Paul McCartney confesses: 'I have to relearn everything' before performing smash hits

July 26, 2019
Entertainment

The Beatles’ animated movie “Yellow Submarine” premiered in London. (July 17)
AP

According to Paul McCartney,Â there’s nothing like writing songsÂ â€” even though he may not remember how all of them go.

The Beatles icon toldÂ Al Roker on the “Today” showÂ how he keeps track of all his hits and what’s kept him in music all these years.

The 77-year-old admitted thatÂ when you’ve written as many songs as he has it’s impossible to remember them all.

“Is it true that sometimes you have to relearn the older stuff?” Roker asked.

“Yeah,Â I have to relearn everything,” McCartneyÂ said.Â “I’ve written an awful lot, so you can’t retain them all. We go into rehearsal, and I learn them. ‘Oh yeah, that’s how it goes.’ “Â

McCartney added his own songs often surprise him.

“Sometimes when you’re relearning them, do you kind of lookÂ and go, ‘You know, this is pretty good?’ ” Roker wondered.

“I do,” McCartney said.Â “I really do, you know. That’s one of the joys of doing some of the old songs. And you say, ‘Oh, that’s clever. I wouldn’t have done that.’ “

McCartney, who co-wrote dozens ofÂ BeatlesÂ hits,Â said he’s discovered a passion for a different kind of writing as well: children’s books.

McCartney coauthored theÂ 2005 children’s adventure novel “High In the Clouds,” and his children’s picture-book “Hey Grandude!” will be published in September.

McCartney told Roker he discovered this passion through his grandchildren.

More: Paul McCartney in ’60 Minutes’ chat: John Lennon complimented me ‘only once the whole time’

“As my kids and the grand-kids were growing up, I always loved reading to them at bedtime,” he said. “I just loved being part of that experience, so I said ‘It’d be nice to have a book.'”

After all these years, McCartney said one thing keeps him performing: his adoring fans.

“I think just as you come on, and it’s like, ‘Wow, they like me.’ And it’s a thrill. It’s a big thrill.”

McCartney gaveÂ one of his audiences a thrill earlier this month by bringing out his former Beatles band-mate Ringo StarrÂ on the final night of his North American tourÂ at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

More: ‘I love you, man’: Paul McCartney brings out Ringo Starr for a tour-closing Beatles reunion

McCartney told RokerÂ the enthusiasm for his reunion with Starr is stunning.

“It’s really exciting to think that that still works. We thought we had five, 10 years maximum,” he said of The Beatles.Â “We were a little rock n’ roll group from Liverpool, and that was beyondÂ the expectations. But then five years came. Ten years came, and we were still rockin’. And then it just kind of kept going. It self-perpetuated.”

More: Paul McCartney is adapting ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ as a stage musical

Toward the end of the interview, Roker asked aÂ question on many fans’ minds: Will there be newÂ McCartney songsÂ in the future?

“Hopefully,” he replied. “I’ve gotta think of it first. I’m thinking right now.”

More: 20 essential Paul McCartney tracks that prove he’s the best of The Beatles