Paul McCartney has discussed his plans for retirement, telling Rolling Stone he will step away from the spotlight when he feels like it.

“…the answer to ‘Are you going to retire?’ is ‘When I feel like it’. But that’s not today.”

McCartney’s comments were made in connection with views about retirement Eric Clapton expressed in Uncut‘s current cover story,

Rolling Stone asked: Your friend Eric Clapton recently said he’s thinking about retiring from touring. Does that idea have any appeal to you?

“Obviously, when you get to a certain age, it’s going to be on the cards,” said McCartney. “I had a manager once who advised me to retire when I was 50. He said, ‘You know, I’m not sure it’s seemly for a 50-year-old guy to keep on trying.’ I thought about it for a second and thought, ‘Nah.’ When will you give up? When will it give out? Who knows? But the margin has been stretched these days. The Stones go out now, and I go to their show and I think, ‘It doesn’t matter that they’re old gits. They can play great.’ And I talk to young kids who say exactly the same thing: ‘They play good.’

“I think that’s the deciding factor. It would be a pity if Eric retires, because, shit, he really plays good! But he’s that kind of guy, Eric. I can see him saying, ‘I’m going to retire.’ He’s kind of a homebody in essence. We’ve talked about this before. I remember him joking about how I stand up for the whole show. He said, ‘I sit down.’ That’s a blues player thing. But he’s just too good a player. I would say to him, ‘Yeah, by all means, sit down, Eric. But don’t retire.'”