Paul McCartney’s 4-Word Reaction to Maroon 5’s Beatles Covers Led to an Apology

Paul McCartney made a comment to Adam Levine that the Maroon 5 frontman thought was a joke, though the former believed it to be a bit rude. But really, who can do the Beatles like the Beatles?

Adam Levine Calls Paul McCartney “A Beautiful Soul” After They Had This Misunderstanding

Imagine covering a Beatles song with two of the members that were a part of the iconic group present. But Maroon 5 was up to the task, singing ‘Ticket to Ride’ and ‘All My Loving’ in a 2014 CBS special, ‘The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles,’ whilst Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney were in the audience.

And it’s not like nerves weren’t there, because Maroon 5 knew ahead of time that they would be performing these covers with McCartney and Starr in the audience, so yeah it was a “no pressure” moment.

Years later, Levine and Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine made an appearance on The Howard Stern Show and touched on how things actually went down.

Okay, so Maroon 5’s a great band known for such hits as ‘Sugar’ and ‘Animals,’ but compared to The Beatles’ fame, well… I’d let you decide. Or I’d Levine decide for us.

“Listen, man. I told you I’ve been scared a handful of f—ing times in my life, that was definitely one of them,” Levine recalled. “I was like, ‘Holy s—.’ I mean, I’m sorry man, but you can be too cool, but not always. It’s Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. F— off if you’re gonna try to be cool about that.”

Needless to say, Maroon 5 gave a wonderful performance featuring some of the Beatles’ classics.

When they were done performing, Levine recalled that McCartney did not have the brightest reaction to it. ‘You know, we did it better,’” he recalled. “And I thought it was so funny. I cracked up and I was like, ‘No s—, you’re Paul McCartney.’”

However, just to make sure there’s no bad blood, McCartney actually pulled Levine aside to apologize for his behavior at a party they met in a few months later.

“He’s like, ‘Hey man, I just wanted to let you know if that bothered you… I’ve been thinking about this. I didn’t want to insult you or anything,’” The Voice coach said. “It was something like that, like, if I insulted you, I apologize. And I was like, ‘Oh my God. You’re good. Dude, you’re Paul f—ing McCartney.’”

He went on, “It kind of shattered, in a great way, this whole thing about your heroes being who they are,” he said. “He’s a human being with a beating heart and a really beautiful soul who actually was thoughtful enough to even take that into account that maybe for some reason my feelings might’ve been hurt, but of course they were not.”

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