Paul tells of how he said farewell to George

Paul McCartney has told how he said his farewell to George Harrison.

He said he grasped the hand of Harrison to say goodbye to him two weeks before he died.

The singer teamed up with DJs Mark and Lard for a live version of his New York tribute Freedom.

Speaking about his former bandmate, Harrison, Sir Paul said: "The best thing for me was seeing him for a couple of hours and laughing and joking and holding his hand.

"Afterwards I realised I'd never, ever held his hand. We'd been to school together and got on buses together and we didn't hold each other's hands.

"It was like a compensation; he was rubbing his thumb up and down my hand and it was very nice."

He said he and Ringo had spoken about their loss "just to touch base and say 'what a bummer'. It's difficult to know what to say."

Sir Paul's musical performance saw him singing and playing acoustic guitar for a version of Freedom, which he wrote after the September 11 attacks.

He was joined by radio presenter Mark Radcliffe on drums and his sidekick Marc "Lard" Riley on guitar. Sir Paul joked afterwards: "That's the worst load of rubbish I've ever heard in my life. If there's any record executives listening in, we are available for your label."