Paul McCartney gave Dave Grohl’s daughter her first (and only) piano lesson
Even writing a song with a Beatle wasn’t enough to keep her interested
Hard rocking raconteur Dave Grohl has revealed that Paul McCartney once showed his daughter how to play the piano, and that the two of them then proceeded to write a song together.
Speaking on The Graham Norton Show in the UK, the friendly Foo Fighter recalled the time that McCartney and his wife, Nancy, visited their house for dinner.
As he was about to leave, the former Beatle couldn’t resist sitting down at the piano for a quick burst of Lady Madonna, and that’s when Grohl’s daughter, Harper, got involved.
Having first placed a coffee cup on the piano as a tip jar - “I thought, she’s a Grohl,” says Dave - Harper (who was five at the time) then sat down beside McCartney and watched as he showed her how to play.
Of course, McCartney knows a thing or two about songwriting partnerships, and he quickly formed another one. “The next morning I woke up and I went into the kitchen and I was making breakfast, and I heard [Harper] playing the song that they had written the night before,” Grohl says.
However, far from igniting a passion for the piano, it seems that one lesson from a music legend was enough for Dave’s daughter. “I came around the corner, and she looked at me as she was playing the piano, she realised I was watching, and she never played the piano again,” he says.
In fact, it turns out that Harper soon decided that she’d rather be a drummer, so maybe her dad should have invited Ringo round to dinner instead...
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I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.
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