Paul McCartney Recalls How George Harrison Got Zapped in the Butt by a Battery While They Were Hitchhiking
Paul McCartney Recalls How George Harrison Got Zapped in the Butt by a Battery While They Were Hitchhiking
Ilana KaplanFri, May 15, 2026 at 3:07 PM UTC
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Paul McCartney recalled a hilarious hitchhiking experience with George Harrison when they were teenagers
"The battery had given him a bolt," the 19-time Grammy winner said during the Thursday, May 14 episode of The Rest Is History podcast
McCartney's new album The Boys of Dungeon Lane is out May 29
Paul McCartney recalled a hilarious memory of George Harrison.
During the Thursday, May 14 episode of The Rest Is History podcast, the 19-time Grammy winner reminisced about a time when he and the late Beatles guitarist who died in 2001 were hitchhiking as teenagers.
McCartney, 83, said that at the time they were "hitchhiking down South" to Wales and that the experience inspired one of the songs on his forthcoming solo album The Boys of Dungeon Lane.
"We got a lift from a milk float, which was electric. Those were the only vehicles we knew that were electric, [and it] went about four miles an hour, but it was a lift, so we were quite happy," he recalled.
McCartney continued, "The driver was sitting on the right-hand side, then there was a battery in the middle, and thenthere was the passenger seat on the left-hand side, and George sat on the battery."
Paul McCartney and George Harrison in 1966
Credit: Express Newspapers/Getty
While everything seemed to be going fine, Harrison suddenly got a shock of sorts.
"We're getting our lift, and then suddenly 'Bang!' And he jumps up. I go, 'What's that, what's wrong?' And he had a pair of jeans with a zip on the back pocket, and it had connected with the two points... not on the crotch," McCartney recalled of Harrison.
The "Maybe I'm Amazed" musician said Harrison jumped up and yelled, "Oh bloody hell!"
Paul McCartney and George Harrison in August 1965 in New York City
Credit: CBS Photo Archive/Getty
"[The zip] connected up and the battery had given him a bolt," said McCartney. "And later, when we got to our B&B, he showed me. Yeah, he had a great big zip tattooed into his bum."
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McCartney then recalled meeting with Harrison's widow Olivia recently and her telling him how much she loved the story — but thought it was the Beatles' lead vocalist who was zapped instead.
"I said, 'It wasn't it me, it was George!' But I think it's amazing the way memory does that. It can just morph," he said.
In a 2020 interview with NPR's All Things Considered, McCartney revealed that he regularly communicated with his late bandmate through an evergreen coniferous tree that his late bandmate had gifted him before his death.
"George was very into horticulture, [he was] a really good gardener," the "Live and Let Die" performer said at the time. "He gave me [the] tree as a present. It's a big fir tree, and it's by my gate."
Paul McCartney in May 2026
Credit: The Rest is History/YouTube
McCartney then recalled a morning when he got out of the car and said to the tree, "Hi, George."
He noted that it took him "back to the time when I hitchhiked with him!"
McCartney said that the tree has lived on as a great reminder of Harrison.
"As the years go by, every time I look at it, I go, 'That's the tree George gave me.' George has entered that tree for me. I hope he's happy with that," he said.
McCartney will release his 19th solo album The Boys of Dungeon Lane on May 29.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
