daddy’s room

"[Me and Elvis] just sat on these couches. Each of us got an acoustic guitar. Sat across from each other. I said to him, ‘The way I’m used to working with a collaborator is really, mainly with John. And the way we used to do it is sit opposite like this...' And the thing for me that was kind of nice. The nice thing for me is seeing John there, him being right-handed, me being left-handed, it felt to me like I was looking in a mirror. So that was a way I had learned to write and it was the way I liked to write and Elvis was very happy to work like that. So it was like a repeat of that process, and so he was John, basically, and I was Paul. You know, the bottom line is I’ve never had a better collaborator than John and I don’t expect to. Because we were pretty hot.” (Paul)

"When me and Elvis Costello came together...there were similarities between him and John. They both got specs. People with glasses got a different sort of attitude to the world, I think. They could be a little more introverted...a litttle more of a pussycat on the inside and more aggressive on the outside. Which John was, and I think Elvis is a little bit. I like that in people." (Paul)

“I was sort of a little startled when [Paul] made that reference. I think it’s more to just try to explain the immediacy of the way we worked rather than put me in the same bracket as Lennon. I don’t see myself like that." (Elvis Costello)

Interviewed Fall 1980 for All you need is love: The Beatles in their own words by Brown and Gaines

Yes, he did! What seems to be a myth, though, is the idea that John and Paul gifted the kittens to each other. I have found no source for that. But yes, Paul did actually mention in a 1999 interview that he once had two cats he named Pyramus and Thisbe:

Q: Tell us about some of the animals you’ve had over the years.  Paul: Oh, I’d love to tell you about the animals. I personally never had a pet growing up, because my mom and dad both worked. And even the day we saw free puppies going and my brother and I thought, “Definite, we’ll get one,” we couldn’t have one. So my first pet was when I was living alone as one of the Beatles and I got an Old English sheepdog called Martha, and I loved her dearly, she was beautiful, she was really good for me; we were good for each other. I remember John Lennon coming ’round and saying, “God, I’ve never seen you with an animal before.” I was being so affectionate it took him aback, he’d not seen that side of my character. Because you don’t do that with humans-not as obviously anyway. And then I had two cats called Pyramus and Thisbe, which showed my literate bent, and then I had three-they all had to be cool names, of course-that were called Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. And then as a family, Linda and I, after Martha died, we then got another Old English sheepdog and we eventually had a litter by the one after her. We kept two of the puppies, so that meant we’ve got three now. I have four dogs at home, three English sheepdogs and Stella’s dog, the mutt. She’d hate me to say that! 

Thisbe is also mentioned in Many Years From Now:

Beginning with the breakup of the Beatles and focusing in on the 1970s when Paul was running on that sweet, uncut Sad.

September 20, 1969: John tells Paul he's quitting The Beatles. As John beats him over the head and shoulders with a large stick, Paul apologizes profusely and asks John to please reconsider. In retaliation for this, John murders him, to raucous applause.

April 10, 1970: Paul announces his departure from The Beatles, is publicly beaten, and then fired out of a cannon.

April 11, 1970: John tells The Media that Paul McCartney is the greatest fiend to ever walk the earth.

April 12, 1970: Paul releases a statement to the effect that John's comments seem a bit harsh, but his dear friend is entitled to his opinion. In retaliation for this, John murders him, to raucous applause.

A montage set to How Do You Sleep (released Sept 1971) begins. We see Paul sinking into depression and self-isolation, all his selfless overtures to John cruelly rejected. Every time he leaves the house someone throws a tomato at him, and when he tries to sleep he sees only John's laughing face. He bravely soldiers on, taking solace in music and family and nature and his own innate goodness, and briefly in vast quantities of liquor, but luckily the love of his wife quickly cures his alcoholism.

May 17, 1971: Paul releases RAM, considered by modern critics to be the greatest record of all time and the birth of the genre that would come to be known as "Good Music." In retaliation for this, The Media murders him, to raucous applause.

September 13, 1971: Paul adds another child, Stella, to the pack of abandoned and unloved children he has chosen to shelter on his farm. The pack began with his adopted son, Julian Lennon, who had contact with Paul no more than two years ago. Like most fathers, Paul will see him again in at most a couple of decades.

A montage begins, and Family Man Paul sets his life to rights to the delicate poignancy of Blackbird. The world still despises him, but he no longer cares, not when he's Family Man Paul. John publicly admits he was wrong to abuse Paul so cruelly, and Family Man Paul smiles and shakes his head. Oh, John.

December 9, 1980: Paul receives a phone call. We hear only his end of the conversation: