Reflecting on the realities of global fame, McCartney admitted that he now enforces a strict boundary when fans approach him in public, explicitly refusing requests for casual photographs. “The thing nowadays though of course is photographs,” the icon explained. “I’ll meet someone and say, ‘Oh, I know what they’re reaching for’. They got the camera and it’s coming out. But I’ve got a thing now and I say, ‘I’m sorry I don’t do pictures. So now I hope you understand, but I’m having a private evening.'”
To illustrate his perspective, McCartney shared a colorful comparison he often gives to fans. “I say to them, ‘You know, down in Saint Tropez, there’s a guy on the harbor front and he’s got a monkey. And you can get your picture taken with the monkey.’ And I said the minute I start doing that, you get your camera out, I feel like that monkey. Because I’m not me anymore. I’m the monkey and I say it’s kind of important to me to be just me, not the guy who’s posing.”
Turning the conversation to his new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, Lowe noted an undeniable sense of artistic freedom in the new material. McCartney attributed this partly to his complete creative autonomy, contrasting his experience with modern artists who face label interference. He recalled a conversation with multi-instrumentalist H.E.R., who asked him if he was allowed to decide what goes on his own records. “I said, ‘Yeah, doesn’t everyone?’ She said, ‘no, you know, these days people, the label, a manager…’ I remember thinking, I feel sorry for that. So I am free, I’m very lucky. But I would always fight for that, it just doesn’t seem much point otherwise.”
McNamara also confessed that smartphones have drastically altered his historical writing process. In the early days of The Beatles, songs had to be finished immediately out of necessity. “The trouble is nowadays with phones, you always had to finish a thing because there was nowhere to put it. You know? You had it in your mind, so you had to finish it,” McCartney explained. “Now, I must have over a couple of thousand sketches on my phone because I’ll put it down and think okay, I’ll come back to that. I’ve saved it, it’s okay.”
