Paul McCartney suggests to delete stuff from mind

Paul McCartney says that it's useful to make room in our minds for some new memories.

Photo: Paul McCartney suggests to delete stuff from mind

Speaking about his latest album, "Memory Almost Full," McCartney said Monday that the inspiration for the title came from a phrase he saw on his cell phone.

"It seemed symbolic of our lives today," he said. "Your messages are always full. And your mind is full. And it doesn't matter if you're my age or 20. I think that we all need to delete stuff every so often."

The 65-year-old ex-Beatle is in Paris for his first concert at the Olympia theater since his appearance with Wings in 1974. His first performance at the theater that made Edith Piaf famous came in 1962 when a concert by The Beatles caused havoc in the streets of Paris.

Dressed casually in jeans and sneakers, McCartney treated the press to a concert preview of "Let It Be" and "Lady Madonna," singing and playing the piano. He reminisced about visiting Paris with John Lennon before they were world renowned.

"I think the only time we came to the Olympia was when we played here. It was too expensive so we went to a little dirty dance hall instead," he said.

McCartney also answered questions about his decision earlier this year to leave EMI Records for a deal with Hear Music, a startup label launched by coffee retailer Starbucks Corp. and Concord Music Group.

The singer was fed up with the lack of responsiveness by record companies as music distribution changed.

In the United States, he said, "supermarkets started to sell it ... So the business was changing, everything was changing. I started to think that the record companies didn't know how to deal with it and they were getting boring and jaded," he said.

"If you're among 300 artists whose album is coming out, they have no time for you," he added.

McCartney was less talkative about his messy divorce with model Heather Mills.

"We are here to talk about music," a press officer said. "Artistic questions and only artistic questions are welcome."