Sir Paul McCartney admits that he sometimes needs a little "help" when it comes to remembering lyrics to some of his best-known songs.
It's not so much that he forgets, the music legend says, it's more that his mind wanders… even in front of an arena packed with fans.
"I'll be doing a song, let's say 'Eleanor Rigby' or something, and I'm on autopilot," he said on the Smartless podcast. "I'm starting to think 'Oh, what am I going to have for dinner later? Maybe you won't have the soup but maybe you'll just go for the main course…' And I go 'STOP!' Because I'm singing 'Eleanor Rigby.'"
Because of this, Paul, 78, uses a teleprompter on stage so that he doesn't slip up.
He's also not exactly a historian of the Beatles.
"I'm the world's worst rememberer of Beatles' history," he said in a recent chat with Taylor Swift for Rolling Stone. "I just think, 'Well there's always going to be someone who knows. So, I'll just ask someone!'"
That fact that he's "Paul McCartney" isn't lost on him either. While chatting with Taylor, he said he compartmentalizes the famous singer from Liverpool, England, from the man from Liverpool, England.
"I know I'm very famous, but I don't want to walk around like I'm very famous. I like that bit that I had when I grew up of just going on a bus and just being, you know…" he said. "But I do separate 'him' from 'me.' So, me, I don't like to take pictures when people say, 'Can I have a picture?' because everyone has got a camera in the world. And so I say 'I'm sorry, I don't do pictures.'"
He continued, "I sometimes feel like I have to say, 'Look, I'm happy to talk to you. Sit down. We can talk.' Because I like that. Because I'm still me. The minute I put my arm around you, or you put your arm around me, I feel like the monkey in St. Tropez. 'Come and have your picture taken with the monkey.' I don't like that. It puts me off."