A lost song written by Jeff Beck and Paul McCartney has been discovered in the latterโ€™s archive.

The track was recorded in 1994 and features a spoken pro-environmentalist message recorded by Beck, which opens with him asking: โ€œWhy are they cutting down the rainforest?โ€ The message was later used in a US 13-part radio series presented and created by Paul called Oobu Joobu. The show featured rehearsals, demos, unreleased recordings, conversations and cameos from many of McCartneyโ€™s friends, and highlighted campaigns o issues he felt were important, such as vegetarianism.

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McCartney would go on to found Meat-Free Mondays with his daughters Mary and Stella in 2009, encouraging people to think about the environmental impacts of their food.

Beck died on January 10 at the age of 78 after suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis. which led McCartney to begin thinking about the studio time they had shared almost thirty years ago. This led Paulโ€™s team to rediscover the never-before-heard track.

Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck in 1976. Image: Watal Asanuma / Shinko Music / Getty Images

โ€œWith the sad passing of Jeff Beck โ€“ a good friend of mine, and a great, great guitar player โ€“ it reminded me of the time we worked together many years ago on a campaign for vegetarianism,โ€ McCartney said via a press release. โ€œItโ€™s great guitar playing, โ€™cause itโ€™s Jeff!โ€

Elsewhere, producer Rick Rubin recently heaped praise on McCartney for his skills as a bassist and songwriter.

โ€œI thought about how everything Iโ€™ve seen, Beatles-related, is either about the songwriting or Beatlemania,โ€ Rubin told the magazine. โ€œPaul McCartney the bass player, or Paul McCartney the musician, because he plays everything โ€“ thatโ€™s a little story told.

โ€œYou just think of him as Beatle Paul, yet in my opinion, he is the best of all bass players, heโ€™s number one.โ€