"I was exposed to a lot of Motown music. And that really dominated the airwaves in those days. And there were all these great songs that were subconsciously influencing me in a strange way. If you listen to the music of Rush, where do you come to James Jamerson and Motown music? [Laughter] But nonetheless, all the early bands that I played in, we played all these great Motown songs, because that's what was going on.

"One common denominator for me was the ability to play melodically. and to enhance the song on a subterranean level. So I've always gravitated towards bass players who not only locked in with the rhythm section but added some other level of musical interest that may not be as obvious. Usually, that comes out on secondary, tertiary, and repeated listenings.

"[McCartney] gets overlooked as a bassist, but as a pop bassist goes, he's such a melodic player. And you're talking about a guy who wasn't originally the bass player for the band. He adapted, of course, and he picked it up.. I just find his story really interesting, as a bass player. He comes at the instrument from a much more melodic place, and you really hear that in a lot of Beatles music.

-- excerpted from a Rolling Stone article