Sir Paul McCartney has paid a heartfelt tribute to his close friend and legendary painter David Hockney, who died peacefully at home on June 11 at the age of 88. The artist, known for iconic works such as The Splash and Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, has been honored by many since his passing.
McCartney's Instagram Tribute
The 83-year-old former Beatle took to Instagram to share a photo of the two together, writing: "David Hockney was a friend and an incredible painter. I knew him during the 1960s and kept a friendship going till he died on Thursday, the 11th of June. He was very clever, witty, and fun to be with. His paintings often gave off a feeling of great joy."
McCartney added: "Nancy and I enjoyed visiting his studios in California, where we took a drive along Mulholland Drive, which he made famous all over again in his sensational paintings. Or in his London studio. The rooms were filled with paintings, often some of the most recent ones he had done. He would talk about them and his very particular views on art. He felt that it was important to see correctly."
The musician continued: "He wasn't a great fan of perspective and was always involved in inventing new ways to view the world. His many paintings, drawings, films, and other media like iPad drawing he took readily to and mastered. He was a serious chain smoker and believed it was everyone's right to smoke, like the days when he and I had been brought up in smoke-filled rooms. We visited him once in Bridlington, Yorkshire. He met us at the train station and drove us to his house in a smoke-filled car."
McCartney concluded: "We will miss his fabulous personality, his laconic wit, and his erudite views on how to look at the world. Rest in peace, David. We love you. Paul."
Public Reaction
Fans and followers took to the comments to share messages of support. Emma said: "Sorry for your loss." Claudette added: "Rest in Peace."
McCartney's Recent Album
The tribute comes during a busy period for Sir Paul following the release of his latest album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, which debuted at Number One on the UK Albums Chart on May 29. The album is a nostalgic ode to his youth in Liverpool, offering a rare insight into his early years before he conquered the world with the Beatles.
Dungeon Lane is a road in Speke near McCartney's first childhood home on Ardwick Road, before the family moved to Forthlin Road in Allerton. In quotes given to the ECHO earlier this month, McCartney said he still takes his family to Dungeon Lane when showing them around the city: "I'd been there not that long ago. Sometimes when I go up to Liverpool and I've got the kids with me, I'll do the tour. I'll drive them around. That's where we did our first gig. And that's where we used to live there. And that's where we caught the bus to school. So going down Dungeon Lane, I would say 'And this is Dungeon Lane'."
The L24 road looks very different now compared to McCartney's youth, when it was the main access point to Oglet Shore. The changing face of the road inspired the album's title, as he wistfully reminisces on a bygone era. He added: "It's called The Boys of Dungeon Lane and about half the album is about memories and things I remember, and the other half is about other stuff, not all about one thing but a selection of songs I've written over the last few years."
Album Creation
The genesis of the album came from a jamming session with producer Andrew Watt six years ago over a cup of tea in Los Angeles. McCartney's creative juices were ignited when he stumbled upon an unfamiliar chord: "To this day, I actually don't know what that chord is. I'm waiting for someone to tell me, to explain it to me. Random chord, and then I changed one note in the chord and it made a more normal chord. Changed one more, so I had a three-chord sequence that we're messing with."
This improvised session in Watt's former studio, located in Charlie Chaplin's old house, developed into the first single from the album, titled Days We Left Behind. The deeply evocative riff provided the perfect framework for McCartney to reflect on his youth in post-World War II Liverpool.
He said: "The second verse starts 'See the boys of Dungeon Lane along the Mersey Shore', and Dungeon Lane was a place that led down from where we lived, which was on a housing estate. You say housing estate to Americans, they tend to think you're talking about Downton Abbey. Well, it's about the opposite, it's just loads of council houses. And then on the edge of it was this road that went down to the beach, the shore, and I used to go down there quite a lot. Took my little bird book - I was really into bird watching. So yeah, I put all of those memories in the song."
The album is filled with nods to Liverpool, including references to McCartney's childhood home on Forthlin Road, early songwriting sessions with John Lennon, and a hitchhiking trip to Wales with George Harrison. It also features McCartney's first ever duet with Sir Ringo Starr, on a track titled Home To Us. The two surviving Beatles powerfully pay tribute to their upbringing and how it prepared them to conquer the world.
McCartney explained: "I knew he would identify with the lyrics because, you know, the idea of where we grew up was rough - but it was home to us. He knew I felt like that, I knew he felt like that. So I thought we could come together on that idea. And we did."
