I'm often reading a magazine and hearing about someone's new record, and I think, 'Oh, boy, that's gonna be better than me.' It's a very common thing.
— Paul McCartney
I'm the worst on facts about me or facts about the Beatles.
Being in the audience actually looks like quite a lot of fun.
It's time to end the cruel slaughter of whales and leave these magnificent creatures alone.
I think the pop industry is still a young man's game.
When I sit down to write a song, it's a kind of improvisation, but I formalize it a bit to get it into the studio, and when I step up to a microphone, I have a vague idea of what I'm about to do.
I think I always had a musicality, and I think I could tell a good song from a bad song. And I would appreciate hearing something that was new to me.
My dad, bless him, was a musician. And his dad had thought that his music was rubbish.
I was still 15 when I met John Lennon at a village fete in Woolton, in Liverpool.
Putting two songs together, I've always loved that trick when it works.
My old school in Liverpool is now a performing-arts school, and I kind of teach there - I use the word lightly - but I go there and talk to students.
It's also not unusual for writers to look backward. Because that's your pool of resources.
So, if I'm cooking, I'll be steaming vegetables, making some nice salad, that kind of stuff.
The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.
I used to think anyone doing anything weird was weird. Now I know that it is the people that call others weird that are weird.
Buy, buy, says the sign in the shop window; Why, why, says the junk in the yard.
Love is all you need.
With the Beatles, we'd been very spoiled because we had George Martin who worked for the record label we were going to be signed to. That was very fortunate, because we grew together.
One of my biggest thrills for me still is sitting down with a guitar or a piano and just out of nowhere trying to make a song happen.
I'm a pretty hands-on dad and make the most of my custody. I take care of my little one whenever I can, and she determines what I can do and where I can do it.
I hate the idea of success robbing you of your private life.
If children are studying the 20th century, I'm in their text books.
I like the idea that people hear my stuff, and if it's commercially successful, that's a good sign that it's being heard.
Looking back, I think I was always musical. My dad was very musical, and I think my mom was musical.
I have not practiced how to be a singer without an instrument.
I got my first guitar when I was 15, and I just used to fool about with it, more or less, as time went by, though, I got more interested.
Look, people are allowed their own opinions and they don't always coincide with yours. As an artist you just have to keep plugging on.
But with writers, there's nothing wrong with melancholy. It's an important color in writing.
We were a savage little lot, Liverpool kids, not pacifist or vegetarian or anything. But I feel I've gone beyond that, and that it was immature to be so prejudiced and believe in all the stereotypes.
Why would I retire? Sit at home and watch TV? No thanks. I'd rather be out playing.
Somebody said to me, 'But the Beatles were anti-materialistic.' That's a huge myth. John and I literally used to sit down and say, 'Now, let's write a swimming pool.'
It was Elvis who really got me hooked on beat music. When I heard 'Heartbreak Hotel' I thought, this is it.
I've got to admit it's getting better. It's a little better all the time.
Think globally, act locally.
I'm always writing songs, and I've got a bunch that I want to record.
My so-called career is a haphazard thing.
I look a lot busier than I am, as I'm actually a rather sporadic, random person and I'll play a few gigs and then disappear for a while.
The Stones also still have a huge following. Mick Jagger leaps around like a crazy dude. And Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts are playing great too.
I love the past. There are parts of the past I hate, of course.
Somewhere down the line everyone must pay for their misdeeds.
And I loved Fats Waller. I love his instrumental abilities, his vocal abilities and his sense of humor.
You see, my mother was a district nurse until she died when I was 14, and we used to move from time to time because of her work.
Microphones are just like people, if you shout at them, they get scared.
She is the rock 'n' roll queen. Weirdly enough, that is one of the things her reign will be remembered for. Queen Elizabeth I, we remember Raleigh; Queen Elizabeth II it's gonna be the Beatles.
My dad was a particularly polite kind of guy, very courteous.
But you know, as a kid I would have thought of a vegetarian as a wimp.
I'm not religious, but I'm very spiritual.
I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird. I suddenly realized that anyone doing anything weird wasn't weird at all and it was the people saying they were weird that were weird.
None of us wanted to be the bass player. In our minds he was the fat guy who always played at the back.
I don't take me seriously. If we get some giggles, I don't mind.
