Beatles hits for any of the band members was Paul McCartney .
The song was written to become the theme song for the James Bond (1973). The song was a huge success, reaching number two on the US Billboard chart and number nine on the UK singles chart. About 18 years later, in 1991, the Californian hard rockers Guns N' Roses released their famous cover of McCartney's classic song.
The cover came at a time when Guns N' Roses were paying homage to several of their most influential rock icons. During a 1991 interview with Rolling Stone , guitarist Slash noted: “There are six covers: 'Live and Let Die' by Wings , 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door' by [Bob] Dylan – that new version that didn't amount to anything. — 'Don't Care About You' by Fear , 'Attitude' by Misfits , 'New Rose' by The Damned , and 'Down on the Farm' by UK Subs . These are songs we like – it's as basic as that.”
Slash continued, explaining: “The Misfits song was Axl [Rose] , and ‘Heaven’s Door’ and ‘Live and Let Die’ were songs that Axl and I thought about doing.” Most appeared on the band’s 1993 covers album, The Spaghetti Incident?, which includes covers of classic songs by The Stooges , T. Rex , Soundgarden , and Johnny Thunders .
During a 2016 interview with The New York Times , McCartney was asked what he thought of Guns N' Roses' cover of 'Live and Let Die'. He explained: “It’s funny, because when their version came out, my kids were in school and they had a lot to defend, because all the kids were saying, ‘Great song, 'Live and Let Die'.” Paul recalled. “They said, ‘My dad sings that!’, ‘No way, it’s Guns N' Roses’”.
Despite his children having to defend his honor on the playgrounds, it seems McCartney generally viewed the cover positively, appreciating the tribute. "I was glad they did it," he said.
Perhaps McCartney would have been more disappointed if the Guns N' Roses version had been more successful than his original release. Fortunately for the ex-Beatle, despite being a huge hit for the group at the time, the band's cover only reached number 33 on the US Billboard chart.
The track appeared on the group's 1991 album Use Your Illusion I , which did very well on the album charts, reaching number 2 and remaining on the chart for 108 weeks, mainly thanks to the single "November Rain".
Watch Guns N' Roses' live cover of Paul McCartney's 'Live and Let Die' below.
