Paul McCartney was ‘pretty terrified’ to work with Barbra Streisand on new duet
By Hannah Roberts, PA Entertainment Reporter
Sir Paul McCartney has said he felt “pretty terrified” while recording a new duet with Barbra Streisand.
The Beatles star, 82, recorded a version of his track, My Valentine, with Streisand for her new album, The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume Two.
Speaking about the session, he said in a website post: “(It was) nerve-wracking. Nail-biting! I did the session with her in LA and I was pretty terrified.
A post shared by Barbra Streisand (@barbrastreisand)
“I think the session was about three hours, you know, a normal kind of session, and it was produced by my friend Peter Asher.
“But it started off with a big 40-piece orchestra on the Sony lot, which is one of the old Hollywood film studios; it’s very impressive. And we were on ‘The Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage’, so no pressure there!
“I thought, ‘Well, this will be easy because it’s my song, it’s My Valentine. What can go wrong?’ But what I’d forgotten was that they’d arranged it so that it had to go in Barbra’s key and then in my key.
“So, to get from Barbra’s key into mine was kind of difficult, and I had to launch in not knowing what key I was in. Mine was lower, hers was higher. It wasn’t easy at all!”
He added: “I thought if Barbra is going to do my song, I’ve got to encourage that. And she was great.
“I didn’t realise how rounded she is, creatively. They were filming the session and as soon as we went in, she said, ‘Who put that camera there? That shouldn’t be there, bring it over here. And what about those lights?’ I thought, ‘Wow, you’re directing it!’
“But then I suddenly remembered she’s directed three big movies. She’s a smart cookie.”
Ahead of the song’s release last Friday, the Funny Girl star, 83, said in an Instagram post: “What a joy it was to record ‘My Valentine’ with @paulmccartney. To share time with him in the studio was truly special!”
The album, set for release on June 27, acts as a sequel to her Grammy-nominated record Partners from 2014.
My Valentine, which has been covered by Canadian singer Michael Buble, featured on Sir Paul’s 2012 album Kisses On The Bottom.