He's become an OAP, he's divorcing Heather and he has severed his ties to EMI. But Paul McCartney remains upbeat and busy.

"Paul McCartney" are words that go together well indeed : an effortless creativity, a unique songwriting history and a longevity in the music business today’s musicians can only dream of. Try and place "the Frog Song" and "Helter Skelter" in a single sentence, add a knighthood, a tabloid obsession with his personal life, and you will soon realise why Paul McCartney is an eternal phenomenon. La Blogothèque goes all continental and launches into a conceptual debate with the man himself : "Paul McCartney, wot iz it ?"

found on Paul McCartney : http://www.blogotheque.net

Sir Paul McCartney, Kylie Minogue and Arctic Monkeys were the big winners at this year's Q Awards today (08.10.07).

The Beatles legend received The Q Icon award, Kylie took The Q Idol accolade and Arctic Monkeys claimed the prestigious Best Act In The World Today prize at the glitzy ceremony at London's Grosvenor House Hotel.

Paul notably failed to mention his estranged wife Heather Mills in his lengthy acceptance speech, in which he thanked his former Beatles bandmates, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison, and his late wife Linda McCartney.

He said: "I've been coming to these things for a long time and you sit there petrified, not knowing what to say, should you tell a couple of dirty jokes?

"I would like to thank George, John and Ringo, the boys. I would like to thank Linda for seeing me though some real tough periods, and my beautiful family, my kids, who are fantastic."

The 65-year-old singer was presented the award by a visibly drunk Damon Albarn, who earlier bemused the star-studded audience with a rambling speech when he collected The Q Inspiration Award.

Other winners included Amy Winehouse who won Best Album for her LP 'Back To Black', The Enemy who were voted Best New Act and Kate Nash who collected the Breakthrough Artist award.

Muse took home Best Live Act, while Manic Street Preachers won Best Track for 'Your Love Alone Is Not Enough' and Kaiser Chiefs claimed Best Video for 'Ruby'.

All the 'Best' categories, plus Breakthrough Artist, were voted for by readers of Q and Q4Music.com, with Best Video also voted for by Q TV viewers, while the remaining 11 winners were chosen by the music magazine.

Host Jonathan Ross - who has presented the awards for a number of years - continued his tradition of rock-star baiting by attacking a host of stars including Robbie Williams and Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding.

When introducing the winner of The Q Hero award, which went to the late record label boss Tony Wilson, he said: "I thought this was going to be given to someone with a superhero power, like Robbie Williams being invisible in America, but no!"

He then laid into Sarah as he was naming singer Ian Brown as the winner of The Q Legend, saying: "Last year's winners were Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of The Who. It was great to see the pair back together again, like Sarah Harding's legs."

Q Awards 2007 - full list of winners

Best New Act sponsored by Myspace.com: The Enemy

Best Track sponsored by Sony Ericsson: Manic Street Preachers - 'Your Love Alone Is Not Enough'

Breakthrough Artist sponsored by Ben Sherman: Kate Nash

Best Video sponsored by O2: Kaiser Chiefs - 'Ruby'

Q Classic Song: Stereophonics - 'Local Boy In The Photograph'

Q Classic Album: The Verve - 'Urban Hymns'

Q Innovation in Sound sponsored by Aloud.com: Sigur Rós

Q Lifetime Achievement sponsored by Malmaison: Johnny Marr

The Q Merit Award: Ryan Adams

The Q Hero: Anthony H. Wilson

Best Album sponsored by Play.com: Amy Winehouse - 'Back To Black'

Best Live Act sponsored by Marshall Amplification: Muse

The Q Legend: Ian Brown

Q Classic Songwriter: Billy Bragg

The Q Inspiration Award sponsored by Orange Amplification: Damon Albarn

Best Act In The World Today: Arctic Monkeys

The Q Idol: Kylie Minogue

The Q Icon: Sir Paul McCartney

 Edith Bowman talk show on Radio 1
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(*) How do you see the songs you’re writing now as different from the songs you were writing when you were, say,24?

Paul: … I’m more mature. More water has gone under the bridge. Still, I look back and say, “Man, I was writing ‘Yesterday’ when I was 24 or something.”
Talking about “I’m not half the man I used to be”…”the end of the end” is something I wouldn’t have tackled then. Because it’s about death. Which then I might have thought was too tricky a subject, or just something to avoid.

PAUL: "Because I got a Studer four-track recording machine at home - practiced on it (playing all instruments) - liked the results, and decided to make it into an album."

Q: "Were you influenced by John's adventures with the Plastic Ono Band, and Ringo's solo LP?"

PAUL: "Sort of, but not really."

Q: "Are all songs by Paul McCartney alone?"

PAUL: "Yes sir."

Wigg would later remember of his chat with McCartney: "The interview was held in the Apple offices in London. Paul sat in a handsomely carved chair that belonged to George Harrison. Paul talks of enjoying life as a family man. Paul also explains about the musical, business and personal differences within the band. He was very unhappy with the whole situation, largely because he never favored Allen Klein to handle their financial affairs. We discussed Paul's plans, the Abbey Road album, the day they received their MBE's, the Royal family, and what had caused the Beatles to change."

In addition to being a BBC radio personality, David Wigg was also famous for being a columnist for the Daily Express, as well as the London Evening News. In 1976, Wigg would release a double album featuring his interviews with each of the four Beatles, entitled 'The Beatles Tapes.'

The Abbey Road album would be released in the UK on September 26th, one week after this interview was recorded.

May 23rd 1968. The documentary was telecast on BBC television on November 3rd.

PAUL: "I was always frightened of classical music. And I never wanted to listen to it because it was Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, and sort of, big words like that... and Schoenberg. I mean, like... A taxi driver the other day had some sheet music of a Mozart thing, and I said 'What's that?' And he said 'Oh, that's the high-class stuff. You won't like that. No no, you won't like that.' And I said, 'well, what is it?' (giggles) He said 'No, you won't like it. It's high-class, that. High-brow!' And uhh, that kind of way I always used to think of it. I used to think 'Well you know, that's very clever, all that stuff.' And it isn't, you know. It's just exactly what's going on in pop at the moment. Pop music is the classical music of now."

The crudely written sign on the door read 'Magical Mystery Tour' and from within came the strains of 'She Loves You' being played on a barrel-organ. A handful of young girls waiting patiently outside eyed me up and down as I pushed open the door and entered.

The small room was hot and smokey. Long strips of film hung from steel coat racks and dozens of LPs lay scattered around the floor. Empty coffee cups were dotted everywhere with ashtrays spilled over with cigarette butts.