The legendary rocker, 83, opened up on the The Rest Is Entertainment<\/a>podcast about why he chooses not to take photos with fans.<\/p>\n McCartney said when he meets people, they tend to reach for their phones almost immediately. But turning down the request for a picture and choosing instead to live in the moment helps him retain a sense of normalcy.<\/p>\n \u201cI say, \u2018I’m sorry, I don’t do pictures.’ And that is like, radical these days,\u201d he said on the podcast, which aired May 14. \u201cI have a long explanation. Oh God, it goes on. I say, \u2018No, I don’t like to do that, \u2018cause it’s important to me\u2026’ I feel [normalness] is very important to me. The minute I get like, above myself and start thinking I’m something else, I won’t like me. So it’s very important for me to be sort of just me.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cLet It Be\u201d singer said that when people ask why he won’t pose for a photo, he dives into what he calls a \u201clong-winded explanation\u201d that has to do with a tourist attraction in Saint-Tropez, France.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s a guy on the beachfront who’s got a monkey, and you pay to have your photo taken with the monkey. So I say, \u2018I really do not want to feel like that monkey. And when I take a picture with you, I do feel like him. I’m not me. I’m suddenly something else,’\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s a phenomenon of how we live now.\u201d<\/p>\n And then they go back to their friends and they say, \u2018You met Paul McCartney? Did you get a picture?’ \u2018No, he just went on about some bloody monkey.’\u201d<\/p>\n Paul McCartney posing for a photo with a fan in New York in March 2018. McCartney is set to release his new album The Boys of Dungeon Lane on May 29.<\/p>\n \u201cThe album title, comes from a lyric in the track ‘Days We Left Behind,’\u201d he wrote on Instagram. \u201cI was thinking just that, about the days I left behind and I do often wonder if I’m just writing about the past but then I think how can you write about anything else?\u201d<\/p>\n The record features his first-ever duet with former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr<\/a>, titled \u201cHome to Us.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/aol_people_articles_471\/ef9422d89c3a34e2c74b00bdb2d50873.jpeg\"\/)
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Credit: Atilgan Ozdil\/Anadolu Agency\/Getty<\/p>\n