“Home to Us,” the Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr duet on ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane’, marks the first time the two former Beatles have recorded a duet together, and the story of how it came to be is as warm as the song itself. McCartney told the full tale to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe in a wide-ranging interview.
It started with a drumming session. Ringo had visited producer Andrew Watt after learning McCartney had worked with him on the album’s opening track “As You Lie There.” McCartney later heard the recordings and suggested building a song around them. The lyrics he wrote drew directly from shared history: both men grew up poor, McCartney in Speke, Ringo in Dingle, and the song reflects on those early years with clear-eyed affection. “It might have been a bit rough where we live, but it was home to us,” McCartney explains.
The recording process had its own gentle comedy. McCartney sent Ringo a guide vocal expecting him to replace it entirely. Ringo sang only a little on the chorus. McCartney called him back, confused. “Didn’t you want to sing the whole thing?” Ringo’s answer: “I didn’t think you wanted me to.” A quick clarification later, Ringo sang the whole thing, and the two fell naturally into trading lines, one taking a verse, one taking the next.
Lowe’s reaction to the exchange landed perfectly: “These are two guys who have known each other their whole life, still circling one another, trying to figure out how to get it done.” McCartney’s response: “That’s how people do it.”