Paul McCartney quotes

“None of us wanted to be the bass player. In our minds he was the fat guy who always played at the back.”

— Paul McCartney

“There are only four people who knew what the Beatles were about anyway.”

— Paul McCartney

“I've got to admit it's getting better. It's a little better all the time.”

— Paul McCartney

“I saw that Meryl Streep said, I just want to do my job well. And really, that's all I'm ever trying to do.”

— Paul McCartney

“I knew the words to 25 rock songs, so I got in the group. Long Tall Sally and Tutti-Frutti, that got me in. That was my audition.”

— Paul McCartney

“At the end of the Beatles, I really was done in for the first time in my life. Until then, I really was a kind of cocky sod.”

— Paul McCartney

“I don't take me seriously. If we get some giggles, I don't mind.”

— Paul McCartney

“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.”

— Paul McCartney

“My dad, bless him, was a musician. And his dad had thought that his music was rubbish.”

— Paul McCartney

“I had this song called Helter Skelter, which is just a ridiculous song. So we did it like that, 'cuz I like noise.”

— Paul McCartney

“If children are studying the 20th century, I'm in their text books.”

— Paul McCartney

“I can take pot or leave it. I got busted in Japan for it. I was nine days without it and there wasn't a hint of withdrawal, nothing.”

— Paul McCartney

“But with writers, there's nothing wrong with melancholy. It's an important color in writing.”

— Paul McCartney

“It was Elvis who really got me hooked on beat music. When I heard 'Heartbreak Hotel' I thought, this is it.”

— Paul McCartney

“I feel that if I said anything about John, I would have to sit here for five days and say it all. Or I don't want to say anything.”

— Paul McCartney

“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.”

— Paul McCartney

“And I loved Fats Waller. I love his instrumental abilities, his vocal abilities and his sense of humor.”

— Paul McCartney

“But you know, as a kid I would have thought of a vegetarian as a wimp.”

— Paul McCartney

“George Martin, he's very good at a very sort of lush, sweet arrangement.”

— Paul McCartney

“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.”

— Paul McCartney

“I can't deal with the press; I hate all those Beatles questions.”

— Paul McCartney

“I have not practiced how to be a singer without an instrument.”

— Paul McCartney

“I love the past. There are parts of the past I hate, of course.”

— Paul McCartney

“I think the pop industry is still a young man's game.”

— Paul McCartney

“I was still 15 when I met John Lennon at a village fete in Woolton, in Liverpool.”

— Paul McCartney

“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.”

— Paul McCartney

“I never really got on that well with Yoko anyway. Strangely enough, I only started to get to know her after John's death.”

— Paul McCartney

“Microphones are just like people, if you shout at them, they get scared.”

— Paul McCartney

“Looking back, I think I was always musical. My dad was very musical, and I think my mom was musical.”

— Paul McCartney

“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.”

— Paul McCartney