You’d be hard pressed to find a contemporary songwriter who hasn’t been influenced or inspired by the Beatles in some way. Pop singer Sabrina Carpenter, born well after the Fab Four split up, is no different.
Carpenter can actually trace her desire to write songs back to hearing one specific Beatles song: “Rocky Raccoon” from the White Album.
“I specifically remember driving with my dad to get his haircut,” she told Teen Vogue in 2018. “I don’t know why, he didn’t really have hair. … Anyways, we’re driving to get his hair cut, and I remember him turning on this song. And immediately I was like, this is music?”
READ MORE: 21 Songs About the Beatles
Even at a young age, she could see what made it an effective track, one that encouraged continued listening.
“This song, I think to a lot of people, they were probably just thinking, ‘Oh, the Beatles were high when they wrote this,'” she said. “I mean, they were high, but also, there’s such a story behind it, and they kinda did that with all their songs. And it made me really want to be a songwriter.”
At the time of this writing, Carpenter holds three of the Top 10 songs on the Billboard 100 chart — “Espresso,” “Please Please Please” and “Taste” — all of which she co-wrote.
When Sabrina Carpenter and Paul McCartney Met
Years later, Carpenter got the chance to meet Paul McCartney, the primary songwriter behind “Rocky Raccoon.” (The track was credited however, as many Beatles songs were, to Lennon-McCartney.)
“It was at a party, which is not the environment you want to meet your biggest icon in,” she explained to Grammy.com in 2023. “But he was so present, sweet and gracious with me. You know the kind of eye contact that someone makes with you and you’re like, ‘You’re a real person, I’m just not sure I believe it.’
“I’ve been so inspired by him my entire life, and I’m not sure a lot of people know that about me. I do think that sometimes when you’re writing pop music, or whatever genre it is, I pull from so many different genres and Paul has always been my number one. I definitely did start crying a little bit, which is not something I do often. I’ll remember it forever and I hope I can see him again.”
Listen to the Beatles’ ‘Rocky Raccoon’