Paul McCartney ‘Was Oblivious’ to His 1-Sided Rivalry With Mick Jagger

The Beatles and Rolling Stones were two of the biggest classic rock bands ever. The way some people remember it, the two groups shared an intense rivalry. But did they really? John Lennon’s throwaway song he gave to the Stones became their first hit, after all. Members of both bands downplayed any friction, but Marianne Faithfull sensed a one-sided rivalry between Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger that Macca didn’t even see.

‘Paul McCartney was oblivious’ to his rivalry with Mick Jagger

McCartney once downplayed any rivalry between The Beatles and Rolling Stones, saying the press manufactured it. History backed up his claim. 

The Stones, specifically Jagger and Brian Jones, performed on three Beatles songs. Jones played on “Yellow Submarine” and “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number),” while Jagger’s indeterminate vocals appeared on “Baby You’re a Rich Man.” Meanwhile, two Rolling Stones songs included The Beatles. “We Love You” included background vocals from Lennon and McCartney, and John then participated in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus.

The two bands were friendly enough to collaborate several times. Still, Faithfull said McCartney and Jagger shared an entertaining rivalry that was tilted entirely in Macca’s favor. The Beatles bassist would never make the short walk to the singer’s house; it was always vice-versa (via 150 Glimpses of The Beatles):

“Mick always had to come to his house because he was Paul McCartney, and you went to him. Paul never came to us. I was always very curious about how Mick saw him, how Mick felt about him. It was always fun to watch. There was always rivalry there. Not from Paul, none at all. Paul was oblivious, but there was something from Mick. It was good fun. It was like watching a game on the television.”

marianne faithfull

Like a king in his country or someone asking a favor of Vito Corleone, Jagger always had to go to the top dog McCartney. Macca said there was no friction between the bands, but that wasn’t always the case.

Beatles and Rolling Stones members rarely hesitated to complain about their counterparts

They hung around in the same social scene and worked on each other’s records, but that doesn’t mean The Beatles and Rolling Stones weren’t above taking shots at each other.

George Harrison once accused Jagger of lurking around the Fab Four, trying to pick up which creative direction they were going so the Stones could follow suit. There was some validity to that claim. Not long after The Beatles performed the simplistic “All You Need Is Love” for a worldwide satellite audience, Jagger and Keith Richards penned the more complex but similarly titled “We Love You.” The Stones’ Their Satanic Majesties Request being a pale copy of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is a well-worn trope among classic rock fans.

On the other side of the coin, Richards ridiculed Lennon’s guitar playing. Jagger laid bare his love for The Beatles when he inducted them into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, saying meeting them was a life-changing experience. Still, the singer couldn’t help but throw in a dig: “There they were, right in front of me: The Fab Four. John, Paul, George, and Ringo. The four-headed monster. They never went anywhere alone.”

Faithfull said McCartney was in the dark about his one-sided rivalry with Jagger. Considering both artists worked together multiple times, it might have been the mildest rivalry in music history. They traded barbs in the press, but The Beatles and Stones were friendly competitors who collaborated more than once when they were probably the biggest bands on earth. 

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