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 Smile, coupled 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 Blackbird, because 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."
Blackbird, which 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.
