READER'S DIGEST - ENTREVISTA A PAUL 2001 -

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.

Some More to Live -- and Write -- For

RD: You said in the past that certain songs like "My Love" and "Maybe I'm Amazed" hold personal meaning for you. Any songs in this album in that category?
McCartney: Yeah, there are a number of songs. A couple were inspired by Heather. It's really nice if you have a romance for songwriting. It finds its way into your art easily.

Heather, because of her upbringing, ended up helping raise a sister and brother. Because of this she missed a lot of normal life, she missed a lot of her childhood. So she doesn't know a lot of Beatles songs. As a matter of fact, in the cab on the way here today, "Back in the U.S.S.R." was on. And she said, "Oh, that's one of yours. Was this with the Beatles?"

I said, "Yeah. Like, everyone knows that."

She's like, "Well, I don't."

One morning, I was just jamming this little song on the piano and she said, "Oh, which one was that?" You know, thinking she'd missed it. I said, "No, I'm making this up."

She said, "You're making it up? Oh, wow! We've got to get a recorder." So we phoned down to the office. And for hours the girls are scrambling around trying to find one of those little dictaphones. Heather wouldn't let me stop. So I eventually put it down. The next day she asked, "What's that one called?"

I said, "Heather."

And then there is a song that I wrote after Linda died. So they're sort of sweet and sour, really, the ballads. There is one about the night that Linda and I met, which opens with: [singing] "There must have been magic the night that we met. If I hadn't stopped you, I'd always regret."

We met in a club, and I saw this girl there who I sort of liked the look of. And she was just about to leave. I got up, I said, "Hi. How are you?" And I never do that. It takes a bit of front to do that, you know.

I always said to the kids, if I hadn't done that, you wouldn't be here. So there's a song based on that called "Magic." So, yeah, there are a number of songs that are personal references. Not all of them. Sometimes you just use something that's in life. For instance, in the L.A. house we were staying in, they have an alarm system. And all it ever said on this little readout, whenever I'd walk in the door and look to see how we were doing for security, it always just used to say "Something's open." I go, "Well, a lot of use that is."

So we had to close every door in the whole house, and then we'd still come back and it would read "Something's open."

It kept striking me as funny. So that's the opening line of "Driving Rain": [singing] "Something's open, it's my heart." Sometimes I just steal little things like that just to get me going.

RD: It's been such a productive time for you the past few years. What's the source of this rush of creativity?
McCartney: When Linda died it was obviously a very, very difficult time for our family. For the first year I just allowed myself to grieve. People said, "Get into work, throw yourself into it." And I said, "It just doesn't feel right." So I didn't. But that period came to an end when I suddenly did start to want to come back into the office. The first thing really was the rock and roll album Run Devil Run, which was something Linda wanted me to do.

So I just dipped my foot back in, started to come out of my shell and feel better about myself and about life, like, yeah, there was a future. And then I went to an awards ceremony here in London -- it was very much for courage and people overcoming difficulties. And it was the most moving I've ever been to. There was a guy who'd waded in, trying to save another guy who was getting beaten up by three thugs. He'd got beaten up, too, left for dead and was now blind. So he was there, getting a courage award.

And I think everyone was crying.

Heather was giving an award. I just saw her bound up there and I thought, "Well, she's good-looking." And, whoops -- I was surprised at me thinking that. Because I hadn't thought that about anyone for quite a while. In fact, for 30 years. Because while Linda was alive, I must say, I didn't look at any other women.

Well, with Heather's charity work, I got in touch with her and had a couple of meetings. Which kind of grew into a friendship, which gradually grew into a romance. And that really helped my creativity, particularly with this new album. It sort of gave me some more to live for.

And I had all these questions, like, "Oh, my gosh, I've had a wife for 30 years. Is this allowed?" But I soon felt, yeah, it is. Actually what I felt was that if Linda was alive, I'd be dead meat. She'd kill me. No way would I be getting away with this. But I felt that if she was around, this wouldn't even be happening. But, as she wasn't, she would want me to be happy.

RD: You've talked about how hard it was to follow the Beatles with Wings. So now you have this new love following one of the great romances of our day. Given all those inevitable comparisons, it must be tougher the second time around.
McCartney: I think so. You know, funnily enough, if you like each other, love each other, then all that goes out the window.
Also there's an age difference. But in the end it just either works or it doesn't. You can get people who are perfectly matched and married, and it doesn't work. You can get people in the most bizarre circumstances, and it does work. So I must say, I don't give all that a thought anymore. It just feels okay.

Credits, Creativity, and Staying Centered

RD: Would you ever consider having more children?
McCartney: I don't know. [laughs] I really don't know. So that in itself is a bit of an admission.

