By 2011, actor, comedian, and musician Steve Martin had already collaborated with Earl Scruggs, along with Dolly Parton and Vince Gill, on his song “Pretty Flowers” from his 2009 debut bluegrass album The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo.
Martin’s next album, Rare Bird Alert, was his first in a series of collaborations with the North Carolina bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers. Once released, the album, which closes with a re-recording of “King Tut” with the band and also features guest vocals by The Chicks on the ballad “You,” topped the Billboard Top Bluegrass Albums chart and earned Martin a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album.
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“Best Love”
The third song on Rare Bird Alert, the mid-tempoed “Best Love,” was one Martin had written with Paul McCartney in mind. “I wrote all the songs on this record—and by the way, they’re all terrible,” joked Martin. “Actually the idea of having Paul McCartney sing a song that I wrote has to be one of the most exciting things of his life.”
Martin’s lyrics are a musical collage of all the little things someone loves about their lover.
Things were nice in California
Loved our trip out to the coast
Did I say your mother phoned us
You are my best love
You look in good in fancy dresses
Wish we bought that one that day
I even like your old ex-boyfriend
You are my best love
Hardly heard and hardly spoken
Hard to talk when things are rough
Can’t you hear my heart is saying
You are my best love
[RELATED: 4 Songs You Didn’t Know Steve Martin Wrote]
Lorne Michaels Helped Get McCartney on Board
While Martin was working on the album, Saturday Night Live creator and producer Lorne Michaels urged him to “impose” more on his friends when making music. When thinking of “Best Love,” Martin had McCartney in mind, but they were far from friends.
“I met Paul McCartney maybe three times in my life, so I can’t really call him a friend, but Paul doesn’t know that. He might think we’re friends as he meets so many people he can’t remember who his friends are.”
After Martin sent a “modest” demo of the song, which he recorded on his phone, to McCartney’s assistant, he didn’t get a response for a month. McCartney eventually obliged, and when it was time to record, he didn’t realize that Martin wanted him to sing the entire song.
“Paul thought he was going to back you up, and I thought ‘What, with all the emails [did] I mislead him or something,’ and I said “Okay but I’m a terrible singer.” Then I got an email back from Paul, and he said, “Well, as a little-known band from Liverpool once said, we can work it out.”
Photo: Barry Brecheisen/WireImage
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