Entertainment, Music - Marine Corps Times

McCartney adds to his memory bank

On “Memory Almost Full,” a title inspired by the warning that flashed when his cellphone maxed out on text and voice mails, Paul McCartney seesaws between impulses to dwell on the past and let it go.

“It’s a mixed message,” he says of the philosophy informing the 13 songs on his 21st solo studio album, out this week. “Look back at the past, but don’t live in it and don’t expect it to happen again. It’s very much a changing world, and you have to leave room for new stuff.”

Anyone who interprets that as a veiled comment on his factious divorce from model/activist Heather Mills is misreading between the lines, he says. McCartney, 64, is mum on the split, except to say, “It’s a sad thing to have happened, and it’s nothing that anyone wanted. I’m not the only person in the world who’s going through or has been through this kind of thing. I look for an optimistic conclusion. I’m being positive about it.”

And he’s positive he does not address the broken marriage in song.

“It’s actually the opposite,” he says. “For me, music is an escape. It always has been. You’re in a bad mood or have an argument, you go off in a corner and write a song. It’s a form of therapy. I don’t see it as anything to do with my personal circumstances.”

That hasn’t stopped scrutiny, including speculation that McCartney is the suicidal “Mr. Bellamy.”

“Is that cuckoo? Why would someone think that?” asks McCartney. “It’s about a guy jumping off a building. It’s imaginary.”

He started “Memory “in 2003 before detouring to make 2005’s “Chaos and Creation in the Backyard” with Nigel Godrich. After completing “Memory” with producer David Kahne, McCartney shocked many by leaving Capitol/EMI, his home since 1962, to sign as the inaugural artist on Hear Music, the label formed by Starbucks and Concord Music Group.

“It was a carefully considered decision,” he says. “Before I left, I said, “Look, guys, you’re not going to be able to do a good job on this. There’s a new world out there, and I want to reach people, and I want to have an exciting time doing it.’

“I had dreaded releasing the album, because you set out on the same old [promotional] trail.

“The major labels know they’re in major trouble. And the minute you hear Tower Records is closing, woo, you know this is a changing world.”

McCartney is thrilled by “Memory”‘s placement in 10,000 Starbucks locations, including 400 in China.

“It’s like being a kid again, which is exactly what I wanted, because the danger is now boredom.”