Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney

On Retirement

At 76 years of age, and having spent 55 years of those entertaining people across the globe, Sir Paul McCartney is not ready to retire and retreat from the limelight just yet.

“Retire From What?”

“I’m always trying to be optimistic”

In an interview with BBC 6 Music News in June 2018 (promoting his first new album for over four years), McCartney quoted another longtermmusician, Willie Nelson, when asked aboutwhether or not he would hang up his guitaranytime soon.

He said about a conversation with Nelson, that“I was talking about this whole retiring thing,because he’s older than I am, even. And he says,‘Retire from what?’ And I think that just says it.Retire from what?”Being one of the world’s biggest musical artists,for such a long time, it’s probably no wonderthat McCartney isn’t retiring just yet. He has thefinancial resources to do what he wants, whenhe wants, and has been quoted as saying thathe doesn’t consider being a touring musiciana job, because he enjoys it so much. Plus, ofcourse, there is all those millions of fans whostill snap up tickets to his shows in a heartbeat.Yet with other legends in the music industry,such as Elton John, saying goodbye to worldtours in recent times, should McCartney bejoining their ranks? According to comments hemade in an interview with Eyewitness News,he did think about calling it a day back in2007 when he turned 65. Hitting the commonretirement age made him consider making thechange.If McCartney looked at the kinds of shows manyyounger musicians put on these days, theremay have been other reasons for him to thinkabout leaving the world of music. Many singersadd a huge theatrical component to their

performances, we know – just consider the acrobatics of Pink or the regular dance numbers of JLo. McCartney certainly isn’t going to be following in their footsteps! Some people also think that the rock and roll star can’t hit the same notes as he used to, and that some of his later music, ex The Beatles era, hasn’t reached the dizzy heights of musical perfection that came before. However, if you ask any of the long-term McCartney fans around the world if the great artist should retire, most people would likely say they wouldn’t care if he just sat on a chair to sing a whole concert. It’s his distinctive voice, personality, musical genius, and amazing repertoire of songs, has made him a household name, and which continues to be a drawcard. Many people also love his shows because they get the chance to indulge in some nostalgia. They can remember where they were and what they were doing when

some of the massive Beatles hits were released - or when the group came to town and caused an almost hysterical level of excitement in devoted crowds. As for McCartney, with a brand new album to promote with an optimistic spirit, it seems unlikely that we’ll see him disappear from the public eye and performing anytime soon. The musical stalwart noted in his Eyewitness News interview that he tries to stay upbeat in his life. “I’m always trying to be optimistic”, he said. He thinks most people worry too much about things that “probably won’t happen”, and that , “there’s an expression somebody said to me once. ‘I’m an old man with many worries, most of which never happen,’ and I think that can be very true.” If we’re to follow his advice then we should stop worrying about Sir Paul McCartney’s retirement – for at least the foreseeable future.