1991 No. 1 Hit Was Based on a Comment Paul McCartney Made About John Lennon

With John Lennonand Paul McCartney's prolific music careers, it's an understatement to say these members of The Beatleshave been influential. However, some Beatles fans might not be aware that a comment by McCartney in regards to Lennon, who died in 1980 at the age of 40, spurred the idea for a '90s hit.

American Songwriter reported that Roxette's 1991 song "Joyride" came about because of a quote from McCartney regarding his and Lennon's working relationship. While speaking to the Swedish newspaper,Dagens Industri, in 2021, Roxette's Per Gessle said he penned the song after he saw a McCartney interview.

"I had read an interview with Paul McCartney where he said: ‘Writing songs with John Lennon was always a long joyride.' I liked the word, I didn't realize then what joyride actually meant: stealing a car, crashing it, and leaving it standing," said Gessle during the 2021 interview, per American Songwriter.

American Songwriter reported that "Joyride," off the Joyride record, secured Billboard Hot 100's no. 1 spot in May 1991.

In a 2020 interview, Gessle said that the version of the song that hit number one in the United States is different than what he and his late bandmate, Marie Fredriksson, originally recorded.

"When you go to the States, they always want to interfere with your music. They want to [make] their own mixes for radio, for a dance radio, or for top 40 radio, whatever," said the musician, now 67.

Gessle said in order to make the song a radio hit in America, producer and engineer Brian Malouf "was hired to do a new mix." He said that while he thinks Malouf "did an excellent job" with his mix of "Joyride," his newer version sounded like a typical '90s pop song.

"Since our song, our version, was recorded in Stockholm, made by Swedish musicians, we sounded a little bit sort of odd, which I thought was nice at the time. But listening to it now, I understand why the American record company wanted to go with his version," said Gessle in the 2020 interview.

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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 1:20 PM.