RD: You've said that "Yesterday" emerged fully formed from a dream. What is your personal understanding of inspiration?
McCartney: I don't understand it at all. I think life is quite mysterious and quite miraculous. And I don't want to know. Every time I come to write a song, there's this magic little thing where I go, "Ooh, ooh, it's happening again." I just sort of sit down at the piano and go, "Oh, my God. I don't know this one." And suddenly there's a song there. I find the magic in it so -- it's a faith thing. I think there's a great thing there in life. I think there's also not-so-great. What we're in is a mix, and I prefer to go with the great stuff. You can't always. This is life. We're born, we die. But, with creativity, I just have faith. It's not a faith of any particular religion because I worry that religions start wars. It's a great spiritual belief that there's something really magical there. And that was what helped me write "Yesterday." Something to do with me, something to do with my love of music and my faith in the process. But I don't quite know what it is and I don't want to know.

RD: Do you have a philosophy that has guided your life? What keeps you as centered as you seem to be?
McCartney: That's a really hard question. I think there is a faith in things and in life being a miracle. But when it's tough times, you sort of know there's a good chance that it will come good.

Coming from where I'm from, there was no silver spoon in my mouth. If a thing is tough, you've got to try and think, "Right, what's the way out of this?" My first thought is "Oh, holy cow, what do we do now?" I'm a bit of a fighter that way. Where I think some other people aren't as fortunate and might just think, "That's it. I'm gone."

RD: For so many people, you'll always be one of the Beatles. We see you as brothers, as members of a family. You can grow up and go on, but you never leave them behind. What is that like for you?
McCartney: It's great. It is exactly like that, members of a family. I mean, we went through our problems at the end of the '60s, which were really business problems. But we got through all of that. And we love each other very dearly. And so we are like brothers. We ring each other quite a bit, try and see each other quite a bit. They're great guys. And I have a lot to be grateful for, that wherever I've got to, they certainly helped me a thousand percent.

Obviously, John I remember with great love and affection. Because we were the two who sat in that room making those beautiful songs. I feel very privileged to have been the guy who wrote with John. And very privileged that he wanted me to be the guy who wrote with him.

RD: Why do you think that writing relationship with John was so special?
McCartney: We were both really cool, actually. [laughs] I mean, all the Beatles are really cool. But with me and John, we both had drive and desire to succeed and to write music. And one of the things I'm really proud of is that we wrote 194 songs together. No, actually, it's more. Because there were a few unpublished ones before the Beatles. There's "You're in My Little Book," which I wish I could find. There was one called "Just Fun," and a couple that never saw the light of day. But the most amazing fact about it is that every time we went to sit down -- and it was normally about a three-hour writing session -- we never came out without a finished song. So that was like 200 days that we sat down to do that. And never had a dry moment.

RD: So it was magic, chemistry.
McCartney: I think the point was we were both bloody good. I'm sorry, folks, but there's a point at which you have to suspend your modesty. I mean, we had something. And I think it's just, it was the love of it, which developed into skill.

RD: Is it true that you're looking to alter the writing credits on some of the songs that you wrote as a Beatle so your name appears before John's?
McCartney: No, not really. In actual fact what happened was we were making the anthology. And because of an old -- it's not actually an official agreement -- but because of the way things worked out, we always used to call things Lennon/McCartney. I went to a meeting once with Brian [Epstein] and John, who got there before me, and they said, "We think it would be a good idea to call it Lennon/McCartney."

I said, "Oh, yeah? Wait a minute, I think McCartney/Lennon sounds good." We had a little, sort of tussle about that. And they said, "Well, look. Let's call it Lennon/McCartney for now, but we can change it any time we want to." So I said, "Okay." I bought that. I mean, it's alphabetical, it sounds better. So obviously now it does. It's like Rodgers and Hammerstein -- Hammerstein and Rodgers doesn't sound right.

But at the time of the anthology, I was going through a bit of a tough period with Linda, and the song "Yesterday" was in the anthology. Instead of Lennon/McCartney, someone proposed putting in the full names, so that all the songs would be by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

So with "Yesterday," with that particular one, I thought, "Wouldn't it be nice after all these years if we just change it and put 'Yesterday' by Paul McCartney and John Lennon?"

And I know John always said he had nothing to do with that song. In fact, a pianist used to play it whenever he came into a certain restaurant: "Da, da, da" [hums the first few chords of "Yesterday"] and he'd go, "Oh, no! It's not even mine." So, you know, I thought John would be okay with that.

But what happened is we got into a little sticky moment 'cause I rang Yoko and said, "Just on this one occasion could I have this as a favor? I'm not going through a great time in my life and I'd like it."

And she first said, "Yeah," but then she rang back and said, "No." And I thought, "You weren't there when I wrote it." But the power had passed to her. And I thought, "You know, that's not very nice." So it actually is one of the reasons that we're not the greatest of friends. We're not enemies. We're friends -- sort of.

