Paul McCartney 2019
Paul McCartney in 2019.
Mike Marsland/WireImage/Getty Images
  • During an interview with NPR’s All Things Considered earlier this month, Paul McCartney told host Mary Louise Kelly that he still talks to the late George Harrison.
  • Before his death, Harrison gave McCartney a fir tree and it’s now growing at McCartney’s estate in East Sussex, England.
  • The rock star said every time he walks past the tree, he looks at it and thinks of Harrison.
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Paul McCartney said he still talks to former Beatles bandmate George Harrison through a tree the musician gave him.

While talking about his new record, “McCartney III,” on NPR’s All Things Considered earlier this month, McCartney explained that prior to Harrison’s death in 2001, he gave McCartney a large fir tree. 

McCartney planted the tree at his estate in East Sussex, England, and has watched it grow in the nearly 20 years since his friend’s death. Harrison died at the age of 58 following a battle with lung cancer.

“George was very into horticulture, a really good gardener,” McCartney told host Mary Louise Kelly. “So he gave me a tree as a present. It’s a big fir tree, and it’s by my gate. As I was leaving my house this morning [December 11], I get out of the car, close the gate and look up at the tree and say, ‘Hi, George.’ There he is, growing strongly.”

Paul McCartney George Harrison
Paul McCartney and George Harrison performing in 1963.
Edward Wing/Getty Images

McCartney added that he feels Harrison’s spirit present in the tree. 

"It's lovely. He gave it to me, so I just planted it," McCartney told NPR. "But then, as the years go by, every time I look at it I go, 'That's the tree George gave me.' George has sort of entered that tree for me. I hope he's happy with that."

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