“Too good”: the musician Paul McCartney pleaded with not to retire
Let’s face it, we’re all dreading the day Paul McCartney is no longer walking this earth, and while his recent activity proves that there’s still life left in the tank, Father Time is bound to come knocking at some point.
On the surface of things, it seems as though he’s still got all his marbles firmly intact and is writing exceptional music as he edges closer to his mid-80s. His 2026 album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, while not up there with the absolute best moments of his career, is still a remarkable achievement for someone of his age to be putting out, and above all, it shows that the passion for creativity hasn’t been sapped from him in his elderly state.
It’ll be a sad day for pop music when McCartney is no longer around, and it will mark the end of an era that he arguably helped to start with The Beatles back in the 1960s. For him to have achieved so much over a long and illustrious career just goes to show how committed he is and how valuable he has been to the overall reshaping of popular music in the last century.
The thing is, other musicians have passed away before, even with two of his former Beatles bandmates, and while both John Lennon and George Harrison’s passing came as a shock, we’ve collectively managed to overcome the grief.
What would arguably be more of a shock is if McCartney remained alive but never released anything else or performed again, essentially announcing his retirement to the world. To no longer see McCartney in the public eye, but knowing that he was still out there and capable of working on new music, would arguably be more crushing to deal with than the grieving process of accepting that there can never be new music.
Plenty have taken this approach before, but McCartney himself doesn’t seem like the sort who would do this, and that’s probably because he’s also had to talk some of his contemporaries out of the idea of doing the same.
In a 1990 interview with Guitar Player, he claimed that he and Eric Clapton had previously discussed their longevity and whether they had enough in the tank to be able to continue, even while they were still only in their 50s. “I remember him joking about how I stand up for the whole show,” McCartney laughed, referring to how Clapton was seemingly concerned about the onset of back pain and arthritis.
“He said, ‘I sit down.’ That’s a blues player thing. But he’s just too good a player. I would say to him, ‘Yeah, by all means, sit down, Eric. But don’t retire.’”
Paul McCartney on Eric Clapton
There are always going to be some difficulties that you encounter later in life that might hinder your ability to work in some ways, but making adaptations to the way in which you’re working is surely a better option. If Clapton still has the use of his fingers, then why wouldn’t he still do what he loves for an audience, whether sitting or standing?
Of course, Clapton didn’t retire, and there are going to be many people who are thankful for the fact that he’s still got enough of his faculties left to keep on working. However, while Clapton has soldiered on, fans seemingly ought to be thankful to McCartney for encouraging him not to retire.
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