Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have released their first official vocal duet, titled "Home to Us."
The song dropped on May 8, 2026, ahead of McCartney's upcoming twentieth solo studio album.
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The nostalgic track features the two surviving Beatles alternating lead vocals as they reflect on their working-class childhoods in Liverpool.
According to Forbes, the song debuted at No. 42 on the Official Singles Downloads chart and No. 45 on the Official Singles Sales chart in the United Kingdom.
How the Duet Came Together
During a private listening event in Los Angeles in April 2026, McCartney explained that the collaboration evolved from an unfinished studio session.
He initially invited Starr to record drum tracks with producer Andrew Watt.
"He sent me back a version where he just added some lines to the chorus, so I thought, maybe he doesn't like it," McCartney recalled.
"I rang him and he said he thought I only wanted him to sing one or two lines, and I said I'd love to hear him sing the whole thing.
So, we took my first line, Ringo's second line, and then we had a duet."
At a separate fan listening event at Abbey Road Studios, McCartney elaborated on the vocal structure.
"We decided to give one line to me, the next line to Ringo, one line to me," he said.
"It was really nice, because we've never done that. Ringo's never just taken a duet with one of the Beatles.
So, there you go. We had it."
The track features backing vocals from Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders and Sharleen Spiteri of Texas.
Behind the Scenes and a Trip Down Memory Lane
McCartney shared that he recommended producer Andrew Watt to Starr before the drummer visited the studio.
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"I'd worked with him and I saw Ringo and I said, 'Oh yeah, I worked with this guy Andrew.
He's great'," McCartney recalled.
The initial tracking was informal. "Ringo came over to Andrew's studio then and played a bit of drums," McCartney said.
He joked that Starr thought the producer would create a track from the raw drum recordings. The session files remained idle until McCartney asked to hear them again.
"I thought, 'Wow, that's really good,'" he said, leading to the decision to build a full track.
During the Los Angeles event, McCartney also shared a pre-fame hitchhiking trip to Wales with George Harrison. "We didn't have much money," he explained.
Hitchhiking on commercial trucks was common. "The thing to do was get a lift off lorries that were going down south from Liverpool.
If you got a lift, you had a holiday for nothing."
The shared journeys helped cement their friendship. "It really bonds you because you're just stuck with each other," McCartney said.
He recalled an incident where Harrison accidentally sat on a live battery inside a milk delivery van. "Suddenly George jumps up.
I said, 'What's up?'" Later at their lodging, Harrison showed a mark on his backside.
"Brings you together," McCartney concluded.
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The new single is available on all major streaming platforms. McCartney's upcoming album, "The Boys of Dungeon Lane," is scheduled for release on May 29, 2026.
