Sir Paul McCartney is bored of being a Beatle.

The 66-year-old rocker admits he sometimes tires of the fame he attracts from being in the legendary 60s band.

He explained: "You get fed up being him. You're always that guy. If I was Bruce Springsteen, I might get fed up being Bruce Springsteen. I might want to be the kid I was growing up, when I didn't have that image to live up to."

Despite disliking the pressure surrounding his success, Paul - who was also a member of Wings with late wife Linda McCartney and releases records with side project The Fireman - still loves playing live.

He loves peppering his shows with songs from his back catalogue because he is aware his fans will want to hear his biggest hits.

Paul said: "If I buy a ticket to a show, I know what I want to hear the band play. So I start with that - what would I want to hear me play if I was in the audience? Then we start rehearsing stuff I'd like to play or that we haven't done for a while, or never done. That creeps in. We just learned a couple Fireman songs. That's interesting, because they're improvisational and you've almost got to rewrite them into a shape we can all understand. Say I fancy playing electric guitar - I work in a couple of excuses for that."

The musician tries not to pay attention to the intense interest in his private life - he is currently dating US millionaires Nancy Shevell following his acrimonious divorce from Heather Mills - and instead looks to the future.

He added to the USA Today newspaper: "I'm in the public eye, so you notice my trials and tribulations. Most people my age have been through similar things. They've lost loved ones. Lots of people have been divorced. You have to try to understand it and move on. It's never easy. How do I do it? I remember the good times."

(China Daily/Agencies June 4, 2009)