Paul McCartney Said He Has a ‘Total Freak-Out’ When He Remembers He’s Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney has been famous for the vast majority of his life, but he still sometimes feels a jolt when he thinks about his legacy. He spent his 20s with The Beatles and has continued to work on music ever since. He said he still thinks of himself as a kid from Liverpool, even though he has not been this in years. McCartney admitted that remembering his level of fame can feel overwhelming. 

Paul McCartney said he sometimes freaks out when he remembers who he is

McCartney draws a distinct line between himself as a performer and himself in his personal life. 

“I’ve always had this thing of him and me; he goes on stage, he’s famous, and then me; I’m just some kid from Liverpool,” he said, per the book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry Miles. “At fifty-four this little being inside me still feels like this little kid who used to run down the streets in Speke, doing Bob-a-Job, collecting jam jars, damming up streams in the woods. I still very much am him grown up.”

Because he draws this distinction, McCartney said it can be overwhelming to remember he is also a world-famous musician.

“Occasionally I stop and think, I am Paul McCartney, f***in’ hell, that is a total freak-out! You know, Paul McCartney!” he said. “Just the words, it sounds like a total kind of legend. But of course, you don’t want to go thinking that too much because it takes over. There’s a temptation to believe it all and be it and live it or there’s this other temptation to use it rather than be it.”

He said it’s mentally beneficial to separate himself from his onstage personality.

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“It’s not always possible to just compartmentalize it as easily as that — me as a person, and me as a Beatle — but I have had a certain ability in my life to do that,” he said. “I think it helps keep you sane, actually, if your famous side is a little bit removed from you yourself; you can withdraw from it, you can go home after a Beatles session and switch off.”

The former Beatle said he likes to escape the persona he’s created for himself

After a tour, McCartney needs to take quiet time for himself. This allows him to separate his two personas. 

“If I’ve got a couple of weeks off, a holiday, then I’ll try and get away from everyone and get my own self back,” he said. “I’m able to do that. I think that was the origin of all my little secretive trips with the false moustache and stuff; it allowed me to escape the persona that I had trapped myself in for money and fame and fortune.” 

McCartney said he has had to do this since his Beatles days. It has allowed him to enjoy such a long and successful career.

Paul McCartney believes that people would remember The Beatles even if they all quit music

While McCartney works to separate himself from his public persona, he knows that fans don’t do the same. When his Beatles bandmates talked about quitting the band and leaving fame behind, McCartney told him this wasn’t possible. 

“I said, ‘Hey, the hardest thing for us guys to do would be to give up fame. To wake up the next morning and not be a star anymore can’t happen. What do you mean, you’re not going to be a star? You’re going to be the retired star. And if that’s what you want, then that’s a different matter but don’t get this idea that everyone’s going to go away. Greta Garbo got more attention than ever with “I want to be alone.” They were still trying to take topless pictures of her when she was seventy.’”