Paul McCartney has said the day he met Elvis Presley was a "great evening" and described it as a "pinch yourself" moment.
The former Beatles star, 83, famously met the singer, nicknamed The King, alongside his bandmates for the first and only time in 1965 when the group visited his residence in Los Angeles in California.
Reminiscing about his days in the band, who are the best-selling musical act of all time and one of the most influential groups in the world, McCartney recalled his experience meeting Presley and his wife Priscilla.
Appearing on BBC Radio 2's Tracks Of My Years, he said: "He was really great. He was a very handsome guy – but we kind of knew that. We were fans.
"We just followed everything he did, and we looked at any photo we could get. He wasn’t a disappointment at all."
The award-winning musician, who released his new album The Boys of Dungeon Lane this Friday, said that he and his bandmates, including Ringo Starr, have since discussed the meeting and said their memories of what happened are "slightly skew-whiff".
"I say that we rang the doorbell and Elvis came to the door and said, 'come in guys’", McCartney said.
"He invited us in and we sat around and he had a jukebox, and played Mohair Sam, the record."
"Ringo says he didn’t come to the door, we went in and he was sitting there. So who’s right? I am," he joked.
McCartney described his time with the rocker as a "great evening" and said: "He played a bit of bass.
"He had a bass there and he was talking about the bass so we could talk, sort of, bass talk. He was great, very personable, very nice.
"He had a bunch of his minders with him - and you read stuff later, and I think they were mainly his cousins, his gang."
He described meeting the singer’s wife, US businesswoman and actress Priscilla Presley, a "highlight", and said: "You’re inviting four guys into your home – probably the last thing you need is them to be all over your wife.
"It was great, she was great, Elvis was great."
He told host Vernon Kay: "You pinch yourself. I met – I actually sat with, like I’m sitting with you, Elvis."
McCartney also reflected on keeping up with the trends in music and said he "keeps my eyes open" and expressed his admiration for the "girl singers" and pop stars who dominate the charts, such as Taylor Swift.
He described the Blank Space singer as "clever" and said: "You do see the parallel of the amount of fame and the worldwide fame that Taylor Swift has and that we had (as the Beatles).
"I do meet them; we had a party. My wife and my daughter Stella are very good at getting cool people to a party.
"A lot of those girls were at this party and I ended up chatting to them all because there was Taylor, there was Billie Eilish, there was Olivia Rodrigo, there was Sabrina Carpenter.
"They’re really cool people. They’re very good."
Paul McCartney’s Tracks Of My Years with Vernon Kay will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 at 6pm on 25.
Source: Press Association
