Paul McCartney Just Performed This Beatles Song Live For First Time [Video]

Former Beatles bassist and backup vocalist Paul McCartney just rocked the house in Japan, according to an article by Leonie Cooper on NME News’ website. Paul McCartney, who Cooper noted performed the Beatles song “Another Girl” live at the Nippon Budokan in Japan, told NME about the experience, calling it “… sensational and quite emotional remembering the first time [the Beatles played this venue].” Entertainment Weekly noted that McCartney last performed at the Budokan with The Beatles in 1966, during an Asian tour that included shows in the Philippines.

Cooper also noted that McCartney, who is a member of the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, performed early Beatles staple hits such as “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “Paperback Writer” at the concert. McCartney, who participated in a tribute to bandmate John Lennon’s late first wife, Cynthia, earlier this month, was knighted by the Queen of England in 1997.

The Beatles’ break-up has been attributed to several different combined factors, ranging from the death of manager Brian Epstein to artistic differences and personality clashes over creative control of the band, as Wikipedia notes. The site went on to call the Beatles’ dissolution a process that occurred throughout 1968-1970.

Though the Beatles’ career was short, spanning only a decade (1960-1970), it’s often credited as one of the most prolific in terms of the huge amount of songs and albums created during that short period. The band’s IMDB page calls them the “most successful pop group of the 20th Century,” crediting them with “forever changing popular culture” (you’re welcome, One Direction).

Entertainment Weekly also reported that, even though there’s no official footage of McCartney’s performance, a fan did shoot a video of the event, which, of course, found its way to YouTube.

McCartney has been participating in some interesting (read: unexpected) collaborations lately, including lending his bass-playing skills to the pop hit “FourFiveSeconds,” which featured pop legend Rihanna and controversial rapper Kanye West on vocals. McCartney also played bass for Kanye West’s song “Only One.”

Sir McCartney is known both for crafting calm love songs and helping create the unique sound of hard rock hits like “Helter Skelter” (when he was with the Beatles) and “Cut Me Some Slack” (post-Beatles) with Nirvana’s Dave Grohl. McCartney also formed the band Wings with his wife, Linda McCartney, in the 1970s. The Beatles also have a slew of unrecorded songs attributed to the legendary songwriting team of Lennon-McCartney. Those songs largely include love songs written in a similar lyrical and musical style to the early Beatles hits such as “Love Me Do” and “8 Days A Week.”

While nobody can ever perfectly mimic the psychedelic vocals of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, there have been plenty of adequate cover songs that are just plain good in their own right (a band called Butchering The Beatles, for instance, makes the pop group’s music into hard metal tunes, for instance). Nearly every band around today owes a musical debt to the Beatles, whether in the form of having covered their music or being influenced by their legacy.

[Image Credit: Huffington Post]