Actually Linda then rang her up and said, "You know, this would mean a lot to Paul." And she turned Linda down too. She said she was sorry, but that they would never change it.

So it's become a little bit of a bone of contention. And then later I thought, "It should be changed on all of my songs -- 'Fool On The Hill,' 'Hey Jude,' 'Let It Be' -- they should all say, only when both names are used in full, those are my songs, those are John's."

I don't see what's wrong with that.

But it's been refused, so I got off it and I thought I was cool with it and I calmed down and it was all right and it was all going great until I happened to go to Vienna.

It was late at night, and I was having a drink in a bar with Heather and the piano player had just finished. And I saw the piano player's fake book. So I grabbed it, and I'm going through it and it's like, "Fly Me to the Moon," "Moon River," "Hey Jude." And he hadn't had room at the top of the page, so it read "Hey Jude," by John Lennon. He didn't have room for my name. I thought, "Oh, God, now this is exactly what I'm worried about."

It just worries me because it's my reputation. People now think it's a major bone of contention with me, like I'm worried about John overshadowing me. I'm not. I love John dearly. I think he would have done it. But it's one of these things that happens in life and I'm -- he said twitching -- I'm okay with it now. But if you're reading this, Yoko, there's still time.

You know, we actually did a list of who wrote which songs with Barry Miles's book, Many Years From Now, and John's Playboy interview. And there's only one we disputed out of everything we wrote.

RD: Which song?
McCartney: It's the melody of "In My Life." [singing] "There are places I'll remember." I think I wrote it. But John thinks he wrote it. So you know what? He can have it. One out of 200.

RD: How did you get into your work with Adopt-A-Minefield, and what impact do you hope to have?
McCartney: Yeah, I didn't really know too much about it except through Princess Diana. But Heather has been involved since before Diana. And her main emphasis is in helping victims who tend, like her, to be amputees. And she will talk to people, particularly who are recent amputees, who are very worried about their future. And she'll say, "What are you worried about?"

And they'll say, "Well, you know, I'm a great sportsman" or something. These are fit young guys who could do everything. And suddenly they're looking at a very bleak future.

She says, "No, no, no. Wait a minute. I ski. I rollerblade. I run. I work out." And it lifts them, as only she can tell them.

So I think that's really cool and really important. And the single most cruel reason why people have limbs amputated is land mines.

We just recently hooked up with this U.N. outfit [Adopt-A-Minefield], where communities and schools and towns and organizations like Rotary Clubs will collect enough money to have a field cleared in their name. For instance, Heather and I have done one in Croatia, where it means that the people who live in that village can actually walk in that field. It means these people can tend their ancestors' graves.

I say to people, "Imagine you were living in a war zone and peace is declared. And then a couple of weeks later, you're going to work like normal. Suddenly there's snipers shooting at you from the trees. You go, 'Wait a minute. Peace.' Or you take your kids to the beach and something blows up. We'd say, 'No, that's unacceptable. Wait a minute. Peace has been declared. Get the war out of here.'"

We had a meeting with Colin Powell. I have a lot of respect for him. The American position, unfortunately, is that you won't sign the Mine Ban Treaty because of Korea. Until America signs it, China won't do it, Russia won't do it. And it's a knock-on effect. America must take the lead. So we're trying to persuade him of that. To give them their due, the American government does put a lot of funding into clearing minefields.

RD: So many people would give their eyeteeth to meet you. Is there anyone in the world today you'd like to meet?
McCartney: I've really met a lot of people. Who haven't I met? Oh, you know who I'd like to meet? Nelson Mandela. I haven't met Nelson Mandela, and I admire him a lot.

RD: If you could put together your dream band, composed of any musicians past or present, living or dead, who would you pick?
McCartney: The first would be the Beatles, just because we were a really cool little band. If I could extend it, we could go for, um, the Beatles. Linda. Jimi Hendrix. Keith Moon. Eric Clapton. But this is getting too big as a band. I could go on, but that will do.

RD: What advice would you give young kids today about experimenting with drugs?
McCartney: My advice would be "Straight is great and it's the best." That's what I think a lot of us come around to in the end.

But, having said that, I know that's unreal and that the world is quite a stressful place, particularly when you're growing up. So I would think "Be very careful" would be the second line of advice, really. And try not to bow to peer pressure. That's the big danger. People say, "Oh, you haven't tried that?"

Don't worry. Say, "No, I haven't, and I don't want to."

RD: If you could go back in time and meet, say, the 12-year-old Paul McCartney, what advice would you give him?
McCartney: Oh, my God. What would I tell him? Keep a good sense of humor, man. You're going to need it. And enjoy yourself. Because, you know, we don't know how long we're here for. We don't know the deal, really. And so I think if you enjoy, it certainly helps. I think it helps people around you too. It helps them to enjoy.

Paul McCartney: Getting Better All the Time