During The Beatles' rise to fame, Paul McCartney thought he had found the one place where he could walk around unnoticed.
In an interview on Zane Lowe show, dedicated to his new album, full of nostalgia, «The Boys of Dungeon Lane» , The 83-year-old musician shared memories of the early days of Beatlemania with John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Recalling that "very intense period" of the 1960s when the band soared to the top of the world charts, Lowe asked McCartney how he managed to "stay relevant" and enjoy life under the spotlight.
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«"I remember in the early years of The Beatles, we were recognized almost everywhere, but then Ringo and I went on holiday to Greece with some girlfriends, and no one knew us," McCartney recalled, thinking at the time, "This is great. Wow, we should come here more often. Even when we're really famous, we can always come to Greece and no one will recognize us." He added, "But, of course, it didn't work." Soon, their music—and their faces—reached Greece and beyond.
«"I realized, 'Oh, with any luck, I'll be famous forever,' I thought. 'Okay, time to make a big decision.' Now you either stop and just think, 'It was great. I had a great time making music,' and move on to something more low-profile, or you keep going," McCartney said. To cope with the Beatles' inevitable fame, the musician developed a "strategy.".
McCartney expressed gratitude to his family in Liverpool and the lessons they taught him as a child, which helped him stay grounded. "They're the kind of people who make others feel comfortable," he said, adding that he learned this himself by being around them.
Album The Boys of Dungeon Lane came out on Friday, and Rolling Stone called it McCartney's latest "solo masterpiece." "Overall, it feels like a legend looking back on a life well lived," writes Simon Vozick-Levinson in his review of the album. "This isn't necessarily a new theme for McCartney, who has been singing about what he once called his omnipresent past for years." He adds, "The autumnal atmosphere is more pronounced than ever.".
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