Drummer Jim Keltner Recalls Beatles Members Being “Really Brutal” to Paul McCartney

Among the many famous musicians who lauded session drummer Jim Keltner has worked with in his long and esteemed career were George Harrison and John Lennon. In a new interview with British magazine Uncut, Keltner recalled that both Harrison and Lennon made vicious comments about Paul McCartney, although they wouldn’t stand for others criticizing their ex-Beatles bandmate.

“Over the years with [George] and John, they could both be really brutal with Paul,” Keltner shared. “I learned very early on that I couldn’t join them. They both on different occasions said, ‘We can say that, but you shouldn’t.’”

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“They were truly brothers who loved taking the p-ss out of each other, but they didn’t want anybody else doing it,” he added about the relationship between the Fab Four members.

Keltner played on seven of Harrison’s studio albums, as well as four each by Lennon and Ringo Starr. He also was the drummer on both albums by Traveling Wilburys, the supergroup featuring Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and ELO’s Jeff Lynne.

In the Uncut article, Keltner remembered the first time he crossed paths with Harrison. It was during the sessions for Lennon’s 1971 album Imagine at Lennon’s Ascot Sound Studios.

“George was walking into the hall. I’d gone to the bathroom and I came out and saw him and we just said, ‘Hi,’” Keltner recalled. “He said that he really loved the Delaney & Bonnie record that I’d played on, Accept No Substitute. It wasn’t a successful record, or a big record, but all the English guys loved it. To have George say that to me was a big deal.”

After that initial meeting, Keltner began recording with Harrison regularly. Talking to Uncut, he reflected on the type of person the ex-Beatles guitarist was and what it was like working with him.

“He was the most unusual person,” Keltner noted. “With George, it was always kind of mystifying how he would come up with stuff to do, and how easily he made it happen.”

The first Harrison studio album on which Keltner appeared was Living in the Material World, which marked its 50th anniversary this year. The album topped the Billboard 200, and featured the No. 1 hit “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth).”

Keltner told Uncut that he had a great experience making that album with Harrison.

“I still remember the feel, the way we were set up,” he recalled. “Everything about it. We would have been [recording] at Apple [Studios], and at [Harrison’s home studio in] Friar Park. He had all the best analog gear that you could have, laid out really nicely. It was state of the art for the time.”