Sir Paul McCartney has claimed to have spoken to George Harrison because he believes the ghost of his late friend lived in a tree in his home.
The music icon, 78, made the candid admission when he appeared on NPR earlier this month, saying that his fellow Beatles member, who died of lung cancer in 2001, had given him the pine tree as a gift.
He explained: “George was very fond of horticulture, a very good gardener, so he gave me a tree as a gift. It is a large fir tree and it is at my gate.
Thoughts: Sir Paul McCartney claimed earlier this month that he spoke to late Beatles star George Harrison because he believes his late friend’s ghost inhabited a BOOM in his home
“ As I left my house this morning, I get out of the car, close the gate and look up at the tree and say, ‘Hello, George.’
‘There he is, growing fast. And you know, that takes me back to the time when I hitchhiked him! They are always there, if that’s any way to put it. ‘
Paul continued, “It’s beautiful. He gave it to me – I just planted it. But then, as the years go by, every time I look at it, I go, “ That’s the tree that George gave me. ”
‘George entered that tree for me. I hope he is happy with that. ‘
Spirit: Paul said his George (pictured far right with Paul, John Lennon and Ringo Starr) had given him the pine tree as a gift before his death in 2001, and ‘entered that tree, for me’
Reflective: Paul (pictured in 1963) said: ‘[I] look up at the tree and say, “Hello, George.” ‘There he is, growing fast. And you know, that takes me back to the time when I hitchhiked him! ‘
Late star: George (pictured with his son Dhani in 1999) died in 2001 at the age of 58 after a battle with lung cancer
During their time together, The Beatles – which also included John Lennon and Ringo Starr – became one of the most influential bands of all time with their releases, making them the best-selling music act of all time.
Sir Paul released his new album McCartney III earlier this month, having written and recorded it during lockdown earlier this year.
And in a BBC chat with actor Idris Elba, broadcast last Saturday night, the crooner admitted that he ‘didn’t realize’ what he was creating when he did it.
He said: ‘[In] lockdown everyone cleared their closets and did everything they wanted to do. So [making an album] was my equivalent.
Oops: Sir Paul released his new album McCartney III earlier this month, having written and recorded it earlier this year during lockdown as a happy accident
‘I wasn’t trying to make an album. So suddenly I had these 10 songs, I thought, what am I going to do with them? It was just the 10 because I didn’t know I was making an album. ‘
During the lockdown, Paul stayed in the countryside with his daughter Mary and her children.
About the experience he went on: ‘I was really lucky. I was locked up with my daughter Mary and her family, and then I was able to go to the studio to work, it was a very safe place. We were distanced, we were always very careful.
Out now: Sir Paul said of the album, “I wasn’t trying to make an album. So suddenly I had these 10 songs, I thought, what am I going to do with them? ‘
‘I was on vacation at the beginning of the year and then I got locked up, covid hit, so I came back and got locked up in the country.
‘[It] was good because it meant hanging out with four of my grandchildren, so suddenly that was great.
‘I could go into the studio. The government said you can only go to work if you cannot work from home. So I don’t have a home studio, my home studio is 20 minutes away.
So then I just started to think, what about that song I had a few months ago that I never finished. So we got that out and I’d work on it … ‘
Trial: In a BBC chat with actor Idris Elba, broadcast last Saturday night, the crooner admitted that he ‘didn’t realize’ what he was creating when he did it