McCartney wrote the new song – an acoustic ballad titled ‘My Soul’ – as part of a musical collaboration with Nitin Sawhney, the English musician, producer, and composer whose critically-acclaimed work combines Asian and World Music influences with elements of jazz and electronica.

 

The song will appear on Sawhney’s new album, London Undersound, which will be released in the UK on October 13, 2008.

 

Although McCartney agreed to a staggering £24.3 million divorce settlement following a bitter public battle earlier this year, it seems he has taken this opportunity to open his heart and express sympathy for his ex-wife in the song.

 

Sawhney said: “Paul has done a track about how he feels about Heather and what was going on with the paparazzi because no one has heard his side of it at all - so this will be the first time anyone hears a song relating to that subject. It’s a very emotional and very powerful song.”

 

An unnamed source also told the Daily Mail: “What the song shows is that rather than feeling embittered towards Heather, Paul just feels sorry for her.

 

“Paul knows Heather is a complex person, and deeply misunderstood - but that she has hardly helped herself by being less than transparent about her life.”

 

In one lyric, McCartney appears to pay tribute to Heather for helping him cope after the death of his first wife Linda in 1998. But he also uses the song to blame the press and paparazzi for the breakdown of their relationship.