Paul McCartney Redefines ‘Carpool Karaoke’ With James Corden In Liverpool
Late Late Show’s Carpool Karaoke snagged Paul McCartney for this year’s London visit. It’s not so much karaoke and, technically, not so much “carpool” either with lots of trips down Beatles Liverpool Memory Lane, or Penny Lane to be more precise.
Beginning their Liverpool “road trip” to “Drive My Car,” of course, host James Corden asks McCartney how old he was when he wrote his first song.
He was 14 and it was called “I Lost My Little Girl”:
I woke up late this morning,
My head was in a whirl.
And only then I realized
I lost my little girl.
Her clothes were not expensive,
Her hair didn’t always curl……
Corden boasts his first song was called “Girl Are You Ready”:
Girl are you ready
Just tell me when you’re ready
Girl are you ready
I ain’t gonna rush you.
“It’s very similar,” Corden insisted.
“It’s not,” McCartney corrected.
They arrive at Penny Lane:
Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs
Of every head he’s had the pleasure to have known
And all the people that come and go
Stop and say ‘Hello’
The barber shop still is there. They stop and say hello. A photo of Paul, getting his hair cut by John Lennon, hangs on the wall.
“Your music is so full of positivity and joy and a message of love and togetherness, I feel like it’s more relevant today than it’s maybe ever been,” said Corden the day after Late Late Show opened with Corden talking about the “human decency issue” of 2,300 immigrant children forcibly removed from their parents by the United States government.
Back in the car, Corden tears up as they sing “Let It Be” because his grandfather had described it as the best song he’d ever heard. “If my grandfather was here he’d get an absolute kick out of this,” Corden emoted.
“He is,” McCartney assured him.
Out of the car again and inside the house where McCartney lived as a teen, he demonstrated how much better music sounds in the loo – “acoustic chamber,” he called it – where he says he used to spend hours with his guitar.
Yet another out-of-car/out-of-karaoke experience happened in a pub where McCartney used to play at times, the Philharmonic. That day, ecstatic locals are surprised when a coin in the jukebox causes a curtain to pull open, behind which is McCartney, who plays “Hard Days Night,” “Love Me Do,” “Back in the USSR” and “Hey Jude” as young and old men and women dance, jump, sing along and yes, cry.
Check out the video above.
Related stories
James Corden Concludes 'The Late Late Show's Week In London After 1M Apply For Tickets
James Corden Addresses "Human Decency Issue" In United States During 'Late Late Show' From London
Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
