Paul McCartney reflects on his life after The Beatles

Paul McCartney has recently shared rare insight into his life after The Beatles disbanded back in 1970.

In an excerpt from his new oral history book, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, out today, Paul talks about the struggles he faced during the transition between his time as a Beatle and his life as a solo artist.

“The breakup hit like the atom bomb,” writes the musician as friendship ended with the band split.

Later, Paul made his group Wings in 1971 alongside his late wife and former guitarist Denny Laine, which went on to release seven studio albums before their split in 1981.

“The times with Wings were exciting because we built up to it, and eventually we hit the big time, there was a particular kind of excitement in achieving that goal,” he reflects.

Paul points out, “After The Beatles I didn’t really know how to be in a band, it was a complete blank canvas, we’d go on the road with no plans, no hotels booked, no gigs lined up, and we thought the only place we might find a captive audience was at a university.”

“A completely off-the-wall idea, but I’m glad we did it,” adds the 83-year-old.

Elsewhere in the book, Paul explains that he doesn’t “spend a lot of time looking back in general, I like to live in the moment, like everything else, it’s a timing thing”.