Things We Learned From Hulu's "McCartney 3,2,1"--And 3 Songs You Should Have On Your Playlist!

You’ve probably heard of a little unknown indie band called The Beatles at some point in your life, whether you’re a die-hard fan that knows every song from “Hey Jude” to “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” or you’ve just listened to your grandparents talk about the girls that would scale fences to touch the band members’ hair during their concerts. Either way, Hulu’s original docuseries “McCartney 3, 2, 1” will leave you wanting to blast The Beatles after watching original member Paul McCartney and renowned producer Rick Rubin break down some of the iconic band’s best songs in the studio. I pretty much consider myself a die-hard, and I still felt as if I just attended a Beatles masterclass. I learned a textbook’s worth of new things about some of my favorite songs.

Here are some fun tidbits the doc revealed about songs you'll definitely want to add to your playlists!

“Yesterday”

“Yesterday” is a sad-ass song, but man is it amazing. In the docuseries, McCartney told Rubin that the tune for the song came to him in his sleep and, upon waking up, had it down perfectly -- so perfectly that he was convinced that the tune already existed. After asking around and finding that no one knew of any song with that same melody, he finished the lyrics. To this day, he says that there’s no way he could’ve come up with something so easily in his sleep (literally), but it’s safe to say that people that talented must have a way of hearing and seeing sounds and visuals in their dreams.

"Eleanor Rigby"

Probably one of the best Beatles songs ever. McCartney said that, as a fan of classical composer Johann Sebastian Bach, he wanted to give a Bach-ish sound to the song “Eleanor Rigby”. The song features a string suite consisting of violins, cellos, and violas. The classical strings make the song simultaneously beautiful and eerie. It gives me chills every time I listen to it. You’ve probably heard a slowed and reverbed version on TikTok -- the audio clip has circulated through over 5,000 videos on the app.

“While My Guitar Gently Weeps”

McCartney and Rubin strip down every song by isolating the different components of the songs: they’ll focus on the voices -- the harmonies between McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison; the percussion; and the rhythm and bass guitars. When stripping down “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, McCartney and Rubin found that the bass sounds like a heavy metal song, which is the total opposite of the song’s overall sound. It was like two completely different songs playing at once, but they somehow made it work beautifully.