“Paul said that in the more than 300 songs he and John wrote, he could only remember one time where they got stuck”: Paul McCartney guitarist Brian Ray talks the Beatles' creative process

Back in 2005, Guitar Player sat down for an extensive interview with Paul McCartney, then fresh off the release of Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, an album that saw him break new artistic ground with the help of producer Nigel Godrich (best known for his decades-long partnership with Radiohead).

In addition to the insightful chat with the one-time Beatle, GP talked shop with Macca's longtime six-string partners, Brian Ray and Rusty Anderson.

Asked if McCartney ever gave him insight into the inner workings of his world-changing creative relationship with John Lennon, Ray replied in the affirmative, revealing in the process just how absurdly prolific and natural their songwriting method was.

“I asked Paul if he wrote to a title, or a little melody, or a riff or something, and he said, ‘No. It was always lyrics, music, melody, and guitars all at once,’” Ray said.

Further elaborating on the speed at which the duo were able to produce (“You have to remember that the Beatles did a record every six months,” Ray emphasized), the guitarist said, “Paul said that in the more than 300 songs he and John wrote, he could only remember one time where they got stuck, and that was when they were writing 'Drive My Car.' They thought the title wasn’t working, but they liked the song. So they took a break, had some tea, and changed it.”

Drive My Car (Remastered 2009) - YouTube

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So, what exactly changed about the brilliant Rubber Soul opener during that time? That, Ray insisted, would remain a secret.

“I won’t tell you the lyric they tossed, because that’s Paul’s right to do that. I don’t want to be the guy who tells everybody what 'Drive My Car' was originally written as. And, you know, even with the rewrite they still finished the song at the end of the day!”

Over his two decades with McCartney – and many years before that as a go-to session player – Ray has built up a formidable reputation in his own right, even teaming up with Gibson in 2019 for a rare signature SG Junior electric guitar (another, more recent, recipient of a signature SG Junior being punk-pop star Yungblud.)