember so vividly them playing me ‘Let It Be’ and ‘Hey Jude.’ And I said to Paul, ‘If my granddad was here, he’d get a real kick out of this.’ Because I know that he would. And there’s a moment where Paul just says, ‘He is.’ And it gives me chills now even thinking about it.”
The McCartney segment wasn’t originally planned to be a primetime special. It originally ran on the late-night show at a mere 23 minutes, but “the reaction to it afterward was so incredible, and we just had so much footage left over, that we spoke to the network and spoke to Paul’s people” about expanding it to an hour for primetime. There was so much content there. Just being with him walking down Penny Lane, it felt closer to something you’d maybe see on ‘60 Minutes’ or something, you know? I mean, we could have made it longer, in truth”.
I love that original Carpool Karaoke and the longer version. It is a celebration of McCartney’s endless significance and popularity. Him showing genuine love and fascination for Liverpool is infectious and touching. I love Corden and McCartney singing along to these iconic songs. Even though, I guess, there was this intention Carpool Karaoke was promoting Egypt Station and it was trying to draw attention to that, it took on a life of its own. I remember seeing Carpool Karaoke at the time, and I was instantly struck by it. Looking back now, it still has this effect. It creates emotion. I wanted to highlight it now, as there may be people who have not seen Carpool Karaoke or the extended version. After the huge wave of acclaim and affection for the original, Carpool Karaoke: When Corden Met McCartney, Live From Liverpool gave us a fuller picture and some great extras. I think, when McCartney is no longer with us, we will watch these specials and understand what a special person he was! Inspiring throughout, it is so much more than an interview. I wonder whether James Corden and Paul McCartney will ever interview again and do something similar. Turning eighty in June, I think his ninth decade of life will bring a lot of new music and memorable moments. Everyone has their favourite Paul McCartney interviews and specials. The Carpool Karaoke and Carpool Karaoke: When Corden Met McCartney, Live From Liverpool specials are among…
THE absolute best.