Paul McCartney: Getting Better All the Time

Paul McCartney talks with Reader's Digest about his life at age 59 -- his recently published books, the release of his new album, and the new love in his life. He also reminisces about his wife, Linda, about songwriting and about the Fabulous Four.

All That Legend and Icon Stuff

His life is rockin' again. His eyes are sparkling. He's smiling. And he's ready for -- well, more of just about anything. At 59, Sir Paul McCartney is a guy as far from being dead as you can get.

Just take a look at what he's been up to the past two years: First, the release of his vintage rock 'n' roll album, Run Devil Run. Then Paul McCartney Paintings, a coffee-table book of his vibrant abstract art. Followed by the bestselling The Beatles Anthology book, and 1, the CD collection of Beatles No. 1 singles, which sold 22 million copies around the world. Then on to Blackbird Singing, a reflective, engaging book of his poetry and lyrics. Followed shortly thereafter by Wingspan, a CD of Wings greatest hits, along with a very personal, two-hour documentary film of the band's story -- co-produced and co-written by his daughter Mary. And finally the release of his long-anticipated album, Driving Rain, on November 13.

All this on the heels of the toughest time of his life -- the illness and death of Linda, his beloved wife and partner of nearly 30 years. Now, three and a half years later, he's very much in love again and engaged to Heather Mills, the resilient blond activist for amputees' rights. Mills, 33, who lost a leg below the knee when she was hit by a motorcycle, is also a powerful crusader for ridding the world of land mines.

We're sitting in his London office on a comfortably worn couch in front of floor-to-ceiling gold and platinum records. McCartney is wearing a white T-shirt, blue linen pants and running shoes. He's relaxed and endearingly trying to help us kick back as well -- to forget for a while all that legend, millionaire, icon stuff.

When asked if the metallic discs on the wall can actually be played, he laughs and says not anymore. But when the Beatles got their very first gold album, Please Please Me, they excitedly took it home and gave it a spin. It played all right, he says, but much to their dismay what they heard was the Rolling Stones.

And so it begins -- a chat with Paul McCartney on his new music, new love, inspiration, John, Yoko, and why the Beatles were so bloody good.

RD: How would you characterize the new album?
McCartney: It's about 60 minutes, all new songs, all written by me. A little help from my son, James, on one of them.

I think the one word I keep coming up with is "fresh." One of my favorite periods of working was with the Beatles during the Revolver, Rubber Soul, earlyish recording period. John and I came in on Monday morning and we'd show George and Ringo what the song was.

The guys didn't know what we were bringing in! George Martin didn't know, the engineer didn't know. John and I would have just written it the week before. There was no time to run it through. But we didn't need to. We were all grown-ups, so we just took it in on Monday. So I said to David Kahne [the producer for the new album], "Let's do it the same way."

When I got there Monday morning everything was so fresh because nobody knew what we were going to do. So I said, "Right, there you go. There's the song." Gave them the chords, showed them how it went.

Had a great time. I think we did 18 tracks in those first two weeks. And each day I would just be running upstairs, saying, "Oh, give me ten minutes to finish this one. It hasn't got a middle. Let me just ..."

People have said it's not quite what they'd expect from me. Which is nice.

RD: Where does the title Driving Rain come from?
McCartney: We had this one day off while we were recording, so I hired a black Corvette, which is one of my little perks. I was enjoying myself, driving around. Because it's L.A., you're in America, the land of Corvettes. Heather and I took off up the Pacific Coast Highway in the rain. We stopped off for lunch at a really classy restaurant. And we got back to the studio and said, "Wow, we had a great day yesterday."

And everyone's saying, "Yeah?"

We said, "Yeah, we stopped at a great little restaurant."

They said, "What was it called?"

"Marie Calender's."

It turned out it's like a chain, famous for like big pies. Like Dunkin' Donuts. And we thought really classy, and they're all hollering, they're all screaming, laughing. We thought it was a find, you know.

So after this lovely, very free day, I was playing the piano. And this song started off quite sort of low and ballady. By the time I got into the studio we started moving, I ended up singing it up the octave and it got a bit faster. And so it's really nice -- a bit of a driving song. That's Driving Rain.

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