McCartney realizes he was "not a popular bunny" with his Beatle cohorts at the time of the split. The terse "press statement" questionnaire he delivered containing news of his debut solo album, McCartney, was probably a mistake in retrospect. "It's possible to read all sorts of other things into it, read all sorts of motives of mine into it, which is I think what happened," McCartney said. "For me, it was simply a way to answer some questions I might have been asked if I had done interviews."

Looking back, he just wanted to get his new music released: "I've been accused of not thinking things through enough. I get enthusiastic about something and say I'd like to do it, so let's do it. And that's mainly a good thing, because you get things done. It can occasionally create difficulties because you don't think of the implications. And to me, I hadn't thought of the implications. I was just putting out an album of some stuff that I liked.