Paul McCartney Doesn’t Plan to Stop Writing Songs Anytime Soon
Paul McCartney has been writing songs since a young age. While growing up in Liverpool, he learned how to play the guitar, and the piano and later met the other band members who would form The Beatles. McCartney has had a music career that has lasted over six decades, and he has no plans to stop anytime soon.
Paul McCartney has a pure love for writing songs
In an interview with Barnes & Noble’s James Daunt, Paul McCartney discussed his 2021 book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present. The novel features analysis and backstories about 154 of McCartney’s songs he has written throughout his career. The former Beatle has worked hard to create this much music, but McCartney says he never saw it as work since it was what he loved doing.
“I say to people when they say, ‘You work hard,’ I say, ‘Well, we don’t work music, we play it,’” McCartney explains. “And even though it might sound a bit glib, it is true. To me, it would be a hobby if I didn’t do it professionally. It’s just something I love because, you know, you’re creating this thing out of a black hole, and it’s very satisfying. So I love to do that.”
McCartney says he can’t see himself ever stopping with music
It seems as though Paul McCartney is always working on new songs and has no plans to stop anytime soon. He shares that he always has a song in the back of his mind and loves to see where it goes. Even if he isn’t performing, he will continue to write songs as they come to him.
“I just keep on and on. I mean, I’ve always got a song on the go. I’ve got a few on the go at the moment. Just ‘cause I like the whole puzzle of let’s try and make this song work. Is it interesting enough? Does it say it in a good enough way? Maybe I should change that line. It’s an ongoing interesting thing for me. And then when you feel you’ve got it right, it’s an ‘Okay, that’ll do.’ And it’s very satisfying. So, I can’t see myself ever stopping. So, yeah, there’s a lot of work or a lot of play.”
McCartney wrote 1 Beatles hit at the age of 16
McCartney has been writing songs for over 60 years and even wrote one of The Beatles’ biggest hits when he was 16. “When I’m Sixty-Four” was released in 1967 on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. However, Macca had written that song years ago, which wasn’t officially recorded until this album. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the “Let it Be” singer said that choosing 64 for the title came from the age many people in London retire.
“It was really an arbitrary number when I wrote the song. I probably should have called it ‘When I’m 65,’ which is the retirement age in England. And the rhyme would have been easy, ‘something, something alive when I’m 65.’ But it felt too predictable. It sounded better to say 64.”
