Paul McCartney has stopped signing autographs: “We both know who I am”

Paul McCartney says he has stopped signing autographs, calling the process “a bit strange”.

Speaking to Reader’s Digest (via Contact Music), the Beatles legend discussed being stopped by fans and asking for autographs across his career, and why he has grown tired of the idea.

“It always struck me as a bit strange,” he said. “‘Here, can I write your name down on the back of this till receipt please?’ Why? We both know who I am.”

McCartney also said he doesn’t particularly understand the idea of taking selfies with fans, and that he’d much rather have a conversation with them.

“What you’ve usually got is a ropey photo with a poor backdrop and me looking a bit miserable,” he said. “Let’s chat, let’s exchange stories.”

Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney performs live in London in 2018 (Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage)

Elsewhere, McCartney recently set the record straight on who instigated the break-up of The Beatles, claiming that it was actually John Lennon.

Probably the most analysed break-up in rock history, the Fab Four split over 50 years ago, prompting McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr all to go their separate ways.

For years it was believed that McCartney was unilaterally behind the band disbanding after he answered a question from a journalist in 1970 with the claim that The Beatles no longer existed. However, in an upcoming episode of new BBC Radio 4 interview series This Cultural Life, he claims this isn’t the case.

“I didn’t instigate the split. That was our Johnny,” he tells interviewer John Wilson (per The Guardian). “This was my band, this was my job, this was my life, so I wanted it to continue.”

Elsewhere, a trailer recently arrived for Peter Jackson’s forthcoming Disney+ Beatles documentary, The Beatles: Get Back. The film will focus on the making of ‘Let It Be’ and will showcase their final concert as a band, on London’s Savile Row rooftop, in its entirety.

Disney+ has confirmed the documentary will arrive in three separate parts on November 25, 26 and 27. Each episode is approximately two hours in length.