Few songwriters have attracted more admiration or envy than Paul McCartney. As one half of the songwriting duo at the centre of the biggest band of all time, The Beatles bassist penned countless classics, experimental offerings and enduring anthems. From the melancholic ‘Yesterday’ to the placating ‘Let It Be’, his creations have resonated with generations of listeners, many of them working their way onto lists of the greatest songs of all time.
As a result, he has inspired jealousy in budding lyricists and in some of the best in the business. When presented with the question, “What song do you wish you had written?”, innumerable artists have responded with a McCartney number, sharing their hopes to one day match his talents. Even John Lennon once shared his regrets that he didn’t come up with ‘All My Loving’ before his on-and-off songwriting partner did.
Sting is another huge name who has shared his admiration and envy for the Beatle’s talents with a pen. Spawning out of the new wave scene a decade or so after the heyday of the Fab Four, the Tyneside-born songwriter took up the mic in The Police to helm genre staples like ‘Every Breath You Take’ and ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’.
His hits with The Police still find their way onto wedding playlists and radio stations even today. The same can be said for works from throughout his solo career, which he focused on following the demise of The Police in the mid-1980s. Tracks like ‘Englishman in New York’ and ‘Fields of Gold’ remain iconic, with the latter even earning the envy of McCartney himself.
Though Sting has written his own fair share of enduring hits, he still envies the songwriting prowess of his Liverpudlian predecessor. During an interview with Clash, the new wave icon spoke about his admiration for The Beatles bassist, acknowledging McCartney’s early influence on his decision to take up songwriting.
A young Sting was particularly inspired by The Beatles’ background, helming from a working-class northern town himself. “They conquered the world with their songs,” he remembered, “giving an entire generation permission to try and do the same.” He stated that he could go on “at length” about the McCartney songs he wishes he had penned, but he narrowed it down to just one: ‘Eleanor Rigby’.
Alongside the playful ‘Yellow Submarine’, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ was released as a single from The Beatles’ seventh record, Revolver, back in 1966. Between uncanny harmonies, sharp strings, and lyrics about loneliness, it became one of the most well-known songs in the Fab Four’s catalogue. It also won over a young Sting.
The frontman rightly described the tune as, “compelling, mysterious, and utterly surprising!” They’re adjectives that could all just as easily be applied to most of the tunes he penned for The Police. From the creepy yet captivating ‘Every Breath You Take’ to the foreboding ‘Message In A Bottle’, Sting infused his creations with an enthralling sense of mystery.
It’s no surprise, then, that he admired ‘Eleanor Rigby’ in particular. It’s easy to find the influence of the eerie yet enchanting track in Sting’s own songwriting style. McCartney hadn’t just shown Sting that he could pen great songs from his tiny northern town, he also maintained an influence on the off-kilter sound that Sting would pursue.