Paul McCartney was “amazed” when Guns ‘N’ Roses covered ‘Live & Let Die’

Paul McCartney has recalled being “amazed” when Guns N’ Roses covered his 1973 hit with Wings, ‘Live & Let Die’.

The song was written for the James Bond film of the same name before it was covered by the legendary ’80s rockers two decades later and appeared on their 1991 album ‘Use Your Illusion I’.

McCartney even admitted to being surprised that the cover was successful enough for it to be mistaken for a Guns N’ Roses original rather than one of his songs.

Speaking on his A Life In Lyrics podcast, McCartney said: “I thought it was pretty good actually. I was more amazed that they would actually do it, this young American group.

“The interesting thing was my kids would go to school and they would go, ‘My dad wrote that.’ They’d go, ‘No he didn’t, it was Guns N’ Roses,’ so nobody would ever believe them. For a while it was just Guns N’ Roses.”

He added: “I was very happy that they had done it. I always like people doing my songs.”

Speaking about writing a Bond theme, he said: “It was always a sneaky ambition to write a Bond song because, in some ways, I like to see myself, one portion of myself, as a jobbing writer. You require a song for the queen’s wedding, I’m your man.

“The equivalent of that for a lot people is the Bond song. You’ve written a Bond song, it’s a bit of an accolade.”

Meanwhile, The Beatles topped the charts last week with their “final” track ‘Now And Then’ – six decades after they secured their first Number One.

Released earlier this month, the track was billed as the last song from the Fab Four and stemmed from an old John Lennon demo tape – completed by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr with the help of AI.

It also came alongside both a short video documenting their time completing the project and a Peter Jackson-directed music video that included previously unearthed footage of the band.