Paul McCartney & Elvis Costello - "Double Mac"

In the fall of 1987, Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello got together and collaborated on writing 15 songs and recorded several demos. Early the next year they recorded new demos, but this time with additional musicians. There were also at least three demos that were recorded solo.

Paul and Elvis then apparently divvied up the songs and new versions were recorded and ended up spread out over five different albums. These include Paul's Flowers in the Dirt (1989) and Off the Ground (1993); and Elvis' Spike (1989), Mighty Like a Rose (1991) and All This Useless Beauty (1996). Two of the songs became sizable hits. Paul's "My Brave Face" went to No. 25 on Billboard, and Elvis' "Veronica" reached No. 19.

In 2001, Rhino Records reissued Spike with solo demos of two of the songs he wrote with Paul: "Veronica" and "Pads, Paws and Claws." In 2017, Paul released a deluxe edition of Flowers in the Dirt, which included 12 original demos from 1987 just featuring Paul and Elvis, as well as nine demos from 1988 featuring additional musicians. Plus, a demo Paul recorded solo for "Back on My Feet" was made available free on www.paulmccartney.com on May 4, 2017.

For this exercise, I have created the duet album -- a handful of simple roots rockers by a Beatle and a punk. I used the demos that either only feature the two men, or the solo demos. That comes to a grand total of 15 songs. I'm titling the album Double Mac -- a play on both their surnames beginning with Mc/Mac.

SIDE A

1. My Brave Face

2. You Want Her Too

3. Don't Be Careless Love

4. That Day Is Done

5. Mistress and Maid
6. Back on My Feet

7. The Lovers That Never Were

SIDE B

1. Veronica
2. Pads, Paws and Claws
3. So Like Candy

4. Playboy to a Man

5. Shallow Grave

6. Tommy's Coming Home

7. Twenty Fine Fingers

8. I Don’t Want to Confess 

In 1989, we were in an age when CDs were still fairly new and were vying with vinyl. So I went ahead and divided the songs into two sides of an LP. I used the order of the songs Paul originally released commercially on the first side, and then the ones Elvis issued on the second. However, three songs, "Tommy's Coming Home," "Twenty Fine Fingers" and "I Don't Want to Confess" apparently have never made it past demo form, and I placed them at the end.

I don't know if a relatively lo-fi album would have done well in 1988-89, during the golden age of MTV. But I would expect the novelty of the two men collaborating together to have gained a lot of interest.

For a cover, I created something that looks a bit rough and handmade to fit the songs. I like that the names and faces are transposed.

Here's a YouTube playlist of the album. Enjoy!