Paul McCartney on if he’s ever likely to retire
“Creative satisfaction is just writing a song – it’s still the same old satisfaction that it was" Paul McCartney has revealed to NME that he is unsure if he will ever retire from recording and touring. The Beatles legend released his latest solo album ‘ The Boys Of Dungeon Lane
“Creative satisfaction is just writing a song – it’s still the same old satisfaction that it was"
Paul McCartney has revealed to NME that he is unsure if he will ever retire from recording and touring.
The Beatles legend released his latest solo album ‘ The Boys Of Dungeon Lane ’ last week (May 29), a poignantly nostalgic record that sees McCartney reflect on his years growing up in Liverpool. It includes a duet with Ringo Starr on ‘ Home To Us ’, as well as the tearjerker lead single ’ Days We Left Behind ’.
Ahead of the album’s release, McCartney sat down with NME to look forwards and back on his extraordinary career , and we asked him whether he can imagine ever walking away from being an active musician.
“I don’t know. I never know, y’know?” he replied. “I remember when I was 50 years old, my manager at the time said, ‘Well, are you thinking of retiring?’ I went, ‘Uh, I don’t think so.’ But he obviously thought, 50… which, I get it, because we thought 30 was really old [when] we were 20. So 30 was like that’d be unseemly, but it came, and it went, and people were still playing, and audiences like the music.”
He went on to explain that he is conscious of the fact that there are increasingly few opportunities for fans to hear the music from his era in person. “If the music is from that period, they don’t get to hear it live any other way, so you’ve got to hear Neil Young live to get the whole feel of Neil – the Neil feel. Same with a lot of bands – the Stones , The Eagles . There’s nothing like it.”
McCartney also said that he continues to be inspired by the process of songwriting itself.
“Creative satisfaction is just writing a song – it’s still the same old satisfaction that it was,” he explained. “There’s something magical about it, and I often think, ‘I never set out to be a singer-songwriter person.’ When I was at school, I thought the only thing left for me would be a teacher, because I didn’t have massive qualifications and unfortunately, that mean[t] you have to be a teacher.”
