Paul McCartney: “I give good celery!”

Meat Free Monday founder Paul McCartney spills the beans on one of his strangest recording sessions

Each month, MFM supporters PaulMcCartney.com do a fan Q&A with Paul called ‘You Gave Me The Answer’. These questions can cover all sorts of topics from Paul’s earliest memory, to what he would do if he had a time machine, through to Paul’s biggest fear.

The Q&As are great fun, and sometimes touch upon MFM themes, such as the time Paul discussed enjoying the family tradition of cutting the veggie roast at Christmas.

PaulMcCartney.com spoke with Paul recently for their Christmas edition of ‘You Gave Me The Answer’ and took the opportunity to sneak in a funny question that they thought would go down well here at Meat Free Monday. The question is to do with one of the oddest instruments Paul has played on a record … one that you can eat! Here’s how the conversation went …

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PaulMcCartney.com: “Hi Paul, we’ve heard a story about you appearing on a Beach Boys song ‘playing’ a stick of celery. Is that true?”

Paul: “Yeah, that is true, yeah! I mean it was wild and wacky days, you know, and I just went round to the studio because they invited me. I just thought it would be fun to sit there and watch them record, ’cause I’m a big fan. And so I was there, and then it was, I think, Brian who came over and said, ‘Oh Paul, got a favour to ask: would you mind recording something?’ I thought, ‘Oh, no! But great, I could do that’. Oh God, I’m gonna be singing on a Beach Boys record or something, you know! I got a bit kind of intimidated and thought, ‘Okay, here goes nothing’. And they said, ‘Well, what we want you to do is go in there and just munch!’ …Well, I can do that! So, if you hear somebody munching celery, that’s me!”

PaulMcCartney.com plays Paul the song…



(Please note: We think this is the right version!)

Paul: “I think it’s very good, it’s in time. I give good celery! No that’s great, that’s fun.”

PaulMcCartney.com: “In the lyrics at the end, there’s a line that goes: ‘I know that you’ll feel better when you send us in your letter and tell us the name of your favourite vegetable’. So tell us, do you have a favourite vegetable?”

Paul: “Do I have a favourite vegetable? I don’t know, broccoli came into my mind. And then sweet potato came into my mind too.”

PaulMcCartney.com: “So it’s a toss up between those two?”

Paul: “Yeah. And then, of course, chips. Chips comes roaring in at number one!”

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So there we have it, possibly the strangest recording session Paul McCartney ever did was with a stick of celery!

And if that’s inspired you to experiment more with vegetables, click HERE for celery recipes, click HERE for broccoli recipes and click HERE for sweet potato recipes!

You can read more of Paul’s ‘You Gave Me The Answer’ fan Q&As at his website by clicking HERE!